Printer Shopping Tips from MacWorld

Posted in: Printers, blog by CW on 29 March 2010

Every month it seems printer manufacturers are pushing new models with additional features (and smaller ink supplies) onto the shelves of local office supply and big-box retail stores. Every week we get calls from our customers asking for suggestions as to which printer to buy; which printer has the cheapest cartridges, which one most easily connects to a home or small business wireless network, which printer best meets their printing needs.

Our basic advice has always been to get the printer that does what you need a printer to do and avoid buying one that offers additional functions that you have no use for. For example, if you don’t plan on adding this printer to a SOHO wireless network, save money and don’t buy one with wireless capabilities.

MacWorld recently published an article with their suggestions for printer buyers.

If you’re about to go shopping for a printer, whether in person or online, keep the following tips in mind.

• Set your budget
• Decide on must-have features
• Know your ink and toner costs

They break down printer price-points:

What to expect for your money

• $40 to $80: Curb your expectations.
• $80 to $100: Basic functionality.
• $150: Adequate or better.
• $250: Midrange inkjets and monochrome lasers.
• $400: The best inkjets and bare-bones color lasers.
• $500: Basic color lasers and better monochrome lasers.
• $700 to $800: The sweet spot for lasers.
• $1000 or more: First class all the way.

They end up with advice with which we absolutely agree.

Ink and toner costs

The money you pay for any printer doesn’t stop with the hardware purchase; you also have to consider the ongoing costs for replacing the ink or toner supplies. For many inkjet printers, in particular, the cost of replacement cartridges can quickly outstrip the initial cost of the printer. Don’t be tempted by a printer’s features without also checking on its cost of consumables.

(Source-MacWorld)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Printer Buying Guide: Shopping tips (macworld.com)
• Printer Buying Guide: Major printer types explained (macworld.com)
• Buying a printer: Tips and advice (macworld.com)
• Buying a printer: fact vs. fiction (macworld.com)
• Printer Buying Guide: Features you need to know (macworld.com)

Kodak’s claims challenged by printer manufacturers

Posted in: blog, inkjet by CW on 24 March 2010

Several times a week a customer will ask us our opinion of Kodak printers and cartridges.

Honestly, we haven’t had an opinion to offer. We don’t refill Kodak cartridges due to their already low price and none of our customers own a Kodak printer or we could ask them for their impressions.

In the April edition of PCWorld magazine there is an article concerning challenges being made by other printer manufacturers to Kodak’s claims that consumers can “save on average $110 per year on ink” with a Kodak printer.

According to HP and an independent consulting firm, consumers would have to print four pages per day to save that much money with a Kodak printer–far more than most home users actually do. Last year HP lodged a grievance against the Kodak ads. In December, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that Kodak could continue the advertising campaign if it slightly changed the wording. As a result, Kodak’s revised ad copy now reads: “Save on average $110 per year on ink based on just four pages per day.”

Even with the tweaked text, however, Kodak’s claims are still beguiling to consumers–according to HP, at least. “The average user in the United States prints about half of what Kodak is using as the basis for their cost-savings claim,” says Andy Binder, HP Inkjet & Web Solutions marketing director.

According to Lyra senior analyst Andrew Lippman, Kodak’s cost-savings claims are far-fetched.

In fact, few consumers would ever achieve the promised cost savings. “You have to be printing 1500 pages per year–well above average for most people–to get the $110 savings that Kodak claims,” Lippman says.

Kodak points out that its revised ads are essentially the same these days, albeit with a minor rewrite. “It’s not anything different than consumers have always heard for the last three years,” says Paula Balik, worldwide communications line manager for Kodak inkjets. The only FTC-mandated change that Kodak had to make, Balik says, was to move “four pages per day,” previously buried in the ads’ footnotes, closer to the headline.

PCWorld seems to dispute Kodak’s claims as well.

