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Citation Details
Title: Tech@Work.
Publication: Top Producer (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 13, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: NA

Distributed by Thomson Gale “BUY NOW”

Who doesn?t love a good discount? But sometimes, when you go for the most inexpensive item, you end up with something that is only worth its price. Basically, you get what you pay for. However, there are plenty of discount deals out there wherein the quality of the item is not compromised. One such item is printer supplies. If you know where to look, you can find printer supply for cheap that are not cheap!

Epson printer supplies are relatively easy to find online. It can be helpful to also add the specific item you?re searching for in the query. Regardless of what sort of Epson printer supplies you?re looking for, whether it?s discount printer ink cartridges, photo paper or toner, you?re sure to find it.

Canon printer supplies can also be found online. A lot of the time you may find knock off brands of Canon printer supplies, but you can also find the true brand name products that will work with your printer the best. A brief search for Canon printer supplies or for the specific product you need will most definitely produce the results you need.

Dell printer supplies are also readily available online. If you have a Dell printer you can benefit from searching for discount printer supplies online.

Many people are wary of finding supplies online. For some reason, it may come across as doing things the cheap way. But this couldn?t be farther from the truth. You can find Epson printer supply at fantastic prices with just a few clicks of the mouse. Here are a few good tips to tell if the website from which you?re buying discount printer supply from is legitimate:

- Real address and real phone number: You should be able to get in contact with store owners in real life?not just through the web.
- A standing with the BBB: If you don?t see a BBB banner of some sort on the site, a red flag should be raised.
- Look for other signs of authenticity: Things like VeriSign or epubliceye are great ways to tell if the site is for real.
- Accepts credit cards: If they require payment through check or money order only, it is more often than not a store that is not on the up and up.

What are you waiting for? Go get shopping for your printer supplies!

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You know how important your printer has become in your daily life. You count on it all day at work, and then at home for driving directions, recipes, and much more. But what about the larger picture. Where do printers stand in the history of human progress?

When the The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMMS) published its list of the Top 100 Materials Moments for All Time, Guttenberg’s invention of the moveable- type printing press in 1450 came in 19th place (far behind Mendeleev’s Periodic Table of Elements at #1 but way ahead of Baekeland’s invention of hard plastics at #43). TMMS credits the press with establishing “the fundamental enabling technology for mass communication.”

Since 1450, the innovations in printing have been steady and dramatic. Presses became smaller, more dynamic, and evolved to the point at which you have more printing power sitting on your desk than Guttenberg could have ever imagined.

In the 1980s when personal laser jet and inkjet printers became mainstream, it seemed that printer technology might enjoy a Moore’s Law of its own with per page prices, speed, and quality improving at an exponential rate. As you probably know, that didn’t exactly happen. Until, perhaps, now!

In its article “Big News from Little Squirts,” The Economist writes: “While inkjet technology has dawdled for a decade, it is poised now for a sudden leap in performance.” The article points out the radical innovations that have or will soon hit the market, including Kodak’s Easyshare line, which promises 100 year photo life while cutting ink prices in half, and HP’s new Edgeline Inkjets which boasts 70 laser-quality pages per minute (albeit with prices starting at $18,930). The biggest shock to the current printing paradigm may come from Silverbrook’s Memjet technology, which threatens to leapfrog over the rest of the industry. It offers 60 pages per minute at a price between $200-$300.

While the myth of the paperless office never came to pass, we may be looking at a new print-on-demand revolution fueled by content sharing tools like Scribd.

As Guttenberg introduced his printing press, did he envision the sprawling media and informed public he would help create? Today, we can easily project ourselves into the near future to easily imagine a fabbed world where you can print anything. It doesn’t take an Isaac Asimov to visualize a day when you can print any book or publication on your desktop faster than it would take you to drive to the store and buy a copy.

So, keep your printer busy and happy and remember: While the future will probably not be paperless, you probably won’t have to wait very long to print anything out, even a new iPod.

