Chris Pirillo » printer

A Word of Caution Concerning Printer Ink Cartridges

Chris — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:05:22 +0000

A Word of Caution Concerning Printer Ink Cartridges is a post from Chris Pirillo

After reading my article about generic print cartridges, Teebo was moved to write to me about his experiences. He taught me a few things that even I didn’t already know… and hopefully you’re about to learn something, as well. Here is what Teebo had to say:

There are two types of ink cartridges today: one is a complete cartridge which includes a print head, the other is only an ink reservoir. The advice I was given when I bought my last printer was to buy one whose cartridges contain the print heads. That way, each time you buy a new ink cartridge, you’re getting a brand new print head.
My previous printer had the print heads built right in to the printer itself, not on the ink cartridges. One day, the print heads failed. I called customer service, and was told that it wasn’t worth it to fix the machine. They said I was better off buying a new one! I was so unhappy with their response that I DID buy a new printer – from a different company! I made sure to purchase one that uses ink cartridges that include the print heads.
Every time I buy new ink, I get new print heads. I never have to worry about them failing again. Generic cartridges don’t come with print heads, of course. My recommendation is to not buy generic ones… but to simply take your name-brand ones in for refills to save yourself money. These work great for home use. When the print heads finally do fail on the ink cartridges, simply throw them out and buy new ones. This is going to save you a lot of money, and a lot of headaches.

Excellent advice! Thanks, Teebo, for reaching out to help others refrain from making this same mistake!

123Inkjets Coupons

coupons — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:12:19 +0000

123Inkjets Coupons is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Generic Printer Cartridges, Is it Worth It?
By Pinky Mcbanon Platinum Quality Author

The battle for inkjet cartridges rages on – with printer manufacturers insisting that their cartridges are the best and only option for printing and the manufacturers of generic cartridges on the other hand, declaring that their cartridges deliver printouts of as good quality as original cartridges. If you have ever purchased an inkjet printer, and run out of ink, you must have noticed that the cost of one inkjet cartridge sold by the manufacturer of your printer can be as high as 33% of the cost of the printer itself.

Many printer manufacturers sell their inkjet printers at very low cost. The cartridges are expensive to replace – in fact, 3-4 cartridge replacements can cost as much as the printer itself! A printer user would certainly like to cut down on this recurring expenditure while maintaining the ability to generate quality printouts when needed.

This is the reason behind the proliferation of generic cartridges – generic cartridge manufactures claim that their products deliver quality prints that can match those produced using branded ink cartridges at as low as one-fifths the cost.

How reliable are these claims? Can generic printer cartridges provide the cost effective print quality they claim to do? The truth lies somewhere in between.

While generic cartridges give as good quality printouts as original cartridges on normal paper, the differences really show up when printing on high quality paper. Original cartridges give clear, sharp and brighter printouts while generic cartridges tend to yield smeared images on high quality paper, most probably due to the difference in the quality of ink used. Another aspect is the longevity of the printout. Printouts using original cartridges maintain the quality over a much longer duration than those produced by generic cartridges. This is attributed to the research and development efforts of printer manufacturers in maintaining quality of the ink used in original cartridges.

The most important drawback of generic cartridges is the very high incidence of clogged nozzles in the printer. Most of the users of generic cartridges have reported an increase in the frequency of cleaning print heads.

If you want to cut down the cost of printing and are willing to put up with the effort involved in having the print head cleaned frequently, it may be worthwhile to use generic cartridges.

Ms. Pinky is a Computer Support Specialist for more than 25 years. Has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering, MS Research work in Systems Engineering.

Get more free computer tips on her blog at www.computerhelpdeskandsupport.com/

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pinky_Mcbanon class=”related_post”>

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Do You Want a MakerBot or RepRap 3D Printer?

Chris — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:15:50 +0000

Do You Want a MakerBot or RepRap 3D Printer? is a post from Chris Pirillo

If you didn’t already realize it, Gnomedex.com is currently promoting our next conference – coming up next month (August 20th – 22nd, 2009). One of the presenters is Bre Pettis, who is a “maker” extraordinaire. For the second time in the past couple of weeks, I’ve had someone from the community email me to let me know about Bre’s MakerBot.com – without knowing that (a) I know Bre, and (b) Bre is speaking at Gnomedex. Still, Christopher Benjamins explained Bre’s project to me…

Hello Chris! I’m not really in the chat, but I’ve seen a lot of your videos. I’ve been getting interested in 3D printers and stumbled on an old video you made back in 2007 talking about them. You mentioned that you read in a magazine I think that someone was trying to make one out of cheap stuff, well – he did. I wasn’t sure if you kept an eye on it or not or forgot about it.

