HP LaserJet 1600- when cartridge low, won't print

I've used many laser printers over the years- my first color laser is the HP
1600. I got it on sale for $200 and the quality is good enough for my
purposes. I just noticed something which is odd- my black cartridge ran low
and the printer simply refuses to print- on the little screen on the printer
it says to change the cartridge.

On all other laser printers, I could always remove the near empty cartridge,
shake it a few times and put it back for another few dozen prints- and I
could do this 3-4 times. So, I'm surprised that this printer won't allow it
(I tried and it still wouldn't print). And, with other laser printers- if
the cartridge ran out, the printer didn't care- if you tried to continue
printing they'd continue to print.

I suppose it's not a bad idea to have the printer simply stop printing when
a cartridge is near empty but this seems a bit too much.

I replaced the black cartridge with a fresh one (an aftermarket cartridge at
less than half the cost)- and it's now running fine.

Does anyone agree with me that the printer shouldn't have refused to print?

Like I say, I like this printer. I don't like the fact that when I moved it
from an XP PC to a Vista PC, I lost the nice XP driver. The Vista driver (I
believe I'm running the latest) works OK but I can't run the driver program
on the computer. To control the functions of the printer I now need to rely
on the buttons and tiny screen on the printer.

Joe