If you are have a home office, work from home, or run a small business it can be difficult to choose what office equipment to invest in. Printers and copiers are expensive, and you want the best quality you can get without spending too much on unecessary features. Two of the leading options for the small business or home office are the Xerox ColorQube 8570 and the HP OfficeJet 4500 all-in-one, both of which deliver impressive results for two different budget brackets. The ColorQube offers a powerful printing platform with patented solid Xerox 8570 ink, while the OfficeJet offers an afforable multi-device capable of professional quality at low cost. Which is best for you?
Let us start by looking at the Xerox ColorQube 8570. The 8570 is a powerhouse piece of office equipment. It would be at home in a large office, serving up high speed quality copies in volume. But for a large piece of workhorse office equipment it is relatively affordable, clocking in at less than $1000 which makes a wide variety of the features suitable for a large corporation available for the price range of a small business.
The specs are impressive. Speed is crucial, and that is one of the ColorQube’s strong points. It can print out 40 pages per minute in black and white or the same 40 pages per minute in color, an impressive rate. At the same time it handles volume. You can load up the 8570 with over 600 sheets of paper at a time. This is a single-tray printer, which is part of why the cost stays down. You will need to manually change betwee different kinds of paper. But if you expect large runs on a single paper type, or usually just print on plain or letterhead paper, this machine will be a good asset.
The ColorQube is a specialized device. It is a fast, high quality printer but it does not act as a photocopier or fax machine so you will need the space and budget for multiple devices if you go this route. Still, for a high-volume printer it is a great investment.
Many small businesses of course are going to want more features at a lower price tag. This is where the HP OfficeJet 4500 comes in. This device occupies the opposite side of the budget spectrum at less than $100. For the price, it delivers an amazing range of features. The 4500 is an all-in-one office device that functions equally as a double-sided, black and white/color printer, photocopier, scanner, and fax machine. This kind of multi-device can save you significant space and money in your home office. It also comes ready to network to multiple computers either wirelessly or through hard lines, and has a USB port to print directly off of handheld devices such as your smartphone.
This versatility comes with a downside. The paper capacity of the machine is very low with a 100 sheet feeder tray and 20 page output tray. This means for long runs or large jobs you will need to be on standby and ready to keep feating paper and grabbing finished copy from the output tray. This can be a time drain, but if you do mostly small runs or letters it may not be a major consideration.
The other downside is the speed. Although capable of speeds up to 28 pages per minute in black and white or 22 pages per minute in color, if you want to get the same high quality definition as you would get on the ColorQube your printing will slow to a crawl at 6 pages per minute in black and white or 4 pages per minute in color. That can make presentations and handouts a serious chore.
Of course, as an inkjet printer the 4500 makes up for some of these downsides. HP OfficeJet 4500 ink lasts for a long time and is cheap and easy to replace. HP ink cartridges are among the more competitively priced brand names, and there is always the option of buying a cheaper compatible cartridge from a third party company if you need to save money.
Likewise, inkjet printers have made bug leaps forward in terms of quality and are now competitive with laser and solid ink machines. If you stock up on Inkjet printer photo paper you can produce quality color photos on the OfficeJet that are ready to be framed and displayed. You cannot argue with quality, especially at a low price, and that is what the 4500 delivers.
Running a home business or making the jump to your first office always comes with a certain amount of risk and uncertainty, but with tools like these you can take some of that risk out of the equation and rest easy knowing you have professional quality at a small price tag.
The Hp Design Jet Colorpro CAD is an Inkjet style printer, developed toward professional architects, engineers, and a great companion for the geographic information systems also known as GIS. This mid-sized printer has dimensions of 27 inches wide, 24 inches depth, and 13.3 inches high. It has a little heavier weight than most at almost 60 pounds, but it is still ideal for a desktop.
With a printing resolution of 600 dpi it delivers a nice clean, clear, and crisp picture down to the last page of ink usage. One of the slight downfalls to this printer is that it has four different cartridges, including black, that have to be used in order to complete a color print. Meaning the cost in ink will be higher than other two cartridge printers.
It is capable of holding 400 sheets of plain paper on the feed tray and 150 sheets in the out-side tray. You can also use other type of paper like photo paper for printing. It can print up to 3 PPM in color and 11 PPM in black in white. On the plus side it is capable of printing a 13” by 19” sheet which is usually only done by larger printers. Now the cost of this printer is on the high side, but to deliver some of the best looking documents and prints it might be worth it.
Software is included in the box that is compatible with most operating systems, and also surprisingly includes ZEHraster Plus, a driver supporting the most popular raster formats like JPEG, TIFF, and CALS. Overall if you are a professional looking for a well defined print out of documents and pictures, then this might be a good choice but I would not recommend this for general home use.