According to Senior Editor Melissa Riofrio, who oversees printer testing for PCWorld, Kodak’s inks may be cheaper than those of competitors, but the print quality on plain paper is not as good. On photo paper, the quality is excellent, but the money you save on ink is eaten up by the cost of photo paper.

As for the printers themselves, HP was at the bottom of the list among printer makers in our 2010 Reliability and Service survey; Kodak finished slightly higher. We asked our readers, among other questions, whether their printer had problems upon arrival, how satisfied they were overall with the device’s reliability, and how well the company solved any problems that cropped up. Kodak printer owners said that they had good experiences with the company’s tech support, but they gave the printers poor marks for reliability. HP received five below-average ratings–two in reliability, three in service categories.

The portion of the article that caught my eye though is the description of a problem we have highlighted many times, the high cost of OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) ink cartridges.

Perhaps Kodak’s biggest offense, at least from its competitors’ perspective, is its willingness to call attention to the high cost of printer ink, the industry’s cash cow. “[Printer vendors] charge quite a bit for the ink, and discount the printer hardware,” says Lippman.

The practice, in fact, has led to outrageous situations in which consumers could save money by buying a new printer rather than replacement ink for their current model. Last December, PCWorld contributor Ian Paul spotted a Deskjet D1660 inkjet model for just $30 on HP’s shopping site. The printer came bundled with a black cartridge and a tricolor cartridge offering 200 and 150 pages of output, respectively. In contrast, the replacement-ink pack, which promised a slightly higher yield (165 pages) for the color cartridge, cost $32–two bucks more than the printer itself.

The conclusion of the article relates how Kodak is following the same practice as every other printer manufacturer, raising cartridge prices while at the same time reducing the volume of ink in the cartridge.

Since entering the consumer printer market in 2007, Kodak has undercut the competition on ink costs. The company’s advantage may be shrinking, however, as it recently raised the prices for its new line of cartridges.

But the change isn’t all that obvious to consumers. The company’s new 10B black cartridge, for instance, costs the same as its predecessor ($10) yet contains less ink. And the new 10C cartridge is $3 more than the $15 tank it replaces, but one Kodak ad implies that consumers are getting a better deal than before: “Now prints 10% more pages,” the text reads. The ugly truth? “The 10C color cartridge has a 9 percent higher cost per page, and the 10B black cartridge has a 25 percent higher cost per page” than the cartridges they replace, Lyra’s Lippman says.

Even so, despite the cost increases on the new cartridges, Kodak remains the low-price leader. “There’s no debate that Kodak’s ink is cheaper on average,” Lippman adds. “The debate is over how much you can potentially save.”

(Source-PCWorld)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review: Kodak ESP 3250 multifunction printer (macworld.com)
• 6 reviews of Kodak EasyShare 5300 All-in-One Printer Print, Copy, and Scan (rateitall.com)
• Kodak’s New All-In-One Inkjet Printer Provides the Connectivity and Value To Print and Share Your Mobile Life For Less (newswire.ca)
• Eastman Kodak must alter ad slogan per FTC probe (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• How to Save Ink Printing (chris.pirillo.com)

HP issues a fill notice for #93 and #75 cartridges

Posted in: OEM, blog by CW on 22 March 2010

The color mix in a small portion of HP 93 (C9361) and 75 (CB337) Tri-color Ink Cartridges is incorrect, with some color chambers being over filled and the balance under filled. Print quality is not affected, but depending upon individual use, a small number of purchasers may receive fewer pages than HP intended.

While only a small amount of cartridges was impacted, HP is offering a rebate to all customers who purchased a potentially affected cartridge in the U.S. or Canada during the relevant time period. Potentially impacted cartridges include the HP 75 and HP 93 – in both their regular and promotional versions — with the “Warranty End” date that falls between May 1, 2011 and August 31, 2011, which can be found printed on the HP print cartridge. Additionally, a small number of cartridges that shipped with Deskjet D4360 Printers and Photosmart C4500 and C4400 All-in-One Printers in this timeframe were potentially impacted.

