computer printers

[Guest Moepar]

Hi all

I know that quite a while back there was a discussion about what kind of printers that are used by those of us who print the newsletters at home (instead of taking them to an outside printer). Well, looks like our club has decided that they may want to kick the outside printer to the curb, bite the bullet for a good quality printer IF it will save $$ over going to a outside printer. I'm not sure what they may be willing to lay out for a printer yet, but assuming they want a decent one (maybe around $500?? range, nothing nearing $1,000), what are most of y'all using now? What do I need to look at/for when trying to decide what will fill the budget? I know that technology has moved ahead since this was last discussed, some printer lines being dropped & some being added, so I figure I would need to ask about it.

Thanks

Dawn

[R W Burgess]

http://forums.aaca.org/f127/best-inkjet-printer-222006.html

Dawn, I also bumped the original thread to the top. PeterG made a comment in that other thread about buying printers resembling buying cars. Everyone has an opinion. True, but at least bringing it out in the open may show some shortcomings.

Since that last thread, printers have come down in price. Some editors refill their own print cartridges (I was never brave enough for that-"voided warrenties") Again though, with cheaper printers, maybe refilled cartridges are feasable now. Who's to say? Anyone?

Wayne

Edited January 18, 2010 by R W Burgess
Elmer Fudded! (see edit history)

[Guest clarnp49]

As an advanced computer user and the son of one newsletter editor I would like to make a comment on the printer issue.

I wouldn't suggest a inkjet printer for publishing the newsletter at all. The reason are as follows, RW Burgess made a good point of the refilling of ink cartridges. The cost is a huge factor when it comes to replacing OR refilling. The inkjet machines aren't setup for making A LOT of copies at a time. Another reason is that inkjet quality hasn't really made an impression for documents. They are really made for homeowners that want to print out pictures once in awhile. The price of the printer is so cheap that sometimes it's cheaper to throw out the printer and buy a new one instead of replacing the ink or refilling it. The downfalls of refilling isn't really about the warranty as it is the printers have a sensor that detects the number of pages per cartridge and that sensor has to be reset with another cartridge to keep printing. One store has a service of refilling the cartridges but they don't offer the reset option for your printer so you are left with a "new" cartridge but the printer doesn't think it's been refilled because the sensor says it's the same empty cartridge.

I would suggest a decent laser printer, you can find a really nice one for your $500.00 budget and the toner will surprise you at first on the inital outlay of cash but you get a lot more copies per cartridge compared to inkjet cartridges.

If your looking at printing in color then your investment can still be very nice for your $500.00 investment, if that is what you are thinking you want to spend but be careful with color as they get pricey when you want to change toner cartridges. Some color printers have each color in individuals so that if you using alot of one you don't have to replace all 3.

I would check on Laser Printers - CNET Reviews for a listing of good printers. I also would ask local small businesses what they think of the printers they run if they print alot of documents all the time. Some of them have contracts with local shops that keep their machines running and some of them might allow you to use their equipment if you help with the toner pricing.

I hope this helps you in your quest and I wish you the best of luck.

[R W Burgess]

Dave,

Our region is doing just that. We are e-mailing the "6 copies" that our computer members can receive. Yes, 6!!??? Our region is made up of mostly older members, so e-mailed copies will not help our situation.

I do like the idea of increased charges for mailed newsletters only. This may entice other members to go hi-tec!

Wayne

[Larry Schramm]

One caution to e-mail. If you do send out, attention needs to be looked at file sizes. Even though over 50% of email users have high speed internet access, those still on dial up will not be able to access large file sizes without letting the computer sit for long periods to down load the news letter. This is especially true if it is filled with high resolution pictures or if the news letter is done on Microsoft Publisher, even if converted to a .pdf file. Publisher creates huge file sizes of newsletters and from my experience is not condusive to e-mail for the masses. We had the publisher issues with our kids school newsletter.

[R W Burgess]

Good point Larry,

Photo sizing software is a necessity when dealing with these issues. It's also helpful to upload your newsletter, then mail it to yourself and see how long it takes to download. If loading times are excessive, you may have to drop a few pictures if your file is too big.

Wayne

[Jim Bollman]

Our region also has an eMail option, not sure how many use it.

I'm involved with a Habitat for Humanity Affiliate and we made electronic delivery of our newsletter an option available about 3 years ago and advertise the option in every issue. We now send 13 of the 1000+ newsletters via eMail. I was concerned when I made it an option since I didn't have a process for eliminating them form the printed list at that time. Turned out to be a non problem, we just delete them manual before printing.

[Larry Schramm]

Wayne, and others, When mailing to yourself, be sure that you send it from one email account to another, not the same. Once you get it at the sent to account look at the size of the email. One meg should be max. Remember with email smaller is better and if it is small, you will allow the dial up group to get it and the high speed crowd to be happy it loaded quickly.

One other item is to be sure if you are sending out to a large group mailing, the mailings should be broken down into groups of ten at a time or many times it will go into the spam file. There is software available to make the mass mailings timed to go out in smaller batches so it does not become spam.

Also when sending out mailings put your address as the TO:..... , and everyone else in the blind copy bcc: category. This will protect the privacy of individuals if they want their email out of general circulation and will help to protect against spammers from getting a list of email addresses if the newsletter is forwarded by one of the members.

[Guest Mr T]

I manage our website and help with our newsletter production. Laser printers are the way to go and cheaper per page than inkjet. We produce around 50 hardcopies of our newsletters and email about 15. I send a link via email to keep members inboxs small. I also recommend Adobe PDF software and select to 'Reduce file size' option to Adobe Reader 8.0 or higher. This will dramatically shrink the file size of your newsletter and improve the download speed people viewing the newsletter. As for laser printers, I like the Konica Minolta printers as they really produce the sharpest images when we have pictures in the newsletter. They rival the best inkjets out there. If you are lucky, we got a model on closeout for $400. Always get the extended or high capacity toner cartriages as it will be cheaper than the standard toner cartriage. Hope this helps answer your question.

Thanks,

Ed

www.alamanceaaca.org

Webmaster