When you buy a new printer, make sure it’s going to last

Posted in: Printers, blog by CW on 10 August 2009

Jack Dunning, publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine, has posted an opinion piece intended for those of you who may be in the market for a new printer. He offers some valid points to consider. I encourage you to read the full article before you buy your next printer. Consider your present and future needs and buy a printer that can accomplish the tasks you want to perform without offering you functions you don’t need or want.

Printer manufacturers are motivated to build cheap printers because of the follow-on sales of printer ink and toner. Each manufacturer has its own proprietary inking/toner system that keeps its customers coming back for more. There are alternatives for refilling ink and toner cartridges, but there are still enough people who prefer to buy the HP or Epson label that it keeps these companies doing very well in the sale of printer supplies. If it weren’t for the ink and toner sales, printer manufacturers would be hard-pressed to provide such sophisticated equipment for such a low price.

If you’re in the market for a new printer, it may be worth the time to evaluate what you need—although it’s hard to make that argument when you can always get another printer for next to nothing. When I buy a new printer, I want it to last a long time. There are some key issues involved in the printer decision.

Inkjet Versus Laser

There are two basic types of printers on today’s market: inkjet printers and laser printers. Inkjet printers use inks (at least four or more colors) to generate high-quality full-color output. They are generally less expensive and slower than laser printers, and not built for high quantities of printing. The quality and reasonable price make inkjet printers desirable for most home uses.

Unless you do a great deal of printing (usually in an office environment), you may be best off buying an inkjet printer. The inkjet will give you more quality options, such as printing high-resolution photo images. Color laser printers are available, but they are a little more expensive ($300 and up), and the print quality does not compete with inkjet printers.

Laser printers use toner (similar to copiers) rather than ink. There are two reasons to prefer the laser printer for volume work. The first is speed. Laser printers are capable of greater speed (15 to 20 pages per minute). Inkjet printers claim similar speeds, but the reality is that when better-quality work is produced, the inkjets slow to a crawl.

The second reason for preferring a laser printer is because the per-copy cost will be much lower than that of an inkjet. While laser printers are more expensive than inkjets, they are very economical for high-volume output. Although toner cartridges cost more than ink, the number of copies generated by one toner cartridge makes the per-copy cost much lower.

The real question to ask before deciding between inkjet and laser printers is, how much printing are you going to do and at what quality level? Many people need to print only the occasional document or make a copy. If this is the case, then an inkjet will certainly suffice while offering quality output.

Make It a Network Printer

If you don’t have a network at home, then you will probably have no reason to network your printer. However, all you need is one more computer coming into your home (possibly a relative’s laptop), and you’ll find that they want to use your printer/scanner. You can share a printer attached to your computer over a network, but it’s much more convenient to share a network printer. As mentioned in network article “Cool Things to Do With Your Home Network,” you may suddenly find that you have a home network.

On a network, the printer can be used by any member of the network without a printer-host computer being powered up. The network printer can be placed anywhere in the house that’s convenient to the network. If you attach a printer to a computer with the USB port, your printer location will be limited by the USB cable length.

For these reasons, I look for a printer with network capabilities. Many printers come only with the USB port for hooking up directly to your computer. It’s true that if you hook up the printer directly to your computer you can share it over a network, but there may be a time in the future when an Ethernet (wired) or Wi-Fi (wireless) networked printer will come in handy. While printers with either the hardwired Ethernet connection and/or the 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi (wireless) may cost a little more, for me, the options are worth it.

People use their printers for a long time. The technology of scanning and printing does not change so rapidly that frequent replacement of printers is required. Spending a little more now to get either the Ethernet or Wi-Fi network capabilities (I would get both) could save you a couple of years down the road. Be sure to check the specifications on the printer. Many printers come only with a USB port for connecting to a computer. You should see the proper terminology for networking in the specification: Ethernet for cable connection and 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi for wireless.

If you decide to save a little money and get a USB-only printer, you can always add a print server (Ethernet or Wi-Fi) when you want to network the printer. A print server is a device that will make the printer network-capable.

