Why I love my new Laser Printer.
I'm not a techie, but back about a decade ago I was an early adopter. Tiny laptops, phones I could check e-mails on, ubuntu loaded onto an old laptup to make it work faster and give it a new life, wifi all over the house. We were the envy of the neighbours. (Or we would have been if we were the boasting type. But of course we're not.) Then too many things began to change too fast, and demanded an honours degree in maths to understand so I threw up my hands and hid behind the couch. Now am nearly at the point where I have to ask my teenagers to set the video. (What do you mean there's no such thing as video any more?)
Anyway, having always had at least a couple of computers in the house, we always had a couple of printers too. All inkjet, all by well known brands, and all worked reasonably well.
Then my printer broke down, stopped working, and refused to move because I had been putting in non branded ink cartridges. I had been doing this for years, but somehow I let the printer upgrade itself over the internet and it decided to go on strike next time I went to change a cartridge.
“But I only want you to print black and white” I pleaded with it. “You're only missing magenta, and you don't even need magenta to print black and white. Just print the flippin' document. Please...” (There may or may not have been some other things muttered under my breath, but we won't go into that!)
So off I went to get new ink. And later that week the printer stopped for good. Clearly too much of the 'pure stuff' had sent it over the edge.
I gave the printer a decent requiem. It had served me well for at least six years and had printed out a couple of full length novels, in the process. Which is a longer life and greater usefulness than many electric devices these days.
And then I began to think about a new printer. I say think, because as we now have a wireless printer in the family room, I could still print from the office, and running up and down stairs must have been good for me. So I thought some more, and developed thighs of iron. (That last bit's an exaggeration). And then I realised that I didn't actually need a colour printer. The wireless printer downstairs is colour, but I hardly ever need to print colour.
So carefully I set out for the printer shop, and asked about black and white printers. “You mean laser printers,” the helpful child behind the counter said. I didn't, but I nodded knowingly. I felt fear chill my core. Last time I went looking for a new printer, laser printers meant mortgages. “I'm only looking, really,” I told the child-assistant, shoving my wallet further down into the bag.
Then he showed me the entry model Brother laser printer. It looked the business, and matched what I thought a printer should look like. A solid space-occupying piece of office machinery which made it's owner look important. (I also saw portable printers you could fold up and slip in your pocket and they looked, quite honestly, a little ridiculous). Then I saw the price tag (€89) on the printer and I fell in love. (With the printer, not the child-assistant.).
“There's a free toner cartridge in it, not a full sized one but it will do for about 5000 letters.” he said, and the deal was complete.
Now I have been using the printer for about a month and I have to say the love affair is still going strong. I congratulate myself daily for clearing space on my desk and not leaving the printer on the other side of the room. Why? Because this printer is so fast (and all you inkjet users take note) that when I press “print” on my computer- I can't actually make across the room before the item's printed. Imagine that!
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