I’m sure you know that the commercially-produced 3D printers are expensive; they now range from $20,000 to $500,000. I was lucky and got to play with one back when I took an CAD Engineering class in high school (I made a cool little spaceship in 3D). Recently, I found the MakerBot and the RepRap 3D printers. They are very cheap compared to the other ones. I’ve been thinking about getting a MakerBot, and then using that to make a RepRap. The interesting thing though about them is that they are open source projects. You can get the designs for them and built them completely by yourself. Or, you can get kits. Another interesting thing (specifically, the RepRap) is that 60% of the parts can be made by another 3D printer (it doesn’t have to be RepRap or MakerBot). They are self-replicating machines. The RepRap project is working on improving that ratio, and also allowing someone to print in more than just plastic. I think they have a solder and a plaster extruder?

3D printing is more than just prototyping now. Their dream is in the future instead of buying something online and having it shipped to you, you would download it, and print it yourself – like a mini personal factory.

Both of these projects work together to improve their designs. Actually, the founder of RepRap helped jumpstart and support MakerBot – both are different in a way. MakerBot is made from cheap stuff that anyone can find and build. RepRap is designed to self-replicate, but the downside of that if you don’t have a friend or some other resource who can give you those special parts (the ones that a machine would make), it’s difficult to make one. So people usually make one, to produce a RepRap, or make a temporary machine using the same motors and circuits to make the parts for it.

Again, you can meet Bre / MakerBot at Gnomedex – in person.

HP Color LaserJet CP2020 Review

Chris — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:49:31 +0000

HP Color LaserJet CP2020 Review is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I bet you didn’t think I had more than one room in my home, did you? Let’s face it – all you ever see is my office! However, I shot this video in the “hub” of my home… the kitchen/den/open area. I don’t know how to properly describe it! Anyway, that’s where my new HP Color Laser Jet CP2020 sits. Since I have computers scattered all over the house, it makes sense to have my printer in a central location.

You’re likely going to want to buy one of these for yourself… if for no other reason than the fast double-sided printing on ONE page!! Yes, you read that correctly. I demonstrated this by choosing to print something directly from YouTube. You’ll notice that the page prints – and then goes back into the printer! How cool is that? I didn’t have to take the paper out and feed it back in. It didn’t pick up a second sheet. It just yanked that little sucker back in, and printed the second side. It was fast… and the quality is excellent!

The printer connects either via your home network, or by USB. This makes it easy for you to use it in any situation where you have a network with several printers. Why would you need a few cheaper printers that don’t work well in each office location, when you can have one AMAZING one connected to all the machines?

Check out the new HP CP2020. I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to fall in love just like I did!

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Are Laser Printers Safe?

Chris — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:39:17 +0000

Are Laser Printers Safe? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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…

Canon Printer Software Problems

Chris — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:17:37 +0000

Canon Printer Software Problems is a post from Chris Pirillo

A fellow geek purchased a Canon printer recently and, much to his dismay, discovered that it was impossible to operate without first installing the required software. This is one of the reasons I’ve been extremely gunshy about recommending Canon’s consumer products as of late (I’ve about had it with their PowerShot digital camera series, too). He wondered if I had the same problem with a specific HP printer previously reviewed…

So I just stumbled on your review of the HP Photosmart C6380. It’s probably kind of old by now, but I have a question about the required software and drivers, and I think you might be the only reviewer out there who would be interested in listening.
Have you been able to install the C6380 without using the provided software CD? I recently got a Canon PIXMA MP620 which seems to be pretty much the same printer on paper (and I have to agree with you, wireless scanning is something I’ve waited way too long to get). But I was disappointed to find that I had to install a ton of software just to print. Scanning, I can understand the need for some software (although I hope there comes a time when it’s unnecessary), but printing should work right away. I used to have an HP Photosmart 2610 and all I had to do to add the printer to my system was type in the ip address in the “ipp” field. In fact, now that I think about it, I believe Bonjour found it even before I had the chance to think about typing it in.
A network printer is a great thing to have around, since anyone can use it anywhere in my apartment, even neighbors down the hall who need to print out an e-ticket quickly before going to the airport or train station, or a teammate who comes over to work on a project one afternoon and wants to print out a diagram or a proposal so we can draw on it and discuss it together. But if they have to install a bunch of software just to print one thing, it kind of negates that ease of use. Canon, unfortunately, only supports their proprietary “bjnp” protocol, which means there’s basically no way to use the printer without installing their software. Getting it to work on linux took me two hours of googling, downloading, configuring, rebooting, and trial and error. If the C6380 can at least print without installing a bunch of junk, I would immediately box this thing up and pay the difference to swap it for the HP. Have your tried to use it without the provided software, or do you know if it supports ipp or something similarly universal?
Thanks for your time, and for the great video reviews!

