My OperaHP Laser Jet 1100 - Truly worth its weight in gold
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 2:52:09 PM
I've just got a new printer - a second-hand HP Laser Jet 1100. With this new stuff, a lot new advantages are right there on the horizon.
My dad snapped it from some guy for 900k VND. We couldn't afford a brand new, which goes for 3 million VND, so a used should fit the bill. It's a black and white printer which works really fast. It doesn't get as easily heated up like the one my dad has at home. The size is quite big, thus considerable space on my table has to be sacrificed. Anyway, bearing all the merits this machine hold, I can safely say we have made the right decision.
Books of all types are thick on the ground out there. But they can set me back quite a bit. And they are all in Vietnamese. If I want an original one printed in English, I really got to pay through the nose. Just think about it, if I stop by a FAHASA bookstore and visit the novel and science sections, I could be knocked down for six with all those prices. I wonder why a book of more than 100 papers should cost 250 000 VND. That's big bucks, and big bugs, too.
So let's take into account how the printer is supposed to settle this problem.
1. For 70 000 VND I can print 2000 pages (1000 sheets or 2 reams)
2. For 50 000 VND I get 500 pages (1 ream)
3. The cover should cost 3000 VND.
So, for a 300 papers book on psychology, I need 150 pages, which equal 15000 VND and 12000 VND in sheets and ink respectively. That's 27 000 in total, which will come to 30 000 if the cover price is added.
Such a book may be valued at 150 000 or 200 000 in the market. Thus I can save up to 120 000 or 170 000 for each one. What a big profit!
Now I got numerous e-books from the internet, all in English and in fine pdf form. If I need them, I simply turn the printer on and put my feet back and wait.
That sounds great, doesn't it? But this prospect is not readily realized. The other side of the coin is the actual process of printing.
Nearly all printers can ink-fill one side of a paper at a time, so if want to get it 2 sides, the paper has to be turned over. Theoretically, I can command it to print all the odd pages first, and then the even ones. But the woe is, the papers get curved coming out of the printer. They're no longer flat, which desmooths the way for easy printing. If the papers are curved, it takes a good time to get them half-flat.
And when I turn them over and put them back into the tray and click the printer going, it just drives me crazy. Those sheets seem stuck together, and the come out not separately but in groups of 2 to 3. That's really a pain in the neck.
I haven't come up with any idea how to solve this problem, but the best bet may be to printer paper by paper. This could be a bit time-consuming, as I have to give the orders many times, and have to wait for the paper to come out, and then flatten it, and turn it over, and place it back into the tray, and wait for process to be repeated.
I've tried this also, and it's no bed of roses. There can still be faults.
But when all's said and done, the presence of the printer should bring about a real lot of conveniences. I no longer have to visit printing shops, which overcharge their customers from time to time. I can get heavy-going reading stuff from the net and take a book-style look at them, which is more efficient than fixing my eyes on the computer screen. I can prepare material for my student pretty easier and at a lower cost, which is the main reason I have to set foot on those photo shops.
All blessings are mixed. We just have to get the best out of the bad.
My dad snapped it from some guy for 900k VND. We couldn't afford a brand new, which goes for 3 million VND, so a used should fit the bill. It's a black and white printer which works really fast. It doesn't get as easily heated up like the one my dad has at home. The size is quite big, thus considerable space on my table has to be sacrificed. Anyway, bearing all the merits this machine hold, I can safely say we have made the right decision.
Books of all types are thick on the ground out there. But they can set me back quite a bit. And they are all in Vietnamese. If I want an original one printed in English, I really got to pay through the nose. Just think about it, if I stop by a FAHASA bookstore and visit the novel and science sections, I could be knocked down for six with all those prices. I wonder why a book of more than 100 papers should cost 250 000 VND. That's big bucks, and big bugs, too.
So let's take into account how the printer is supposed to settle this problem.
1. For 70 000 VND I can print 2000 pages (1000 sheets or 2 reams)
2. For 50 000 VND I get 500 pages (1 ream)
3. The cover should cost 3000 VND.
So, for a 300 papers book on psychology, I need 150 pages, which equal 15000 VND and 12000 VND in sheets and ink respectively. That's 27 000 in total, which will come to 30 000 if the cover price is added.
Such a book may be valued at 150 000 or 200 000 in the market. Thus I can save up to 120 000 or 170 000 for each one. What a big profit!
Now I got numerous e-books from the internet, all in English and in fine pdf form. If I need them, I simply turn the printer on and put my feet back and wait.
That sounds great, doesn't it? But this prospect is not readily realized. The other side of the coin is the actual process of printing.
Nearly all printers can ink-fill one side of a paper at a time, so if want to get it 2 sides, the paper has to be turned over. Theoretically, I can command it to print all the odd pages first, and then the even ones. But the woe is, the papers get curved coming out of the printer. They're no longer flat, which desmooths the way for easy printing. If the papers are curved, it takes a good time to get them half-flat.
And when I turn them over and put them back into the tray and click the printer going, it just drives me crazy. Those sheets seem stuck together, and the come out not separately but in groups of 2 to 3. That's really a pain in the neck.
I haven't come up with any idea how to solve this problem, but the best bet may be to printer paper by paper. This could be a bit time-consuming, as I have to give the orders many times, and have to wait for the paper to come out, and then flatten it, and turn it over, and place it back into the tray, and wait for process to be repeated.
I've tried this also, and it's no bed of roses. There can still be faults.
But when all's said and done, the presence of the printer should bring about a real lot of conveniences. I no longer have to visit printing shops, which overcharge their customers from time to time. I can get heavy-going reading stuff from the net and take a book-style look at them, which is more efficient than fixing my eyes on the computer screen. I can prepare material for my student pretty easier and at a lower cost, which is the main reason I have to set foot on those photo shops.
All blessings are mixed. We just have to get the best out of the bad.