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What are printers? A printer is an output device that prints characters, symbols, and perhaps graphics on paper. The printed output is generally referred to as hardcopy because it is in relatively permanent form. Softcopy refers to temporary images such as those displayed on a monitor. Printers are categorized according to whether or not the image produced is formed by physical contact of the print mechanism with the paper. Impact printers have contact; nonimpact printers do not.

Impact printers

An impact printer has mechanisms resembling those of a typewriter. It forms characters or images by striking a mechanism such as a print hammer or wheel against an inked ribbon, leaving an image on paper. Impact printers are dying out; however, you may still come in contact with a dot-matrix printer. A dot-matrix printer contains a print head of small pins that strike an inked ribbon, forming characters or images. Print heads are available with 9, 18, or 24 pins; the 24-pin head offers the best print quality. Dot-matrix printers permit a choice between output of draft quality; a coarser-looking 72 dots per inch vertically, which may be acceptable for drafts of papers and reports, and near-letter-quality, a crisper-looking 144 dots per inch vertically, which is more suitable for a finished product to be shown to other people.

Dot-matrix printers print about 40-300 characters per second (cps) and can print some graphics, although the reproduction quality is poor. Color ribbons are available for limited use of color. Dot-matrix printers are noisy, inexpensive, and they can print through multipart forms, creating several copies of a page at the same time, which ninimpact printers cannot do.

Another type of impact printer is not used with microcomputers. Large computer installations use high-speed line printers, which print a whole line of characters at once rather a single character at a time. Some, called chain printers, contain characters on a rotating chain; others, called band printers, contain characters on a rotation band. Speeds of up to 3000 lines a minute may be possible with these machines.

Nonimpact Printers

Nonimpact printers, used almost everywhere now, are faster and quieter than impact printers because they have fewer moving parts. Nonimpact printers form characters and images without direct physical contact between the printing mechanism and the paper.

Two types of nonimpact printers often used with microcomputers are laser printers and ink-jet printers.

Laser Printer: Like a dot-matrix printer, a laser printer creates images with dots. However, as in a photocopying machine, these images are created on a drum, treated with a magnetically charged ink-like toner (powder), and then transferred from drum to paper. - There are good reasons why laser printers are so popular. They produce sharp, crisp images of both text and graphics, providing resolutions from 300 dpi up to 1200 dpi, which is near-typeset quality (NTQ). They are quiet and fast. They can print 4-32 text-only pages per minute for individual microcomputers, and more than 120 pages per minute for mainframes. (Pages with more graphics print more slowly.) They can print in many fonts (type styles and sizes). The more expensive models can print in different colors.

- Laser printers have built-in RAM chips to store documents output from the computer. If you are working in desktop publishing and printing complicated documents with color and many graphics, you will need a printer with a lot of RAM. Laser printers also have their own ROM chips to store fonts and their own small dedicated processor. To be able to manage graphics and complex page design, a laser printer works with a page description language, a type of software that has become a standard for printing graphics on laser printers. A PDL (page description language) is software that describes the shape and position of letters and graphics to the printer. PostScript, from Adobe Systems, is one common type of page description language; HPGL, Hewlett-Packard Graphic Language, is another.

Ink-jet printer: Like laser and dot-matrix printers, ink-jet printers also form images with little dots. Ink-jet printers spray small, electrically charged droplets of ink from four nozzles through holes in a matrix at high speed onto paper.

- Ink-jet printers can print in color and are quieter and much less expensive than a color laser printer. However, they are slower and print in a somewhat lower resolution (300-720 dpi) than laser printers. Some new, expensive ink-jet printers print up 1200 or 1400 dpi. High resolution output requires the use of special coated paper, which costs more regular paper. And, if you are printing color graphics at a high resolution on an ink-jet printer, it may take 10 minutes or more for a single page finish printing.

