Zit Seng's Superwall » printer

Epson TX220

Zit Seng — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:02:03 +0000

Our last Epson Stylus CX9300F met with a fatal paper jam a couple of days ago, so we were out hunting for a new printer this morning. I realize that AIO (All-In-One) printers have evolved to incorporate tons of many new features. Some features could be useful, like wired ethernet and wireless network printing, automatic duplex, etc. But our core requirements have not changed very much, and we would be sufficiently satisfied with a printer that could print, scan and copy.

But our choice could be severely limited if we were to add on one more requirement: compatibility with our existing supply of Epson 73N ink cartridges. We have about $150 wort of those cartridges. There apparently aren’t many Epson printer models left that still used this type of ink cartridges. We could get a cheap compatible printer now to use up our stock of ink cartridges and then upgrade the printer again later, or just to give up (maybe try to sell them away) on the ink cartridges altogether.

After some thought, we decided to go with the Epson TX220. It’s the cheapest AIO model that uses the 73N ink cartridges. The printer prints, scans and copies as advertised. Installation and setting up to print from my MacBook Pro was no-brainer. Just connect the USB cable, Mac OS X automagically detects the new device and downloads updated drivers. (Actually I expected it to just work right away, but I suppose since the update took place automatically anyway, it’s still a simple enough process.)

We did get caught by a little surprise over the ink cartridge compatibility. We have plenty of 73N ink cartridges, but we also had one set of 73 ink cartridges. It was the latter type that I initially tried to install. The cartridges were physically compatible (they could be installed), but the printer complained that they were unrecognized. I eventually figured out that 73 is not the same as 73N. This printer really needs 73N or 73HN cartridges.

In terms of features, this printer is basic. There are plenty of other printers to consider. Unfortunately, when we decided to use up our stock of 73N ink cartridges, our choice was limited.

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Brother P-Touch PT-1010

Zit Seng — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:27:33 +0000

After a long time trying to decide which labeling machine to buy, we finally settled on Brother. Although initially I was trying to be very objective about comparing costs and such, in the end we still went with Brother instead of Dymo (those were the two choices at Popular book store). I thought Brother was a more reputable, and they have been in the printing business for some time. Dymo may have been in the labeling business for a long time too, but my impression of them was with embossed labeling tapes.

Just to quickly apprise those who are here to know more about the Brother labeling machines. There are basically two ranges: Those that work on thermal tape (M Tape), and those that work on laminated tapes (TZ Tape). The TZ tape is better. The machines that take the TZ tapes don’t seem to differ by that much. Perhaps the main difference is really about the maximum tape width they take. I decided to buy the lowest end PT-1010 machine. It still takes tapes of 3.5mm, 6mm, 9mm and 12mm, which is about all the sizes that are typically needed anyway.

My suggestion is that the higher end models aren’t really useful. Just go for the basic. The PT-1010 is designed to be held in one hand, and it has a nice rubbery hand grip.

There’s something interesting about the packaging that the PT-1010 came in. You know how it is that many products nowadays come in the kind of transparent plastic packaging that you just cannot open with bare hands? The kind that you really have to have a pair of scissors or a pen knife to open?

Well, this Brother labeling machine came in that kind of packaging, but it has a tear off tab which you can easily tear off to open the packaging. It’s really convenient. I just wonder why I haven’t seen any other packaging like this.

Like all the other labeling machine, the PT-1010 came with a 5m sample tape. Now a little word about tape cost. The Dymo tapes costs about $11 for 4m. The Brother TZ tapes costs like $25 for 8m. So, you can see that the operating costs of the Dymo machine ought to be cheaper. (Yeah so logically I should have bought Dymo, but I think the Brother reputation won out over the little price premium.)

Incidentally, if you noticed, many labeling machines seem to leave some empty space before and after the printed text, wasting some precious tape as a result. The PT-1010 can be configured to reduce the space. But it seems to apply only to the space after the text, not before (or at least I’ve not yet figured that out). I don’t know how other labeling machines compare. But I suppose this could be one important consideration when it comes to saving the tapes.

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The Mac Scans with the CX9300F

Zit Seng — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:44:59 +0000

I took me a couple of days too long to get started setting up my new Epson Stylus CX9300F all-in-one printer. It took me over another month before I got around to scanning my first document with the printer. It was a silly problem. It turns out that there was probably something loose with my USB cable connection to the printer. I hadn’t suspected that previously, because I could print to the printer okay. But the Epson Scan program hung. Subsequently I could still print. It didn’t seem logical to suspect the USB cable connection.

So anyway, now the Epson Stylus CX9300F prints, copies, scans and, oh well, I forgot if I did fax with it. I think I did.

