The question, from Jamie:

I was looking at buying a new printer in the near future. At the minute I have an all in one and would never go back to a “Printer” as such. I was reading about laser printers and some people where saying they could harm a human body. Is this true, also what does a laser printer need? Ink? Cartridges? or something like that?? And would you recommend the printer you have (HP Colour LaserJet CM1312.)

The answer, from Wireless Packet:

Most laser printers today use toner. They do come in cartridges, depending if he is interested in a black and white (or color). The machine could take several different cartridges at once.

Laser printers can be harmful to the human body. I wouldn’t worry so much about printing a few dozen pages a day, but if you plan on printing hundreds a day… over time… depending on a number of things, he could see some health issues.

Asthma and other breathing illnesses can be aggravated by being near these types of printers. My recommendation? If you plan on purchasing a laser printer, make sure it is being used in a well-ventilated room. Do not sit right on top of the printer. Printers do produce an exhaust. This exhaust does contain things like paper and toner dust. Once in the lung, it has no place to go but in your body.

So, use caution…

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The HP LaserJet 3052 is a great piece of hardware, so long as you’re running it on Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). It wasn’t ready for Vista, although drivers were eventually updated to fully support its feature set. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Leopard didn’t quite like it, either.

Leave it to the community to come up with the answer. I remember reading this thread a few months ago (when Mac OS X 10.5 was first released), and a solution had not yet presented itself. We were getting mixed messages, not from the hardware or software – but from the company that stated full compliance with Leopard. Sure, it prints – but the scanning support was just not working properly.

The other night, as I was going through my options on the live stream (as always), ‘Datalore’ piped up and suggested a solution to the problem – as outlined in this community thread on HP’s site: HP Scan in 10.5 Leopard. Precisely my issue, and precisely my solution. Seems all you need to do is:

1. Download and install the latest drivers from HP, including this patch.
2. Upon reboot, navigate to your Applications | HP LaserJet Software | Scan folder through Finder – and there you’ll find the ‘HP Scan’ app.
3. Select the ‘HP Scan’ app’s icon, then hit Command+I (a keyboard shortcut to pull up it’s Info pane.
4. Look for the option marked ‘Open using Rosetta’ and place a checkmark in the box.

The HP Scan application should now work in Leopard. Don’t ask me why this workaround works, but at least it works – and I’m not sure where HP stands on updates.

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Wirelesspacket shared with us some research he has come across, regarding Laser printers possibly causing health problems.

Four of my friends joined me for this discussion: Kat, SC_Thor, Wirelesspacket, and last but certainly not least… Datalore.

According to several studies, Laser printers can cause health problems. Certain laser printers used in offices and homes release tiny particles of toner-like material into the air that people can inhale deep into lungs where they may pose a health hazard.

Most of the printer-generated particles detected were ultrafine, and such contaminants are easily inhaled into the smallest passageways of the lungs where they could pose ‘a significant health threat.’ Previous studies have focused on emissions of volatile organic compounds, ozone, and toner particles from office printers and copiers. However, the research left broad gaps in scientific understanding of particle emissions and airborne concentrations of particles.

To keep yourself safe, make sure your printer is not right next to you on your desk, and always work in a room with plenty of ventilation.

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According to the test sheet that just came from my HP LaserJet 1220, my page counts are as follows:

• Total Pages Printed = 9477
• Pages Jammed in Printer = 4
• Pages Mispicked in Printer = 8
• Total Pages Scanned = 1559
• Pages Jammed in Scanner = 1
• Pages Scanned to Copy = 361
• Pages Printed From Copy = 375
• Pages Scanned to Host = 1183

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