When looking at printers, there are three major decisions and one option. Whether you pick an inkjet or laser printer depends on how much you will print and what quality output you need—inkjet for quality and laser for quantity. Getting a printer with a scanner is almost not a decision anymore, since most printers come with scanners—and they should. Even if you don’t need it now, I recommend that you get a printer that you can put on a network. A built-in fax machine is needed only if you interact with other fax machines on a daily basis. Otherwise, there are easier ways to send a fax without a fax machine.

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Choosing a new printer

Posted in: Printers, blog, inkjet, laser by CW on 3 February 2009

We are frequently asked to recommend a printer by our customers. Here’s what we tell the majority who ask:

It all depends on what sort of printing you do the most. Let’s break it down this way:

Inkjet printer

Epson Stylus Pro 4800

Pro…

• Best for printing photographs
• Best for printing CD/DVD labels on disks
• Most affordable way to print color for the average home office/small office (SOHO) and home user
• Less expensive printers on the market, often free with a new computer
• Affordable multi-function printers (all-in-one printers)

Con…

• Most expensive cost-per-page printing solution
• Must be used at least every 2 weeks to prevent printhead drying
• Inkjet printers are not designed to be repaired
• Leaking ink can permanently stain many materials

Laserjet printer

Pro…

• Lower cost-per-page than inkjets
• Doesn’t have to be used frequently to avoid printhead drying (no printhead!)
• Average 2000 pages per cartridge as opposed to less than 200 for an inkjet cartridge
• Generally faster printing speed, less setup time
• Usually has drivers for Windows, Mac and Linux

Con…

Samsung ML-1710

• Higher initial cost for printer and supplies
• Color laser printers are generally still too expensive for the average SOHO user
• Personal laser printers rarely offer duplexing or other advanced features
• All-in-one laser printers are still quite expensive

Just as when you consider buying a new computer or even a new car, how you intend to use it should be your primary consideration. If you think you might someday want to print photos or holiday cards, you need an inkjet printer. If all you plan to do is print out forms or receipts, consider a laserjet. If you need an all-in-one machine (printer, copier, fax and scanner) you should buy an inkjet printer.

Cleaning the HP All-in-One

Posted in: Tips & Tricks, blog, inkjet by CW on 26 January 2009

(Source-HP) For more information on different styles of printer, visit the HP website at that link.

10 Tips for Cartridge Care

Posted in: Tips & Tricks, blog by CW on 31 December 2008

Here are a few suggestions to help you get the most out of your inkjet cartridge, OEM or refilled.

1. Before installing the cartridge, make sure the plastic clip covering the print head (usually only on color cartridges) and the tape have been removed.
2. Keep the contacts at the back of the cartridge slot on the printer clean. Ink and dust may cause the printer to lose contact with the cartridge resulting in the printer indicating an error. These can be cleaned with a cotton swab dampened with alcohol or distilled water. Allow them to dry completely before installing the cartridge.
3. Be sure to print something, anything, at least once every two weeks. Allowing inkjet cartridges to sit unused for longer than that is to risk the print head drying out.
4. If you know you won’t be using your inkjet printer for several weeks, remove the cartridges, put the clip on the color cartridge, put each cartridge in a baggie and store them in a cool, dark location.
5.  Keep your printer clean. Printers need good ventalation just like computers do. Use canned air to keep the covering over fans clear and don’t sit your printer on carpeting or a similar surface. This applies to both inkjet and laser printers. 
6. Keep printing until you notice an obvious degredation degradation to the print quality.*
7. As soon as possible after the cartridge runs out of ink bring it in for refilling. The longer a cartridge sits empty, the more likely ink will dry in the print head and reusing the cartridge will be made more difficult.
8. Do not attempt to clean the print head of an ink cartridge with alcohol or any substance other than distilled water. 
9. Do not leave cartridges, especially those just refilled, sitting in direct sunlight or anywhere the temperature is high. Ink expands as it warms, and if the cartridge is heated too much the ink will force its way out of the cartridge. Laser cartridges should be stored where it’s cool, dark and the humidity low.
10. Make sure you don’t force cartridges into printers. Cartridges have keys on them to prevent the black cartridge from being installed in the color cartridge slot, for example. Forcing a cartridge into place will most likely damage both the cartridge and the printer. Cartridges should install as easily as they came out. Consult your printer’s manual if replacing the cartridge proves difficult.