Customers who purchased HP 75 and HP 93 cartridges meeting the criteria above can contact HP directly to obtain a 10 percent rebate off the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of the ink pack. Customers that received these cartridges in the printer box can contact HP to obtain a $2 rebate. To obtain the rebate or for more information on rebate options in North America, customers can visit www.hp.com/go/inkrebate. (Source – HP)

Related articles by Zemanta

• HP settles inkjet cartridge patent complaints (news.cnet.com)

We now offer you even more convenience

Posted in: Conservation, blog by CW on 18 March 2010

CW San Diego has teamed up with a nation-wide distributor of office and janitorial supplies to simplify your life.

Over the years we’ve had many customers say that they wished we carried a wider selection of office supplies so that they could purchase everything they need in one stop. We understand, it’s inconvenient to stop here for cartridges then have to go to an office supply store anyway for supplies we don’t carry. Yet we’ve never had sufficient wall space to carry all the different items we’d like to carry and that customers have requested.

So in an effort to better serve our customers we’ve decided to make available to you the full catalog of ABC Office Supplies. You can shop for paper, pens, brooms, whatever you may need for your home and/or office all from the comfort of your desk. No need to run to the office supply store. Place your order on-line and have your purchases delivered to your door.

Look for the image above in the sidebar of our site, or click this image for immediate access to thousands of office and janitorial supplies.

We are constantly looking for ways to make our customer’s lives less stressful and more productive. If you can think of other ways we can serve you better, please drop us an email or offer your suggestion the next time you’re in the store.

Social networking and the small business

Posted in: Business to Business, blog by CW on 11 March 2010

Image by Damon Duncan via Flickr

The Better Business Bureau has put together a list of 5 considerations for small businesses as they get involved with social networking.

Five Tips for Ensuring Social Media Success in 2010

Better Business Bureau recommends that small business owners ease into the waters thoughtfully when planning to launch a social media strategy; otherwise, they risk abandoning the ship in frustration.Small businesses are shifting their marketing strategy away from expensive ad buys and are increasingly looking toward social media engagement as the less expensive alternative. According to a recent survey by VerticalResponse, Inc., 70 percent of small to medium-sized businesses plan to increase their use of social media in 2010. At the same time, 79 percent say they will not run television ads and 70 percent say they will not make radio buys.

“Small business owners are taking a hard look at their marketing budgets and traditional advertising is becoming too much of a burden in these lean economic times,” said Sheryl Bilbrey, San Diego BBB President/CEO. “Adopting a comprehensive, but manageable, social media strategy can be an inexpensive yet effective way to improve customer relations and spread the word about your business.”

We’ve posted before about how small businesses and home businesses can use social networking sites to their advantage. It does require an investment of time and dedication as well as patience. Results won’t be seen over night. It’s a commitment we make with the understanding that involvement with the community can yield positive results if we engage our customers honestly and transparently.

BBB offers the following advice to small business owners who want to start promoting their company online through social media:

Don’t Get in Over Your Head - If you’re a small business owner who is also the marketing department, the worst thing you could do is launch a large, unmanageable strategy that takes up too much time and ends up neglected. You don’t have to do it all at once.

Create and Share Information – Social media is about engagement, and creating and sharing content is key to connecting with customers and other industry leaders. You may not realize it, but you, as a small business owner, are an expert and have sound advice and informed opinions to share.

Keep everything connected – Once you’ve created your page on Facebook, or established your blog or Twitter account or other online presences, cross-promote your content so that the same message is going out across every site. (This is very easy to do as the ability to share your content with each platform is built right into Twitter and Facebook – Jack)

Engage in the Conversation –An online conversation is taking place right now about your business, your industry or issues affecting your community.