I could certainly use the printer outright – and yes, it was quite available on the network. Of course, it was good to have the software installed – but I didn’t feel I needed to in order to access basic printing functions. I’ll actually be doing a future comparison between that HP printer and a similar Kodak model (to test ink cost theories).

How Do You Save on Printing Costs?

Chris — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:47:12 +0000

How Do You Save on Printing Costs? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Tell me if this sounds familiar: you go to print a web page, and find you’ve printed fifty pages instead of just a small part of one page. You realize you forgot to copy the text. What do you do when you want to print parts of a web page? You almost need an editor for printouts. PrintWhatYouLike allows you to have just that.

Format any webpage for printing in seconds – no more pasting into Word.
Save money and the environment by reducing your paper and ink usage.
Make printed web pages more readable by removing ads, widgets and other distractions.
Fix broken pages that don’t print correctly.
Enter the url of a page you wish to print.
Edit the page until it contains only what you want to print.
Print It! Only your modified page will be printed.

There really is nothing else to it. It’s so insanely easy that you won’t believe it. This is the most effective way to get things done when it comes to printing.

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HP’s Color LaserJet CM1312

Chris — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:51:51 +0000

HP’s Color LaserJet CM1312 is a post from Chris Pirillo

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You guys know about my two dogs, Wicket and Pixie. I took some pictures of them recently, and printed one in about a minute flat on the new printer sitting in my office. The quality was as good as the quality of the photo itself. The big deal would be that it was printed on a color jet printer. To be exact, I used the new Color LaserJet CM1312 from HP. I’m really excited about this machine, actually. HP sent this to me to review, and I don’t think I want to send it back.

I’ve been using HP Laser Jet printers for years, going way back to the days before USB. Over the years, features and functions have grown. I’ve always been sold on the concept of an all-in-one device. Thus, I jumped at the opportunity to review this machine… and it’s been a great experience. This is the first color laser jet printer that I’ve had in my home office. To tell you the truth, I can see it no other way at this point.

This thing is as Uber as these types of peripherals get. It can fax, it can scan, copy and print. It doesn’t just print in black.. it prints in perfect color. I can’t get over how fast it printed these pictures. It’s just insane. I printed high-quality photos in LESS THAN A MINUTE!! Featuring newly formulated HP ColorSphere toner, the HP Color LaserJet CM1312 MFP produces print-shop quality documents with a wider range of colors, higher gloss and improved photo resolutions to help micro and small businesses who need to take their business documents to the next level.

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USB Switch

Chris — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:46:07 +0000

USB Switch is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Ever since I first laid eyes on USB… I’ve been enamored with USB devices. I probably have no less than 20 USB devices within arm’s reach at any given time. But, what happens if you have a USB printer, but you have two computers. How can you keep that one printer connected to two computers… if there is only one USB port on the printer?

Well, you can get a USB 2.0. The goal of the new serial bus is to broaden the range of external peripherals that can be used on a computer.

You can identify whether your PC has Hi-Speed USB or not relatively easy. Open Device Manager and expand the Universal Serial Bus section. There should be an “Enhanced” USB host controller present. USB 2.0 has a raw data rate at 480Mbps, and it is rated 40 times faster than its predecessor interface, USB 1.1, which tops at 12Mbps. Originally, USB 2.0 was intended to go only as fast as 240Mbps, but in October 1999, USB 2.0 Promoter Group pumped up the speed to 480Mbps.

Almost every conceivable peripheral has a USB 2.0 version ranging from a HDTV tuner, a micro hard drive to even video card / USB monitor. So, even if you buy a all-in-one HP multimedia PC with all the gizmos, you’ll still need something USB.

