People dismiss ink/toner subscriptions so readily, but don’t consider that for some usage patterns, they’re actually a really good deal. I’m not saying that they’re the right thing for everyone, but it’s dumb to reject them categorically without even knowing what they do.
The big problem I have with it is that in the case of HP at least, once you opt into the subscription plan you cannot opt out, it makes some change to the firmware of the printer that from what I read is not possible to reverse. It is also not clear when you go to buy the thing that some models REQUIRE the subscription plan. On top of that I seem to recall that if you cancel, the ink/toner you have already received is bricked and unusable.
If it was an optional thing that one could freely opt in/out of freely then I wouldn't have an issue with it. Also given my overall experience with subscription tech/software I feel justified in rejecting such things categorically. I have a severe allergy to recurring subscription fees, there's a reason printer makers are pushing these plans and it's not because it earns them less profit.
Even that ancient 300dpi SCSI flatbed still provided adequate performance for what I use a scanner for, and unlike a lot of modern flatbeds it could scan 3D objects with a surprising amount of depth.
People dismiss ink/toner subscriptions so readily, but don’t consider that for some usage patterns, they’re actually a really good deal. I’m not saying that they’re the right thing for everyone, but it’s dumb to reject them categorically without even knowing what they do.
The big problem I have with it is that in the case of HP at least, once you opt into the subscription plan you cannot opt out, it makes some change to the firmware of the printer that from what I read is not possible to reverse. It is also not clear when you go to buy the thing that some models REQUIRE the subscription plan. On top of that I seem to recall that if you cancel, the ink/toner you have already received is bricked and unusable.
If it was an optional thing that one could freely opt in/out of freely then I wouldn't have an issue with it. Also given my overall experience with subscription tech/software I feel justified in rejecting such things categorically. I have a severe allergy to recurring subscription fees, there's a reason printer makers are pushing these plans and it's not because it earns them less profit.
However they effing turn consumable into service with tiers of how many pages you are allowed print per month, not even charge you for actual pages printed.
Even that ancient 300dpi SCSI flatbed still provided adequate performance for what I use a scanner for, and unlike a lot of modern flatbeds it could scan 3D objects with a surprising amount of depth.In optics, depth is inversely correlated with resolution.
You are not guaranteed depth in a low resolution scanner, but you are guaranteed little depth in something that can resolve single digit microns.
However they effing turn consumable into service with tiers of how many pages you are allowed print per month, not even charge you for actual pages printed.So… the same as your cellphone minutes or megabytes.
Just like some cellphone plans, the instant ink subscription lets you roll over a few months worth of unused pages, so to an extent, it lets you subscribe to your average page count, but go under or over in a given month without paying more.
I haven’t done the math to see if such a subscription would be right for me (since I don’t have a printer where that’s available), but I don’t think they’re a bad deal for everyone. (Especially with inkjets, the subscriptions have advantage that high-coverage pages like large photos don’t cost extra, nor does head cleaning.)
However they effing turn consumable into service with tiers of how many pages you are allowed print per month, not even charge you for actual pages printed.So… the same as your cellphone minutes or megabytes.
Just like some cellphone plans, the instant ink subscription lets you roll over a few months worth of unused pages, so to an extent, it lets you subscribe to your average page count, but go under or over in a given month without paying more.
I haven’t done the math to see if such a subscription would be right for me (since I don’t have a printer where that’s available), but I don’t think they’re a bad deal for everyone. (Especially with inkjets, the subscriptions have advantage that high-coverage pages like large photos don’t cost extra, nor does head cleaning.)The difference with cellphone is that it's a service by its nature, something virtual. The problem with instant ink and overall trend is that they try to get rid of your ownership rights of physical items and basically put a tax on you, which does not seem to be that high on a first glance unless you actually calculate cost of ownership. Everything must be an effing subscription which is paid automatically, so you don't actually notice every time you lose money.
I strongly dislike the multifunction devices that have been all the rage for the last 10 years or so. Bolt the cheapest scanner to the cheapest printer and then when one of them breaks you have to replace BOTH devices, winning! Some of them won't even scan if there are not working cartridges in the printer.
I have a standalone flatbed scanner that I get out when I need it. It's pretty ancient but works fine and was a replacement for an even more ancient scanner I retired due to lack of driver support in my OS, which itself was a replacement for an even more ancient scanner replaced for the same reason. I bought that one new way back when I got my first fast food job around the time scanners plummeted in price to around 10% of what they had always been. Even that ancient 300dpi SCSI flatbed still provided adequate performance for what I use a scanner for, and unlike a lot of modern flatbeds it could scan 3D objects with a surprising amount of depth.
......
I found 60mm extra height was available and this one claims to be an actual Laser over an LED with apparently better Colour rendition (not essential) for about $70 AUD extra so I spent a decent bottle of Scotch more and got a Brother HL-L8260CDW over it's cheaper sibling.
LED Laser or Laser LED or both? Always confuses me.
LED printers fascinate me. If it's a 600 dpi printer, you need over 5000 LEDs to image a typical row of A4. Are they using an OLED module or just discrete LEDs in some kind of custom package?
Is the module small and scaled to fit the page with lenses, or is it the size of the page?
Early DLP projectors had a way of doubling resolution by 'shaking' the DLP chip up and down slightly, effectively creating an interlaced pattern. Maybe vibrating the drum could achieve some kind of micro-resolution improvement.
Packing 5000-10000 LEDs across 200mm isn't that much more amazing than the way they can pack in inkjet nozzles!
(Anyone remember 3-pass scanners, which used color filters to scan RGB in completely separate passes, and grayscale by leaving out the filter? You didn’t dare touch the scanner mid-scan because even tiny misalignment of the scan passes would ruin the scan…)