Whether you’re a home-based business looking for simple, affordable and adequate printing solutions or a large office workplace in need of multifunctional and robust printer, the HP Deskjet D2330 should definitely be one of the top picks you ought to consider.
The HP Deskjet D2330 printer is designed in a compact style with easy and simple one-touch control panel. It boasts fast printing with up to 12.5 pages per minute for both monochrome and colored assignments. With the HP Deskjet D2330, print sharp vivid black text and vibrant images with one tri-color cartridge. The HP Deskjet D2330 provides easy image editing and red-eye elimination alongside a standard resolution of 1800 optimized DPI. You can print amazing 4 x 6 border-less images with the HP 4 x 6 Photo Paper with tabs. The printer also sports five different printing modes which you can easily choose from, including Fast Draft, Fast Normal, Normal, Best and Maximum DPI.
With the compactness and durability of the HP Deskjet D2330, it perfectly suits home-based or office organizations in need of a reliable and space-efficient printer. The cost of HP Deskjet D2330 is also not bad and quite reasonable as compared with other options in its respective class. The USB connectivity features are also exceptional as well as HP’s exclusive and intuitive Real Life Technologies and Adaptive Lighting feature. The HP Deskjet D2330 printer features 2 HP inkjet cartridges that are engineered for economic ink usage and can save you lots of money.
The new HP Deskjet D2330 printer is surely a worthy contender for your investment and earns it spot as one of the best compact and simple printer models designed for sufficient performance for both businesses and home-based use. The ink cartridge yields economical advantages that are a definite plus for cost conscious shoppers and prospecting buyers.
Modern technology has brought spectacular improvements to the convenience of working in a home office as well as to the business environment. It has also brought efficiency with the addition of the Brother HL-5150d Monochrome Laser Printer. This printer makes it possible to produce outstanding print and professional looking materials.
This exceptional machine’s features fulfill the needs of anyone who is on a busy schedule. Its versatility makes it easy to complete numerous tasks that significantly reduce the workload and increase efficiency. It uses “toner” which eliminates the need for inkjet cartridges required in other printers.
With a fast print speed up to 21ppm and print resolution up to 2400 x 600 dpi, the HL5150d provides the speed required to complete large projects quickly. It also has automatic two-sided printing capability, 16MB of standard memory, a 50-sheet multi-purpose tray, and a 250-sheet paper tray. This allows plenty of time to create printed materials quickly and efficiently without constantly restocking the paper trays.
There are many other printer features and functions, which allow a high compatibility for both office and graphics users. It is able handle heavy or standard paper, envelopes, transparencies, and labels with ease, beginning in less than 10 seconds. It is compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux computers and can be used as the central printer for several computers in a medium –sized office.
Depending on the production needs of a business, there are two high-yield toner cartridges available. One will produce up to 3,500 pages, while individuals producing large numbers of documents will find the cartridge that produces up to 6,700 pages more cost-effective and convenient. The imaging drum cartridge allows 20,000 pages, providing long-term usage before any replacements are necessary.
There are optional features available as well as connectivity options, which allow customization for the unique needs of a business. This printer is affordable, while providing excellent professional looking production, which will meet the needs of a growing business.
Recently I was dragged along to a digital printing expo, something that originally I was not looking forward to. But the boss wanted me to be there and I never argue with a day out of the office so I cleared my calendar, filled up my coffee thermos and out I went.
If you do not know what digital printing is, it is any method of printing that puts the ink or toner directly on the page without using a printing plate or lithograph or anything like that. In other words, the laser printer or inkjet printer in your office or home are both examples of digital printing. Personal use and normal office use printers like these were certainly a feature at the expo with all sorts of new models and features being shown off.
However often when we talk about digital printing we mean using digital printing technology to print large runs of something, such as publishing a book or similar. In this sense digital printing is a rising star. Technically the cost of printing is still higher per page than traditional offset printing. However, digital offers a number of advantages such as being able to have each copy be slightly different or do very small runs at low cost. Since you are not making printing plates for each page it is just as cheap to do 20 copies as 5,000.
I learned a lot at the expo, especially about all the different applications for digital printing. By using this technology and printing on glass or plexiglass you can make elegant signs very cheaply. By printing on cloth you can make amazing fabrics or quality art prints. I never would have guessed this technology was so versatile if I had not gone to the digital printing expo.
If you are going to shop for anything expensive online, how can you know if you are getting the right product or not? Are you sure it is exactly what you need? This is the problem I ran into when shopping for printer supplies and I ended up referring to a printer supply blog.