Engage with Customers – Your customers are talking about you online whether you like it or not on their blogs, consumer-focused Web sites and on review sites like Yelp, Yahoo! Local and CitySearch.

Read the full article and see other helpful tips for the SOHO business owner at the Better Business Bureau’s site.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Citysearch and Twitter Team Up to Offer Business Tools (bits.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Social Networking: A Marketing Legend Speaks Out (autopilotonlinesuccess.com)
• 3 Serious Benefits of Social Media for Entrepreneurs Testing the Tools (successful-blog.com)
• Are Your Social Media Efforts Doomed to Fail? – by Jen Fong (myventurepad.com)
• BBB’s Data Security – Made Simpler Initiative (pindebit.blogspot.com)

How ink cartridges work

Posted in: blog, inkjet by CW on 5 March 2010

This is a presentation I gave recently to a business networking group. The slides are a bit rudimentary but provide a basic overview of the process. In a future post I’ll try to go more in-depth about both ink and laser cartridges.

InkCartridges

Cleo has a another birthday

Posted in: Announcements, blog by CW on 3 March 2010

Cleo then

It’s Cleo’s 2nd birthday.

Our adorable greeter joined CW San Diego in August of 2008 when she was just 5 months old.

Cleo now

Bring your pup and stop by to wish her a Happy Birthday.

When you click on “Print”…

Posted in: Printers, blog by CW on 2 March 2010

When you click on a button to print, there is a sequence of events that take place:

1. The software application you are using sends the data to be printed to the printer driver.
2. The driver translates the data into a format that the printer can understand and checks to see that the printer is online and available to print.
3. The data is sent by the driver from the computer to the printer via the connection interface (parallel, USB, etc.).
4. The printer receives the data from the computer. It stores a certain amount of data in a buffer. The buffer can range from 512 KB random access memory (RAM) to 16 MB RAM, depending on the model. Buffers are useful because they allow the computer to finish with the printing process quickly, instead of having to wait for the actual page to print. A large buffer can hold a complex document or several basic documents.
5. If the printer has been idle for a period of time, it will normally go through a short clean cycle to make sure that the print head(s) are clean. Once the clean cycle is complete, the printer is ready to begin printing.
6. The control circuitry activates the paper feed stepper motor. This engages the rollers, which feed a sheet of paper from the paper tray/feeder into the printer. A small trigger mechanism in the tray/feeder is depressed when there is paper in the tray or feeder. If the trigger is not depressed, the printer lights up the “Out of Paper” LED and sends an alert to the computer.
7. Once the paper is fed into the printer and positioned at the start of the page, the print head stepper motor uses the belt to move the print head assembly across the page. The motor pauses for the merest fraction of a second each time that the print head sprays dots of ink on the page and then moves a tiny bit before stopping again. This stepping happens so fast that it seems like a continuous motion.
8. Multiple dots are made at each stop. It sprays the CMYK colors in precise amounts to make any other color imaginable.
9. At the end of each complete pass, the paper feed stepper motor advances the paper a fraction of an inch. Depending on the inkjet model, the print head is reset to the beginning side of the page, or, in most cases, simply reverses direction and begins to move back across the page as it prints.
10. This process continues until the page is printed. The time it takes to print a page can vary widely from printer to printer. It will also vary based on the complexity of the page and size of any images on the page. For example, a printer may be able to print 16 pages per minute (PPM) of black text but take a couple of minutes to print one, full-color, page-sized image.
11. Once the printing is complete, the print head is parked. The paper feed stepper motor spins the rollers to finish pushing the completed page into the output tray. Most printers today use inks that are very fast-drying, so that you can immediately pick up the sheet without smudging it.

(Courtesy of How Stuff Works)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Solve inkjet printer problems (macworld.com)
• Share a Printer from XP to Windows 7 (helpdeskgeek.com)
• San Diego’s Printer Industry Veterans Offer Some Insights Into Memjet’s Technology (xconomy.com)

Creating a successful company blog

Posted in: Business to Business, blog by CW on 1 March 2010

Image by GRP Partners via CrunchBase

Mashable is a site I read nearly every day. It always has great tips for bloggers and web content producers.