- A variation on ink-jet technology is the bubble-jet printer, which use miniature heating elements to force specially formulated inks through print heads with 128 tiny nozzles. The multiple nozzles print fine images at high speeds. This technology is commonly used in portable printers.

Things to take into account when buying a printer, is the printer easy to set up? Easy to operate? Do I need color? or black will do? Does the manufacturer offer a good warranty and good telephone technical support? Otherwise it?s wise to own your own personal printer and get to know the answer to these questions.

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Are you really getting a bargain with a $50 printer? If you factor in the cost of replacement ink cartridges, it could be a lot more.

If you walk down the printer isle these days, you’ll probably see a few printers selling for about $50. You might see yourself , “Hey, what a great deal” — but is it really?

Lexmark was first manufacturer marketing $50 printers. The printer was a loss-leader and the sales of replacement cartridges subsidized the low initial cost. The cost of 1 black and 1 color cartridge exceeded the value of the machine itself.

Many people who never owned a printer before didn’t realize Lexmark’s strategy. They were so blinded by the printer price that they never thought about the price of the printer cartridges themselves. As time went on Lexmark continued their process and also began to decrease the size of their ink cartridges. Their cartridges got smaller and smaller and required more frequent replacing.

Consider this:

One Lexmark 10N0016 OEM Black cartridge retails for about $30 and will yield 410 pages at 5% coverage

One Lexmark 10N0026 OEM Color cartridge retails for about $32.00 and will yield 275 pages at 5% coverage

It was commonplace to buy Lexmark printer for $50 just for the ink cartridges, and throw the printer in the garbage and just buy another one. Hewlett-Packard has now followed suit and is using the same strategy to takeover market share.

Several new machines will enter the market in July 2006. Many of which are cheap to buy (starting at around $25.00), but can be expensive to operate. Many of these new cheap printers do not come with connection cables or both ink cartridges which entices users by lowering the initial price.

Over the course of a few years however, the low cost of the machine will be overshadowed by the large amount spent on replacement inkjet cartridges

The inkjet cartridges that most of the new HP printers use contain only 5 Milliliters of ink. In comparison, about 4 years ago the most common HP black cartridges contained 42 milliliters of ink. That’s roughly 8 times more printing at about 1/3rd the cost (per milliliter of ink).

Some of the people who owned older machines, feel they’ve been taken advantage of when they see how fast their new printer uses up the ink.

Almost nobody is aware of the true cost of operating these machines until the first or second time they need replacement cartridges.

HP is now attempting to squeeze out the competitors by dominating shelf space with a multitude of printer models. Most machines have the same general features but the more they have on the shelf, the less room for competitors. Hewlett Packard hopes to lure people with their brand-name and low initial cost.

Once the consumer commits to their printer, HP will have a continuous stream of replacement cartridge business for the lifespan of the machine. It’s in the supplies where they make their money.

So the lesson here is this?? It is critical that you investigate the price of replacement ink cartridges before you purchase a new printer. Comparison- shop both the printer and cartridges at the same time.

A brief list of printers to avoid are printers using the HP 21 and HP 22 ink cartridges. (these contain only 5 milliliters of ink)

PSC 1410 Series, Officejet 4315, Deskjet F340, F380, HP Fax 1250, HP Deskjet 3910, Deskjet 3940 Series, Deskjet 3915, Deskjet 3930 Series

Printers Using HP 92 and HP 93 ink cartridges (5 milliliters of ink)

PSC 1510 Series, PSC 1507, Officejet 6310, Deskjet 5440 Series, Photosmart 7850, Deskjet 5440 Series

The only people who should consider these particular new HP printers, are those who print infrequently (less than 3 cartridges per year).

HP makes quality machines, however we recommend simply seeking out a model that does not use the #21 and #22 or #92 and #93 cartridges. Many more of these new HP printers will be released this month.

Another option is to look for a different manufacturer such as Canon, Epson or Brother. Their inkjet printers often get as good or better reviews from users.

