Archive for September, 2008
Reader’s Question:
I’m currently attending college here in Stamford, Connecticut and I really want a printer I could use along with my notebook, something that will not take up too much space in a dorm, what kind of printer should I be looking for?
Roland
Stamford, CT
The best printer for someone attending college should be inexpensive, space-saving, easy to use and of course, reliable. Before you start looking for a printer you should take some time and assess exactly what it is you would use your printer for. The cheapest model or the most feature-packed does not necessarily mean that it would be the best for your need.
If, in your course, you see yourself printing a lot of text-heavy documents (research papers, thesis, reports etc.) then you should consider getting a personal laser printer, a good model can go for around $200 and should be available on lots of retail stores in Stamford, Connecticut. A laser printer is capable of printing quality text and documents rapidly, and does not use as much ink as an ink-jet printer, therefore saving you lots of money on ink refills.
If you are studying design, photography, architecture or graphic arts then you should consider investing on a high-quality Ink-jet printer, which can handle graphics much better than any laser-printer. Price range for a good color ink-jet can fall around $150-$400.
An all-in-one might seem practical, since it has other features you think might be useful after college, however, this is not really recommended for college students since most tend to eat up a lot of space and you end up paying for other features which you might not end up using at all, and which could have been spent on a quality printer instead.
September 17th, 2008
Reader’s Question:
I have an HP Officejet 4200 series printer/fax/scanner which I use for my home business here in Louisville, Kentucky along with my VoIP Phone service. I noticed I’ve been having increasing difficulties sending and receiving faxes lately since I switched to cable broadband, what could be the problem?
Philippe
Louisville, KY
Faxing is one of the biggest challenges usually experienced by people who rely on Internet phone service or VoIP service. Most of the time problems with faxing happens due to the fluctuating quality of your Internet connection, (if you are experiencing packet loss, jitter or latency issues), rather than the VoIP company itself, this determines whether you’re able to make and receive faxes successfully. It is a good idea to also optimize your fax machine for VoIP use. However, as some fax manufacturers will tell you, this may or may not work all the time.
Before you do adjust settings on your fax, call up your VoIP Company there in Louisville, Kentucky and see if they can test the quality of your Internet connection for you. Tech Support can usually tell you if the problem is with your broadband, (helping you report the problem and have it fixed) with your modem or VoIP device. Try to get a permanent resolution for this problem.
The next step is to optimize the fax; from your manual, adjusting the following settings will usually resolve your faxing problem with VoIP. First, adjust the Transmission speed (Baud rate) of your fax to ’9600 bps’. Put faxing Resolution to ‘Standard’ and Turn off ‘ECM’ or ‘Error Correction Mode’. If it still doesn’t work well, try to set Rings to Answer to ‘Zero’, Answering mode to ‘Fax only’ and also enable ‘Overseas mode’. This should improve the overall reliability of faxing over VoIP.
September 1st, 2008
Reader’s Question:
I’m putting up a medium-sized Law firm here in Sacramento, California and I’m wondering type of printer will best suite our needs?
Mathilde
Sacramento, CA
Due to the myriad of makes and models of printers out there, the most important thing about choosing a printer for your business is to consider exactly what your printing needs are, how often your staff will be using it and of course your budget. A high-end printer may not necessarily be the best choice and you wouldn’t want to get a printer that constantly breaks down due to overuse either.
If you are on a budget and prefer to save space, I suggest you get an all-in-one printer, scanner and fax. Not only does having one machine do all of your printing, copying and faxing needs make life easier, it also saves you more money in the long run since these machines tend to use standard paper sizes for everything, eliminating the need for you to purchase different paper sizes. An all-in-one is actually a good investment since you will only have to maintain and renew supplies for one machine. Imagine having to buy separate toner cartridges for a printer, copier or fax when they basically do the same thing as an all-in-one, print.
The drawback, obviously, is that if the one essential part of the machine goes out, say the LCD screen then the whole machine might be useless for other purposes too, so you’re essentially shut down if heavily reliant on printing or faxing, like most law firms are. You also would want to consider the number of people who will be using the printer, so speed and ease of use is essential to avoid long printer queues. The benefits of an All-in-one for your start-up firm in Sacramento, definitely outweighs the cons. HP and Canon have been known to produce reliable all-in-one’s and have helpful after purchase support, so you may want to begin you’re search there but just make sure you get a good warranty for these machines.
September 1st, 2008