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Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Wednesday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news this week
04/01/2009 Where have all the computer stores
gone, or – can computer
equipment get any cheaper ? Let me
tell you about my new Brand Name laser printer I got for a price you just
won’t believe .... When I
started my business many years ago, I knew I needed a good workhorse printer. I bought
a HP Laser jet III 18 years ago today - 4/1/1991 for $ 1881.64 including upgraded memory. It was
state of the art at that time, and many of it’s features became
standards in the printer industry. I believe there were more of these
printers sold than any other model in the industry, and I’m sure
there’s thousands of them still out there working every day.
I had to buy a special
printer stand for it, as it was heavy, so I could keep its paper and supplies
right under it. Over 18 years of use it
only needed 2 small repairs, and it was a wonderful printer. But about a month ago it gave me an error message
when I turned it on, and after doing some internet research on the error
message and how to try to fix it, I took it into a local repair facility, and got the
bad news that the repair parts would run about $ 200, plus labor. So I started looking
around at newer laser printers to fit my needs. I’ve gone through
several color inkjet printers over the years; usually HP but most recently I
use an Epson Stylus R340. I use inkjets to print color, and high quality
B&W photos, and my laser is for regular documents. In looking at current
bargains and printer performance, I found one that was more than twice as
fast as my old laser printer, and the printer quality was twice as good.
After reading several reviews of this, I decided it was my new laser printer. I bought
a HP Laser Jet P1006 17
ppm 600 DPI , first copy in 8
seconds, weighs about 10 pounds, and as they say nowadays, has a small footprint.
You know, I’ve never seen a printer walking in all my years in the
industry ...
The
Retail price was $ 179.98, but it was on sale at Staples, a local
national retailer with a Special discount $ -80.00 That
made the Adjusted price $ 99.98 plus tax 8.70 total $ 108.68 But wait – there’s
more – as they say on TV .... There was
a Trade in allowance of $ 50 for my old HP III printer, which then reduced
the Net price
of my new printer to $ 49.98 After giving
it a good tryout in my office, I went back and bought a 2 Year in store
– onsite service maintenance contract for $ 14.99 Tax 1.30 Total $
16.29 So my new
brand name laser printer cost me under $ 70, with a 2 year warranty. and 18
years ago its equivalent cost me almost $ 1900.00. So I say
again, can computer equipment get any cheaper ? |
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For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2009 MTA Micro
Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html PO Box 31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522 (509)624-7230 |
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