All-in-one printers are wonderful, especially copying and scanning. I know many eons ago when I was a student, printing was the most relevant thing to me. Scanning and copying wasn’t all that important (at least not to me then, maybe students nowadays are different). Nowadays, having a photocopier at home has become indispensable. There are so many times I need to make photocopies of vehicle log card, insurance cover note, kid’s birth certificate, medical receipts, etc. These used to be activities that had to be done in office. But now it is so convenient doing it at home.

I guess that’s what these all-in-one printers were designed to do. My only gripe is that they aren’t fast enough, and they don’t do duplex printing. I would really love duplex printing. Okay I know all that is possible, but oh well, I also want it at like $200. Maybe I would settle for $300, or $350 tops. Someday, all-in-one colour laser printers with duplex function and 24ppm will sell for that price.

So anyway, back to my Epson Stylus CX9300F. If anyone wants to know, it works superb with Mac OS X. The accompanying Epson programs don’t have the elegance of the typical Mac OS X graphical look and feel, but they get the job done.

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Epson Stylus CX9300F

Zit Seng — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:05:39 +0000

I’ve finally gotten around to setting up my new Epson Stylus CX9300F. This is the same as the Epson Stylus CX9400F sold in other markets (e.g. USA). This printer prints, scans, copies and faxes.It comes standard with an automatic document feeder, but there is no duplexer (nor is it an available option). It can also print directly from a variety of memory cards.

This printer prints and copies pretty fast. The specs claim 32ppm for colour printing. I don’t think mine printed that fast. But it was surely acceptable for a home printer.

I’m not impressed with the build quality of these “cheapo” All-In-One printers. The plastic on the outside looks nice, but the metal on the inside looks very unglamorous. You don’t have to open up anything to peer at the ugly insides. Just looking at the memory card slots from the front tells you enough. The plastic is really too soft for my liking. You’d have to be careful handling the printer. Mac OS X is supported. The printer software installation is simple, although I felt it was rather inelegant. Too many windows to go through. I suppose it is something that Windows users have gotten used to. I’m sure this is something they can improve on.

The Epson Stylus CX9300F is supposed to fax, but I’ve no idea how to get faxing to work from Mac OS X. I’ll be most delighted if someone can enlighten me. I’ve not set it up yet for my Windows machine, but in Windows, I’d imagine there’ll be a Fax Printer to install, and which I could select to print a document to if I wanted to fax.

I wonder why Apple doesn’t sell Epson printers in their online store. I noticed HP printers only. Perhaps HP makes better Mac-compatible printers than Epson.

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Epson Stylus CX9300F At Bargain Price

Zit Seng — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:49:49 +0000

We were looking around for a new printer, because the Epson Stylus CX5900 we have at home stopped working. One printer that caught our attention while we were at Challenger this morning was the Epson Stylus CX9300F. It’s the usual All-In-One that goes for $328 (or $308 for Challenger members). Just by chance while I was at Harvey Norman this evening, I found they were selling the printer for only $208! After a brief phone call with my wife, I bought the printer.

I’ve no idea how much this printer would have been sold for at Sim Lim Square. But I imagine the $208 at Harvey Norman was good enough a bargain. Particularly considering that the trip to go down to Sim Lim Square would also cost something anyway (time, parking charges, ERP perhaps, etc). I did actually try to check out online, but it didn’t seem like Hardwarezone listed any prices for the printer, and a few other random online price lists I managed to skim through didn’t list the printer either.

You know all those trolleys that you see to many people tug along at the various computer shows? Well, it’s my turn to trot around with the trolley. I had brought Vannesa out for dinner (Mummy was resting at home), and since I had a few other things to carry, I asked the Harvey Norman sales person if she could tie up the box or do something so that I could carry it with just one hand. She disappeared and came back with the trolley. It is a “Brother” trolley. Yeah, a competing brand.

The $208 was cheap enough that I didn’t hesitate to consider Harvey Norman’s extended warranty of $32 for two additional years (above Epson’s standard 1 year warranty). Considering how my CX5900 died, I think it might be worthwhile to invest in some insurance. I kinda imagine that printer manufacturers have designed their printers not to last, so that you’d be out buying new printers more often. That’s why it’s so cheap to buy a new printer, but you pay through “genuine ink cartridges”.

My wife is an Epson printer person. She only buys Epson. I don’t mind Epson. It is quite Linux friendly, so it would be a good choice for me too in the past when I minded a lot about Linux compatibility. Nowadays, I look out for Mac OS X compatibility. Epson is good in that department too.

I haven’t actually opened up the Epson Stylus CX9300F box yet. I’ll post again when I do get a chance to open it up and start using it.

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