Again, check the cost of replacement cartridges, page yield or milliliters of ink contained in the cartridge to be sure you are getting a good value in comparison.

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It used to be that offset press printers competed with one another and quick printers - those using analog and digital copiers - competed with one another. This is no longer the case. While each type of printer has its advantages, both are now vying for the same business. This is primarily driven by two forces: market demand and technology.

Today’s customer demands various sized orders from smaller runs of less than 2,000 pieces up to direct mail campaigns of 20,000 pieces or more. Furthermore, increasingly the expectation is to have the job completed in 2- 3 days. Not too long ago an offset printer would send this customer to a quick printer for fast turn-around especially for, say a 2,000 piece four color job. Well today, that same offset press printer will most likely accept that job and turn it around in the time demanded. Because more and more customers were requesting this type of service, offset printers have had to adjust.

This is where technology enters the picture. Because the speed and quality of digital copiers has greatly increased while prices have continued to decline, printers are able to acquire more capability at modest investments. Thereby allowing them to compete head to head with quick printers and accept much more of the work they used to turn away.

While this all sounds great for customers and offset press operators, where does it leave the traditional quick printer? Well, the short answer is worse off. It is no secret that quick printers can purchase and invest in higher-end equipment that can compete head to head with the offset press, but the fundamental problem with that is that quick printers are quick printers because they made a decision to be such, meaning they chose not to be in the offset printing business and really have no desire to do so. This is especially true given the high cost of equipment and skilled labor. So how do quick printers compete? They compete by partnering or forming alliances with offset printers, especially those that exclusive serve the print trade industry, in order to satisfy the quick print customer base and gain some financial benefit. And by partnering, I mean quick printers continue to pass larger jobs on to their offset partners but retain ownership of the customer, thereby gaining the ability to extract some of the margin. In the end this model is not ideal because the quick printer has little control over the production process and the pricing model. Additionally, this is a much lower margin business model that cannot sustain as a primary source of revenue in the long term.

At the other end of the spectrum for quick printers, very short runs, the news is not much better. Customers are gaining the ability to produce this work themselves for the very same reasons noted above with technology being the key factor. It is not unusual to find the same production-quality equipment found in a quick print shop in corporate offices. These corporate customers still demand finishing services such as binding but the core printing service is increasing being done in-house.

Because quick printers are being squeezed at both ends, they will need to offer services that others cannot or are not willing to offer such as end-to-end customized solutions. These types of offerings provide value to the customer by allowing them to focus on their core business and these offerings are less sensitive to price competition. The future for quick printers is one of change and discovering new ways to bring value to customers.

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Get your printers to print your business cards in bright colours as this attracts the eye and few people will be able to resist taking a card from you. You need the name of your business to be printed in bold letters so that it is easy to read. The backs of the cards can be utilised by printing any snippet of information you might want to advertise about your company, or it could be used to display your advertisements of your special offers.

Always take your cards with you no matter where you go. You never know when you will meet someone to whom you would like to give a card. Be constantly aware of the fact that you must advertise your business wherever you go as the more people get to know about it the more will visit your store.

Wherever you have been leave a card behind so that someone can find it and possibly get curious enough to visit your place of business.

Professional people have been making use of these little cards for a very long time. They use them to give to their patients and clients as a reference for them to keep so that they will have their contact details in case they need their services again. The reverse side is normally reserved for writing the time and date of the next appointment the client must keep with the relevant person concerned.

To add value to your cards try magnetising them and you will get better results. There is something about these magnetised cards that is irresistible to many people. The cards will be taken home to be put on the fridge.

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The term “yield” will by definition save you a bundle.

Before you purchase your next inkjet or laser printer, you will need to understand the importance of the term “Yield”, which we will discuss in a moment. For now, let’s take a look at the various elements that go into determining the cost of printing just “One Page”.

We can identify two major costs. The first being the cost of the printer and the second being the cost of the ink. An Inkjet printer usually runs anywhere from $50 to $300, while a Laser Jet can cost you $200 up to $6,000 depending on the type (Color vs. Monochrome).

