Deskjet Review

We had a HP Deskjet and getting an Epson Stylus tomorrow. From what we can see Epson cartridges are cheaper than the HP ones? But what about all the others, how do they compare price wise? I’m talking genuine ink cartridges not cheaper "compatible" or refurbished ones. Thanks.

Kodak claims to have the cheapest ink cartridges for inkjet printers, my friend, though I have no personal experience of Kodak printers.

For a very long time there has been a real solution to the problems associated with printing on sheet labels. What we’re saying here is that there are thousands of people, if not millions, who use a whole sheet of labels just to print a label or two. It’s a total waste of time, it’s a waste of paper and it’s a waste of money.

Some will present the fact that you can keep re-using the sheet of labels until all the labels are gone, so there would be no wastage. Great call, but there is not a printer manufacturer in existence that will advise you doing this, and we’ll describe why shortly.

Some people will point out that if you compare the cost of sheet labels on a per-label basis, the sheet labels will cost less. Another Great point, but it is not just about the cost of the labels, you need to consider the cost of ink, toner or ribbons and time. Printing a single label or just a few labels on a Laser or Inkjet takes longer than the alternative solution.

Talking about the ‘alternative’, now is the time to introduce it. The rationale to all the nuances of printing on sheet labels is called the ‘personal label printer’. They have been around for 16 years. That’s right, 16 years, yet so many people still waste time, effort and money printing on sheet labels.

Currently, the most popular personal label printer is the Dymo LabelWriter. The LabelWriter is a small office tool that serves just one very important purpose – printing professional looking labels. The range of labels you can print on a LabelWriter is immense – from address and shipping, right through to name badges and even prescription labels.

The question remains – why is this better than sheet labels? The answer is rather simple, and we’ve already touched on the subject. The answer is that it is especially devised to print labels. It does not serve any other objective. The entire product from concept to end result centers around printing labels.

But it does go deeper than that. There are many positives of using a Dymo LabelWriter over sheet labels, and when you’re talking about printing like one label, two labels, three labels or even a hundred labels at a time, the utter convenience of the Dymo LabelWriter will make it the wise decision.

Sheer convenience is why so many people make the decision to buy a personal label printer. You get free software that is so fundamental to use, and you can even print out of applications like Word, Outlook, ACT!, Goldmine and QuickBooks with just a click or two of your mouse – there’s no retyping of addresses.

The other part of the convenience factor is that you don’t need to load a sheet of labels into your Laser or Inkjet printer every time you need a label. With a Dymo LabelWriter, the labels are on rolls, and when one label is printed, the LabelWriter feeds the next label into the print-head, ready for action.

See if you can find any recommendations (in the user manual) against re-feeding used sheet labels into your Inkjet or Laser printer. There is not a printer maker in existence that recommends this exercise and there are many reasons why.

First, once a sheet of labels has traveled through a printer and a label has been peeled off, the successive time the sheet is re-fed through the printer, there is a very high chance that the labels surrounding the missing one will peel off.

Next in line is the fact that in most printers nowadays, the path that the sheet of labels takes while going through the printer is very restrictive and sharp. Grab a sheet of labels and wrap it around something that’s round and thin – like a Sharpie for example. You will probably notice that the labels will start to peel off, and that is what actually happens inside a lot of the newer sleeker printers we buy these days.

One more reason printer makers want you to avoid using sheet labels in their printers is that the glue from the labels can bleed into the sensitive mechanics of the printer and ultimately cause the printer to jam and fail.

The list of reasons that people give for switching from sheet labels to a personal label printer like the Dymo LabelWriter is immense. These products have been around for 16 years and they’ll probably be here for another 16 years. The longer we need to print labels, the longer we will need a personal label printer.

Sally Green
http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/the-16-year-old-solution-to-the-20-year-old-problems-of-sheet-labels-102939.html

With a computer printer sitting on most office desks – both at home and at the office – most users have come to understand the role of the printer toner. But, in most cases, the extent of our knowledge is limited to knowing when and how the printer toner cartridge must be changed. And change it we do, without having any real understanding of how it functions within our printer.

Printer toner contains the ink – whether in liquid or powder form – that allows our computer documents to come to life so that we may hold them in our hand. When we choose the print option from our computer, a signal is sent to the printer, and ink – of all necessary colors – is released onto our papers reproducing exactly the document we constructed on our computer.

Each printer comes equipped with compatible printer toner. Depending on the volume with which we print, the printer toner will have to be changed periodically or more frequently. In this case, we purchase replacement printer toner – which in many a case can be an expensive proposition.