*Many printers will indicate a low ink level even though there’s plenty of ink left in the cartridge. They do this because printers cannot measure the actual level of ink in a cartridge. Instead, the number of pages a cartridge should be able to print, according to the manufacturer, is stored in the printer’s memory. Each time a new cartridge is installed, the counter resets and counts out pages as they pass through the machine. However, a page is not a page. Manufacturers use an algorithym to decide what constitutes a page. Generally the standard is 5% page coverage. In other words, if all the printed portion of a page were gathered together in one corner it should cover 5% of an 8½”x11″ page. In many cases, the page count method isn’t an accurate way to assess the amount of ink left in a cartridge. This is why we urge our customers to keep printing until the quality of the printing begins to degrade. That way you get the full use of all the ink in the cartridge.

HP Photosmart error codes

Posted in: Tips & Tricks, blog by CW on 3 December 2008

If you own an HP Photosmart or Photosmart all-in-one and receive an 0xc18xxxxx or 0xc19xxxxx ink system error code displayed on the front panel, you’ll find the printer cannot copy, receive faxes, or print.Here’s a possible solution to the problem.

HP 60 and 901 inkjet cartridges

Posted in: blog, inkjet by CW on 20 November 2008

We now have the ability to refill the HP #54, #60 #701 and #901 series of ink catridges.Our pricing on these:

#54  Black  $16.99

#60  Low yield Black  $9.99

#60  High yield Black  $17.99

#60  Color  $16.99

#701  Black  $16.99

#901  Low yield Black  $9.99

#901  High yield Black  $18.99

#901  Low yield Color  $11.99

#901 High yield Color  $21.99

We recently heard of a new HP cartridge, the #564. According to our tech support division, the #564 cartridge requires a replacement chip which currently is not being manufactured. We are looking into the possibility of providing compatible replacements for the #564. We’ll be posting here when we can offer those.

Laser versus Ink

Posted in: Printers by CW on 8 January 2007

We get asked to recommend a printer by a large number of our customers who are ready to purchase an upgrade.  Being our customers, one of their main concerns is the cost of the printer’s consumables.

Our advice is consistent; the printer you should buy is the one that will best accomplish your particular printing needs.

If you’re the average home user who prints emails, photos and the occasional document, an inkjet printer will most likely suit your needs the best.

But we do advise our customers to keep a laserjet printer in mind.  Students who print only text reports without images, businesses who need an economical way to print invoices, letters and office documents, the home user who hardly ever prints in color; these folks will find their cost-per-page to be far lower using a laserjet than an inkjet printer.

Even those who need a color printer should consider using a laserjet.  Hewlett-Packard is selling their 2550n color laserjet direct for only $299 currently.  It comes with a set of starter cartridges that, when empty, can be refilled through us for around $285 for all four cartridges (based on current prices).  That may seem excessive, but consider; an HP #56 black ink cartridge is rated at 450 pages, an HP Q3960A black toner cartridge for the 2500 series is rated at 5000 pages.  The Dell color laser printer (3010cn) and the HP 2500 series printers both produce beautiful color images, as do most of the new color laserjets on the market.

Our standard recommendation is to note what you use your printer for during a month of usage then buy a printer that excels at performing those tasks.  Take the printer you think you might like for a test drive at a Best Buy or Fry’s.  Make sure you aren’t paying for features you don’t need, like wireless connectivity if you don’t have a wireless network.

And give us a call if you’d like to know what replacing the cartridges will cost you once your starter cartridges run out of ink or toner.