Printer supplies can be expensive. You would think that once you have purchased the actual printer the big cost would be out of the way and everything else would be cheaper. But no, toner, ink, cartridges, refills, paper, the whole panoply can run into pretty steep costs. And normally when I buy something expensive I like to ask a lot of questions. I want there to be a sales associate or someone who I can talk to to make sure I am getting exactly the right thing.
When shopping online, a blog is a good way to do that. Blogs are often written by people who are relatively impartial, plus they will link to where they are getting their information so you can see for yourself whether it is accurate. Blogs tend to write about very specific niches, often topics you will not find in your local paper, and printer supply deals are a good example of that.
I recommend checking out a printer supply blog before you do your next round of shopping. It is a simple step but it can make a big difference. A little bit of reading can help you find cheaper alternatives for what you are going to buy, as well as identify sales or discounts you otherwise would not have known existed. Give it a try!
How accurate is Wikipedia, really? When I read a wikipedia article, like most people, I am a little skeptical. Since the article could be written by literally anybody, I am cautious about believing what it says. I had to wonder about whether Wikipedia is really the great source of information people treat it as.
It turns out a lot of study has been done on this question. Many other people have asked the same thing and some have done some very impressive research. It turns out that Wikipedia is, on average, more accurate than the Encyclopedia Britannica. This is evaluated based on the number of factual errors in scientific and historical articles, among other things. Because Wikipedia is fan,edited, some individual articles may be low quality but the
“policing” effect of the community ensures that most are high quality.
Wikipedia has another advantage too. Because does not have to fit into a set number of pages, it covers far more topics than a conventional encyclopedia. Many of those articles are also longer and give more detailed information than a conventional encyclopedia, too. With no page limit and no printing costs to consider, a Wikipedia article can go into as much detail as the topic calls for.
All in all I feel good using Wikipedia as a resource these days. Obviously I still use my common sense and it is a good idea to double check things you read there. But all in all it is a reliable source of information and one which I use all the time.
When was the last time you had a good experience looking for discount toner supplies? If you are like most people you probably never have. Toner is one of those necessities that every business and home will go through, but because it is so essential it also tends to be overpriced. How do you go about getting a discount?
There are a couple ways. First off, stop leafing through those coupon mailers you get from the local big box stores. Yes, they say 20% off or offer special sales, but since the project is so overpriced in the first place that does not exactly make it cheap. These stores always charge more for their toner than online websites. The websites do not have to pay for a building and so they can charge less for everything.
Secondly, consider getting some generic compatible toner. Compatible toner is made to work with your machine but it is not made by the big brand name company you got your printer or copier from. That means it is significantly cheaper for essentially the same product. I always recommend compatibles when you can get them.
These are a couple of tips I have learned from years of smart shopping. Toner can be very expensive and finding discount toner supplies seems impossible to many people. But I never fall for the fake sale prices at the stores, and I hope you will not either.
I always shop online to buy things like office supplies because I know I will always save money. I also look for product information online. For example, I checked into a toner blog when I needed to buy toner. I know some people are not real comfortable shopping for things online but it is sites like that that more than make the experience worthwhile.
If you shop in a store, there is a clerk or assistant there who can answer questions for you. If you tell them what machine you are working with they can put you together with the right toner. They can tell you if there is a generic equivalent that will match your printer. They can give advice on troubleshooting and so forth. Customer service representatives do not know everything but they can usually answer basic questions and point you in the right direction.
This is the only way in which shopping in a store is better than shopping online. After all, online is cheaper and gives you access to more options. But if you cannot ask anyone about what you need, then it does not matter how cheap it is. This is where a toner blog or other info site comes in.
Blogs cover all sorts of topics. They update frequently in response to the latest developments and they link directly to the sources of their information. In this way they are superior to a store employee. A little reading and you will be all set.
When I need to buy an Inkjet Printer I always do so online. I think everyone should do this. It makes so much more sense than going to a store, and it has serious advantages. What kinds of things? Well, here are two key examples.
First off, buying online is a better experience. When you walk into a store you are essentially trapped. Sure, you could leave but they know that you have driven over and it is probably too much work to realistically drive to five or six stores to shop around. Once you are there it is very likely you will buy. Online, it is easy for you to click away. If you think you are being given a hard pitch with no real facts you might just google up the truth. The sites know this and they try to offer real information.
Of course an even bigger draw is price. The prices for an inkjet printer are lower online, period. Websites do not have as much cost to cover so they offer lower prices. They know some customers are too old fashioned to buy online but the lower prices bring in so many people they can still make a profit. And that is good for everybody.
This rule of thumb applies to almost any equipment. Printers, copiers, toner, ink, the whole office supply inventory should really be ordered online. It will help your bottom line.
