We used to point out that laser printers were cheaper in the long run because the ink was cheaper. Now some of the printers themselves are cheaper than the ink.
Inkjets still make up much of what a person sees when they go to an office supply store, especially the all-in-one (fax, copy, scan) units. These seem like a great idea, but we’ve found that the individual features of the all-in-one aren’t great. And what’s more, they never have been. So, if you want a scanner, buy a scanner.
But the all-in-ones are cheap. We’ve bought models from HP, Epson and Canon, the major makers. How can you resist? As usual, we’ve been dissatisfied. We should ask ourselves over and over: Why do they sell these things so cheap? Because they make tons of money on the ink, of course.
What about the print quality? The color is poor compared to the glossy, magazine quality of a laser. But enough already. Having spent $388 to buy Canon’s top-of-the-line color inkjet - the PIXMA PRO-100 Color Professional - we junked it and went back to an Okidata color laser.
Had we been snookered? So we had. It can happen to anyone. The salesman at our favorite big-box store convinced us - despite our natural skepticism - that this Canon Pro was the best inkjet you could buy. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any sample printouts to show us.
And so it goes. This top-of-the-line turkey was 2 years old and had the worst colorprint quality we’d ever seen. They must have been delighted when they moved it out of the warehouse. To top it off, its initial setup required an hour-long discussion with technical support.
So we got our money back and bought an Okidata C331 laser printer for $316, $72 less than the Canon inkjet.
We have bought this kind before and sure enough, the color was still gorgeous. It also prints duplex, which means it can print both sides of a sheet in one pass. This is important, and you want to check for this when you buy a new laser printer. That’s because the powdered ink is melted onto the page by a hot roller - 440 degrees in this case, hot enough to brown a roast. If you run that paper through a second time to print the other side, there’s a small chance the ink from the first pass will come off onto the hot roller. We’ve only had that happen once, but the repair cost is almost as much as a new printer.
One last cautionary note: Laser printers tend to be heavy, especially color printers. Our Okidata weighs 50 pounds. So you want to have a strong guy around when you take it out of the box.
THE PERFECT WORD
The latest version of WordPerfect is $99 at Wal-Mart, a big reason why people buy it instead of Microsoft Office, which is $220 for the Home edition or $99 a year for Office 365. But there are other good reasons why you might prefer WordPerfect.
Lawyers like WordPerfect because of its legal tools, such as redaction, “Bates” numbering, document comparisons and legal templates. Writers like it because it makes it easy to publish your book to the Kindle; the new X7 version handles other e-readers, as well. If you choose “eBook Publisher” from X7’s “Project” menu, WordPerfect prepares your manuscript for electronic publishing to the Kindle, Nook or Sony e-Reader, saving many steps.
Other differences from Microsoft Word: In Word-Perfect, you can create forms and save them as PDFs. The person who receives the form can fill in the blanks, check off boxes and email it back to you. It comes with Roxio Secure Burn for password-protecting files you burn to CD or DVD.
A few warnings: First, WordPerfect won’t work on the 64-bit version of Windows XP. But most XP users have the 32-bit version, something you can check by going to “system info” under “accessories.” (If you get lost searching for it, hit the F1 key, which brings up the “help” menu, and you can type in your search terms.) It won’t work on Macs, either. Second,if you like to paste text from the Web, you can’t use the Google Chrome or Firefox Web browsers. You must use Internet Explorer, along with the “Paste Special” command.
If you don’t care about these fancy features, there are free alternatives to WordPerfect and Microsoft Word.
We like Kingsoft Writer. Find it by searching for “Kingsoft Writer Free.” It looks like an older, simpler version of Word. If you need a word processor on your iPad, there’s a version of WordPerfect for the iPad for $5 and there’s a free trial. Microsoft Word is also now available on the iPad, but you need a subscription to Office 365, starting at $10 a month, or $1.67 a month for four years if you’re a student.
APP HAPPY
TimeHop, a free app for Android and iPhone/iPad, lets you share what you were doing on the same day in previous years.
UpTo Calendar, free for iPhone/iPad using the iOS 7 operating system, lets you see your friends’ calendars and them see yours. If you don’t mind sharing this info, it makes it easy to plan events.Friends’ calendars are hidden under yours. Swipe to add events from theirs to yours. Calendars you follow can include a huge variety of events: Facebook events, TV schedules, concerts coming to your city and calendars you create for clubs.
Trusper, a free app for Android or iPhone/iPad, has tips from the public, such as how to make a cookie in a mug, and tips from your family and friends, if they’ve signed up.
INTERNUTS
SitterCity helps you find a baby sitter. It claims it runs background checks on a database of more than 150,000 caregivers. Our niece got a nanny job in New York City this way, and friends say it does a good job of finding babysitters, nannies and pet sitters.
“55 Must-Read Cleaning Tips.” Type that phrase into Google or your favorite search engine. Example: Put Lego pieces into a laundry bag and wash in the washing machine or dishwasher.
Bob and Joy can be contacted by email at bobschwab@gmail.com and joy.schwabach@gmail.com.
Business, Pages 20 on 04/14/2014