Mark Suster,  a Partner at GRP Partners, a Venture Capital firm in Los Angeles, posted an article today that should be read and considered by every SOHO business person. He offers good points to ponder if you’re involved with or considering starting a blog for your business. Below are his primary points, but you really should read the full article.

1. Be authentic

You need to find a “voice” that is authentically yours.

2. Be transparent

The best way to establish your voice is to be transparent. Be willing to talk like a human being.

3. Get inside your readers’ minds

…you need to think about who is in the audience and what they want to hear.

4. Solicit feedback

…the best way to build an audience over time is to engage with them…

5. Don’t be offensive or take big public risks

…unless your company revolves around taking stands on controversial issues, it’s best to leave your political commentary at home.

6. Have fun

…if writing a blog becomes a chore for you it will show.

You might want to sign up to follow Mashable on Google Buzz or Twitter or Friendfeed (they practice what they preach) so you can keep up on what’s happening on the networked web.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Congratulations to Mark Suster, No 2. Top-rated VC Partner (cloudave.com)

Inkless Printing and the future of CWSD

Posted in: blog, store by CW on

Image by Jared Klett via Flickr

A customer the other day asked if we would go out of business if the major printer manufacturers developed a printer that didn’t use ink or toner.

I told him that no, we would be in no danger of going out of business. We know this because the inkless printing “revolution” began around two years ago and has yet to make any significant impact on consumers.

Zink is perhaps the best known application of inkless printing. Polaroid has also explored the concept of printing without ink. For an overview of how inkless printing works, check out howstuffworks.com.

The problem with the current state of inkless printing is the very thing that makes it possible, the paper. Just about anywhere you go in America there is a store that sells ink and/or toner cartridges. No matter where you live you can buy paper for your printer. But what happens if you’re in need of the special ink-embossed paper for your inkless printer and the only way you can get it is on the internet. No major problem if you’re at home. But what if you’re on vacation or visiting relatives? Will the supplier ship to a temporary address? How long will you have to stay in one place in order to get the paper shipped to you?

And what if the majority of printing you do is receipts, recipes and email? Is it worth paying a premium price for ink-embedded paper for those mundane tasks?

Also consider the inkless printer. Most of the designs envision a 4″x6″ form factor, meaning if you want to make an 8.5″x11″ print you’ll need to export your images to a flash memory card and transfer them to a full-sized printer.

Inkless printing may indeed be the future but it’s not ready for primetime just yet. Even when it is, many users will be sticking to their “old fashioned” ink and toner printers for quite a while. We see this in technology every day. Windows XP is still the most popular version of the Windows operating system in use today even though two newer versions, Vista and Windows 7, have been introduced since XP was released. Many individuals and businesses operate on the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” principle. They’ve gotten used to XP and see no compelling reason to upgrade, especially when that requires buying newer hardware and having to reinstall programs.

CWSD will be supporting those who are still using ink and toner printers for many years to come. We still have customers using some of the very first HP laser printers designed for home use.

If anything our customer base is growing rapidly. Last year was our most profitable year yet, and this year is starting off just as strong. Businesses that once were content to pay for expensive service contracts with office supply stores or printer manufacturers have had to re-examine their budgets and face the fact that they can no longer justify paying a premium price for something that they could just as easily buy from us without sacrificing quality yet save 35% or more in cost.

Related articles by Zemanta

• This Printer Doesn’t Need Ink Or Paper To Print Out Your Resignation Letter [Printers] (gizmodo.com)
• Color thermal inkless printing technology (makezine.com)
• Will HP Remain the Leader in Printers and Ink? (seekingalpha.com)
• Buying a printer: fact vs. fiction (macworld.com)