If you are going to buy a Laser Printer, where do you think you should start? I know what most people do. They drive down to the big electronics store at the mall, or the office supply store, and start looking at models. But I think that is a terrible idea.
I know why people go to the big stores. It just kind of seems easy. You might be heading to the mall or shopping center anyway, so you figure you will just swing by and take a look. A lot of people also like to see the products in person when shopping for a big ticket item like a printer. However, buying from these places is like throwing away money.
If you compare prices, web sites sell printers for a lot less on average than stores do. They do not have the same overhead of store space, staff, utilities and so forth that a physical store has. So they are able to pass those savings along to you the customer. Of course you cannot handle the merchandise before buying online, but it is not like this is a Ferrari
When you want color ink info the last thing you should do is drive down to an office supply store and talk to the clerk. Have you ever spoken with the employees at those stores? They are typically 19 years old and they know as much about color ink as I know about rhino care. Do not bother.
You might have a question about quality. Or you might want to know which kind of ink is compatible with your machine. You might have a specialized question about photo paper or larger scale machines for design work. Or maybe you just want to know what is cheapest. You know where you should take those questions? Online.
When I shop for ink I always do it online. There are no exceptions. The whole reason I started this habit was because websites make it easy to contact someone who knows what they are talking about. When I have a technical question they have it answered quick.
In the process I also discovered how much cheaper it is to buy toner and ink online. It turns out the stores just cannot compete with online businesses for the lowest price. Stores rely on habit: you are used to going to the mall so you swing buy and get your ink. But websites have less overhead. I go to them for both my color ink and my color ink info.
When I need toner, it used to be that I would just jump in the car and drive down to the office supply store. For some reason online toner shopping never really occurred to me. After all, once you are used to driving to the store you just kind of do it without thinking about it. You start to associate the store and its brand with toner itself as if that is the only place to get it.
However going to a physical store is a good way to waste money. I was, admittedly, a little ignorant of this. If you look at the sales the big store is having, and you think about how they are buying in bulk, you might assume this is just the cheapest toner is going to get. And people tend to assume toner is going to be expensive no matter what. But it does not have to be that way
– you can do better online.
The reason online toner shopping is cheaper has a lot to do with overhead. If you think about it, a store has a lot of fixed costs a website does not have. The biggest of these are floor staff, store space (lease, buy or build) and advertizing. On top of that there is inventory cost. If you have a chain store with 400 locations you need to have product at all 400. A website can keep a single central inventory and skip all the costs of a storefront.
The result is that you can get some killer deals online. You should check it out!
There is no worse way to bring your workday to a screeching halt than printer problems. You know the drill. The printer never breaks down when you are bored and looking for something to do. It never has a problem when you are just printing out google maps for next months vacation or Happy Birthday signs for the office party. No, that stuff comes through no problem.
Printers always tend to break down when you are in the middle of something urgent. If there is a deadline or a client waiting you can be sure that is the time it will happen. So do you need to drop everything and run out to Kinkos to fix this problem? Not necessarily.
There are a few basic kinds of printer problems that are most common. Learning to deal with them is easy. For example, if there is spotting and streaking on an inkjet printer, the nozzles need to be cleaned. This can be done easily in warm soapy water. If the paper is not feeding right, take a look at the little rollers that pull it from the tray. Chances are one is loose and when you adjust it by hand the problem will be solved.
These are just a few common problems. The point is that if you take the time to learn just a little basic maintenance for your machine you can handle big fiascoes like they are nothing. And that is going to make your work day a whole lot easier.
For a long time there has been a pretty big blind spot on the internet. Google helps us find information of all kinds, but the information is not always high quality. On the other hand Wikipedia articles, which are policed by a phalanx of vigilante editors, have high quality content but only address factual issues. They do not show you step by step how to do something. There is where wonderhowto.com comes in.
Wonderhowto, like Wikipedia, is user generated. People can submit articles on something they know how to do well. These articles are then policed by the community so the high quality ones move to the top and the others fall by the wayside. The only difference is that Wonderhowto specializes in how to articles. It could be on anything, from how to dance to club music all the way to how to fix a 1985 Pontiac Firebird.
These articles are grouped by category, plus they are searchable. It is surprising how great some of them are. Images and videos help make sure each article is as useful as possible and that all the steps make sense. It can be a little addictive reading these articles, because there are so many interesting things to learn how to do. I find myself spending a lot of hours there!
Anyway, next time you are wondering how to do something I suggest checking it out. Chances are you will find an article that helps you out. If you do not, of course, that may be even more important. Once you learn how to do whatever it is, be sure to come back to wonderhowto.com and submit an article of your own. That way the next person will not have the same problem!