Of course when replacing the printer toner most people turn to the printer manufacturer. The specific printer toner that is compatible with your printer comes with a product number that will help you easily and conveniently locate a replacement. While this can be a more pricey option then purchasing a generic alternative, you are sure to get the quality that your printer needs. Lower quality printer toner, while always less expensive, can seriously clog and damage your printer.

That is not to say, however, that you can not find quality printer toner at reasonable prices. There are generic brands that offer superior quality at a more affordable cost. The key is ensuring that you are dealing with a reputable company that will stand behind the products they sell.

Printer toner is an inevitable part of printer ownership. Take your time to learn what works and what prices you can find so that you affordably address your printer needs.

Michelle Bery
http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/understanding-the-printer-toner-138014.html

5 Ways to Save Money at the Office

Office supplies and the office in general can quickly become just another task that can get in the way of dealing with everyday tasks. On top of that, the office supply budget can become viewed more on the needs list then the wants list, thus causing the person in charge of office supplies to neglect searching for great prices and cost saving alternatives. The problem that may come when searching for office supplies are that there are many resellers offering what appear to be similar items, at similar prices, and when time is a crunch, most often someone from the office will have to be rushed out to the local office supply store to pick up a replacement toner cartridge or a ream of paper. With some simple planning and intuitiveness, an office can save money and be more prepared with less down time and more productivity.

1. Compatible Ink Cartridges & Compatible Toner Cartridges

If you have tried to save money at all in your office environment, no doubt have you come across the compatible ink cartridges and compatible toner cartridges, and probably even the refills. Compatible ink and toner cartridges can be a great way to save money over the expensive Genuine OEM cartridges that printer manufacturer’s offer. Generally compatible or remanufactured cartridges can save you 50% or more compared to the OEM printer cartridges. It is important though to not always look for the best deal when buying generic cartridges. Many people who purchase the cheapest cartridges possible on sites such as Ebay, have problems with the cartridges not performing like they should, with toner lines through the pages or ink not printing correctly on the pages. The best way to save money is by finding a reputable reseller of compatible and or remanufactured cartridges and pay just a little bit for the quality assurance. For example, online retailers such as Professor Ink offer a 12 month warranty on all products sold through them.

2. Recycle paper that has only been printed on one side

The next way to save money in your office is to use your own method of recycling paper. Depending on the office type, you could either print a lot of pages that are used for internal use only, for a short period of time, or you could print paper and have it used for clients use. For the first case, many companies will just print on one side of the page, and then throw the paper away. The best way to save money is to start a pile that has all of the printed sides of paper facing down, and then once you have a decent size stack left, insert them into your printer, so that the other side of the page can then be printed on. If used effectively, this method could essential cut your paper usage in half.

3. Turn off computers or put in Stand-By mode when you leave for the day

The next way to save money at the office is to simply turn off your computer or put it into stand-by mode at the end of the day. This can be a simple habit to get into and can save the company money on utility costs since less power will be used. Turning off the monitor is a good start, but by turning the computer off, or by putting it in stand-by mode will save even more electricity.

4. Replace your old printer

The next tip is to analyze how often you use your printer, and to examine the cost the consumables, such as printer ink and toner cartridges. One example could be that if you are using an inkjet printer, most of the cartridges will only print between a few hundred pages before needing to be replaced. If your office does much printing at all, you should consider upgrading to a laser printer. Printers such as the HP Laserjet 10150 use the HP Q2612A toner cartridge which an OEM cartridge from HP would cost about $69. Professor Ink offers the compatible version of the HP Q2612A for only $21.99, and the cartridge is estimate to print about 2,000 pages, as opposed to inkjet cartridges which print about 200. Doing some simply math and we find out that with the compatible HP Q2612A toner cartridge, the price per page is only $0.01, where the ink cartridge price per page is about $0.06. So in this case, the inkjet cartridge price is almost 6 times more expensive then the laser printer with a toner cartridge.

5. Buy office supplies in bulk

The final tip is to consider purchasing office supplies in bulk. Generally purchasing anything in bulk will always save money. Consider purchasing paper, toner cartridges, ink pens, sticky note pads, and even computer systems in bulk to save additional money.

After utilizing some or all of these 5 ways to save money at the office, you should be well on your way to doing your part to help the company out. Make sure to let the boss know if your achievements as well, hey maybe you will get a raise.

Adam Hockemeyer