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InkJet Printer Help

Chris — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:05:58 +0000

InkJet Printer Help is a post from Chris Pirillo

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So many people get frustrated when their printer messes up, and end up just buying a new one. Here are some tips to help you keep your printer humming along in perfect shape.

Check the ink. Many printer manufacturers have made it very easy to tell which ink goes where using a variety of numbers, colors and shapes on the ink cartridge and its caddy. Yet even the best of us have been known to put them in wrong. Check to make sure the color cartridge is in the color caddy and the black and white one is in its proper caddy. Make sure it is for the proper printer model as well. But one thing people fail to realize is that ink cartridges DO go bad and have expiration dates printed on them. I discovered this was a real issue when many of the departments at my school decided to save a few bucks by using recycled and refilled ink cartridges exclusively. When many of our Ink jets started functioning strangely, I checked the ink after exhausting all other efforts. Sure enough they were using recycled ink in a cartridge that expired 2 years ago! I popped in a new, brand name (albeit, pricier) cartridge and the issue was fixed.
Do the power hokey pokey. I developed this routine over time to the point where many of my users now know it by heart and can fix the issue themselves, though I am still trying to work it into a song. Sometimes, an ink jet (or any printer for that matter) just needs a good reboot. In the same way that rebooting your computer seems to fix almost anything. Hold the power button down on the printer while it is on. While holding it in, unplug the printer’s power. Once the printers power is unplugged, continue to hold in the power button for 5 or 6 seconds. After about 10 or 15 seconds of doing nothing, plug the printer back in and press its power button. This solves an amazing amount of issues. An even easier solution that works many times in certain situations is to just unplug the printer from its power source and plug it back in. Some buildings (like the one I work in) are grounded very poorly. After a good southern thunderstorm in an Alabama summer, it seemed like half of my ink jets simply didn’t turn on no matter how hard one might press the power button. Unplugging the printer and plugging it back in seemed to discharge some sort of mysterious static electricity “bubble” that prevented it from getting power. I can’t explain this in anyway, I just know it has worked many times.
Learn to speak printer-eese. Many times, the printer simply tells you what it wrong with it with a series of lights. You just need to learn to decode the message. Most printer manufactures list what these lights and their blinking sequences mean on their website. Finding out what these lights mean can help you realize that the problem may be nothing more than a sheet of paper jammed up inside the printer. The website will also tell you or even show you illustrations on how to correct the issue.
Saving the worst of last; Reinstall the latest printer drivers. Yes, it’s that age-old trump card than any computer tech throws down when all else fails. But seriously, printer drivers can become corrupt for any number of reasons, and uninstalling your printer and installing the latest drivers (found at the manufactures website) can do nothing but good things for you, even if this doesn’t fix the problem at hand. Many times the problem can be fixed just by popping in the CD that came with your printer. If your CD ROM is set to auto play, the CD should give you the option to uninstall or even reinstall the drivers. You won’t get the latest drivers, but you will get the original drivers your printer came with, and the ones it was using when it worked properly.

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Save on Printer Toner and Ink

Chris — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:04:44 +0000

Save on Printer Toner and Ink is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – My round table gang and I came up with a few tips to help you save on expensive ink for your printers.

Three of my friends joined me for this discussion: Kat, SC_Thor, and Wirelesspacket.

Wirelesspacket works in the commercial printing industry. He definitely is against using off brand cartridges, or refill kits. The ink just isn’t as good, and honestly doesn’t last as long. I’ve noticed that as well, and always recommend using the manufacturer’s brand for your particular printer.

Another thing you can do is to change your print layout. Print using Economy mode, instead of the default basic mode. This will save you a lot of ink in the long run, and you won’t really notice any difference in the quality.

When it comes to “practice” printing for color brochures and documents, always print your tests out in black and white. Of course you’re going to want at least one test run in full color. But when you’re just checking the layout and things, use black and white. Colored ink is not cheap!

Lastly, make sure to buy a printer with separate cartridges for color and black ink. This will save you a lot of money, as well.

What other tips and tricks do you have for saving ink cartridges and toners? How do you save money?

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Printer Statistics

Chris — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 05:47:38 +0000

Printer Statistics is a post from Chris Pirillo

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

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

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Network Tools for Windows

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

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