As far as the purchase of ink, generally the cost of ink for an Inkjet printer is cheaper than that of a Laser printer. However, you will need to buy it more often than the laser cartridges you purchase for the laser printer. But does buying an expense printer cost you less in ink or does purchasing a cheaper Inkjet printer mean that it does not matter what the cost of ink is? Can we include a common denominator that will determine just how much your printer is costing you? Or better put, what is the cost of printing just “One Page”?

Well, for one thing, you will need to learn a new term called “Yield”. This is defined as dividing the cost of the ink by the number of pages you can print with one cartridge. For example, if it costs you $40 for your ink cartridge and you can print 500 pages, then the yield is 8 cents per page ($40/500=$.08). Compare this with a laser cartridge that costs $150 which produces 10,000 pages per cartridge. The cost of this cartridge is like sticker shock compared to the inkjet printer, right? But this cartridge will only cost you 1.5 cents per page to print. By doing this simple calculation, you can better determine which printer is the most cost effective on a “cost per page” basis.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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A laptop computer, also called a laptop, is a mobile computer, which is small, lightweight and portable. Laptop computers normally run either on a single battery or from an AC/DC adapter or power supply unit. This adapter charges the battery even while providing power to a computer. Laptop computers and laptop printers are a modern technology that does not restrict you to one specific room or even area. Laptop computers are extremely popular due to their portability. They use less power and are quieter than desktop computers but are a little slower and more expensive.

There is a large range of accessories available on the market today for laptop computers that make working much more convenient and easier. These accessories range from laptop printers to mini zip drives to mini hubs to security locks. They sell most accessories separately from laptop computers and design them to add convenience and meet the user?s needs.

Laptop printers are important accessories to use with laptop computers. Gone are the days of having to return to your home or office to print documents that you need immediately. There are now laptop printers, or mobile printers, that provide people with the power to print their documents while traveling on the road. This is not only convenient but allows people to be far more productive by saving time. A wireless USB adapter is an uncomplicated plug-in component that turns your laptop computer into a wireless communication device. You can link laptop computers with laptop printers, mobile phones, handheld devices or any other devices using Bluetooth technology. This system has built-in security that lets you safely transfer information and makes using cables, to transfer data, unnecessary.

There are backpacks or carriers specially made that allow you to transport laptop computers or laptop printers safely and these are just great for business people that travel, students or anyone requiring a portable computer and printer. The backpack carrier has more storage room than a regular carrier. All carry-cases are water resistant, safe for carrying and come in a wide range of designs and colors. Extended-use batteries are another great accessory allowing people to use their laptop computers and laptop printers when there is no power supply handy. For eye-level ease of reading, portable desk stands let you tilt the computer, which lessens neck and back strain, so the user is not typing flat or looking down. They are lightweight, portable and easy to use.

Shopping online for laptop printers and laptop computers is a great way to compare products and prices from numerous retailers without having to leave your office or home. With most people living such busy lifestyles today, this is a great way to relax while shopping.

About the Author:

Terry Roberts is a professional translator and linguist, with a wide range of interests. To read more about laptop printers - and about printers in general - please visit his website: Printers for Novices

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So you need copies but your copier is jamming!  Sure you can call the repair person, but you need the copies now!  There?s nothing you can do, or is there?

So you need ten sets of a fifty page document for this mornings meeting.  It?s 8:30AM and your meeting is at 9:00AM.  You begin with your project and the copier jams.  You clear the jam but it keeps jamming!  It?s not pulling in the paper.  Sure you can call the repair person, but you need the copies now!  There?s nothing you can do, or is there?

All office equipment that feeds paper has a component inside that pulls the paper out of the paper tray and into the machine.  Most are made out of rubber and just like the tires on your car they wear out.  When a roller is worn and dirty they will cause paper jams.  The purpose of this article is to show you how you can clean or rejuvenate the rollers long enough for you to complete your job and have your repair person come out and fix it properly. 

Alternative solutions

When your machine is jamming, first locate where the paper is jamming. Which paper tray?  Is it tray 1 or tray 2?  Also which size is jamming?  On machines that have more than one paper tray you can switch paper trays and then you can skip cleaning the rollers.  Make sure when you change cassettes that the copier registers the correct size.  The machine will think it is a different size and it will jam.  The sensors are set for a specific timing and it will know the difference in length from letter size and legal size.  I also would try using the bypass tray or manual feed tray if so equipped.  This will get you up and running quicker than cleaning the rollers.

Determining if the rollers are the problem:

If you need the specific tray to be functional we will get busy with the repair.First make a single copy in the tray that is jamming.  By doing this you are determining where the paper is jamming.  If it is jamming in the exit for instance, you have another problem.  If it is jamming in the center of the machine, again it is a different problem.  But if it jams at the cassette or paper tray area the next step is removing the paper tray.  Shine your flashlight into the paper feed area and see if there are any pieces of paper torn off inside or something blocking the paper path.  Now that you have ruled out a blocked paper path, you can clean the feed roller(s).

Tools Required: Flashlight, strong cotton towel (so it will not rip off in the machine), WD-40 or Rubber roller rejuvenator.  Note:  Never use alcohol to clean rollers.  It dries out the tread and the remaining tread will get ripped off and then it still will not feed.  Use WD-40 it works great

Cleaning the rollers:

Shine your flashlight into the paper feed area and locate the rubber rollers that feed the paper in.  Grab your towel and saturate it with cleaning fluid.  This can be WD-40 or your favorite roller rejuvenator.  Start by cleaning the roller and spinning it all the way around not missing any of the surfaces of the roller.  Then go over it again with the dry part of the towel.  As I said there are many different types.  Some have a set of three rollers.  One Pre-feed roller, this pushes the paper into the other rollers.  One feed roller and one separation roller.  Others have a half moon style.  These are harder to clean because they have a clutch system that keeps it at home position when not feeding.  WARNING:  If you try and turn these to clean them you will damage the clutch mechanism!  There are two ways you can clean these types.  First you can actuate the clutch by pushing down on the solenoid or release lever.  This sometimes can be hard to get to.  You can also start the copy process and shut off the machine exactly when the feed roller engages.  This takes some patience and practice but it is better than damaging the clutch.  Once you get it where you can clean the roller repeat the procedure above.

Some alternatives to replacing feed rollers:

There is a material called feed roller tape.  I have used it when I didn?t have the right roller in my car stock.  It works with some styles mainly half moon styles. Just peel off the adhesive and wrap it around the worn roller surface. They also have some that stretch over the old rollers.  I have never used this but I have been told it will get you up and running.  On old copiers or printers that you can no longer get parts for you can apply clear silicon on the feed surface and let it dry twenty four hours.  It works but I am inclined to use the real thing.  You can also use generic rollers manufactured for almost all equipment.  I have mixed feeling about these because I have had to go back and change them again later.  For the best repair I use genuine OEM feed rollers.  They are still inexpensive and they will last you longer and you will have fewer headaches.

Feed Rollers

There are many types of rollers and feed systems.  Here are some common feed rollers with their part numbers.  Rollers will normally come in a maintenance kit but they may need to be replaced approximately half way through the maintenance kit cycle. HP LJ-4000 laser printer

Feed RollersRG5-2651-000CN x 2

Note:  These are very easily replaced.  Just unsnap them and replace them with the new roller.

Toshiba E-Studio 350/450 Photocopier Paper Feed Rollers 44201807000 x2, 4400669910Note: These take a little more work.  First you need to remove the paper feed assembly and then you can get to the clips that hold them on.

I hope this has helped you complete your print or copy job.  Please remember that this article is just a quick fix and not a long term solution.  Be sure and call your repair person to fix it correctly.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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