I turned on the printer the other day because I needed to scan something for work. I put the sheet into the scanner and turned it on, but it refused to scan.
I tried various things but none of them worked, so I looked up the problem online. It turned out that the printer/scanner is too old for our shiny new iMac and will no longer take updates from Canon, so I resolved to buy a new (wireless this time) printer/scanner and searched on Ebay for a suitable model.
The sort of thing I need is a simple machine which sells for between £35 and £100, and on Ebay one particular brand (HP) kept coming up time after time for about £25-£35. The description said 'unused but box opened'. Strange that there were so many in this condition, I thought.
I went to HP direct and noticed they had a sale on of that model. It is new in an unopened box with what they call 6 month's worth of ink (there is a permanent ink supply paid for by monthly subscription saving 70 percent, which you can opt out of) and free delivery.
It dawned on me that someone has learned that you can buy these printers, sell the ink and printer separately and make quite a lot of money. I bought one quickly before the entrepreneur buys the lot. It arrives on Monday.
So this leaves me with a fully working printer with quite a lot of ink to use up before I give it away to a charity shop or whatever. I will leave some ink in it - there are unopened cartridges for a start - but this weekend I am doing some printing before it goes.
I have begun with a whole batch of my quite large business cards and a couple of coloured prints which I need for next week, but I am now considering producing this year's Christmas card. I have the card too....
Should I be ashamed of myself in this heat?
Definitely not! Better get them produced now than panic last minute.
ReplyDeleteLike I said to Jennifer, I didn't panic last year...
DeleteAbsolutely not! I'd be tempted to go ahead and address them and get them ready for sending out. Less to do in December, you know?
ReplyDeleteI didn't make any last year.
DeleteGetting all your printer projects completed makes perfect sense to me. You might just break all records for having Christmas cards ready for 2023.
ReplyDeleteWell, I am the first idiot to have mentioned Christmas this year anyway.
DeleteI print and scan through my phone printer app, it is the only way I can get my printer to work. I rarely print anything these days. I also use the printer app to read stuff that has to be downloaded to read. It asks do I want to read it via the printer app and I say yes and read and then delete. The Canon printer cost £35 from Tesco during lockdown. I have an HP printer in the cupboard which is supposed to speak to my Chrome Book but I have never managed to get it to do so so I gave up. It brings me out in a cold sweat to even think it. I didn't bother with Christmas cards last year.
ReplyDeleteThis new HP one communicates with phones too, apparently. You need an app for it before it works I am told, and the set-up is supposed to be easy. Ironically, the old printer has begun to play up today, so I might have been forced to act in time.
DeleteMy beloved Cannon printer was killed by the maintenance man at the trailer park. In one of his raging transports to another lot, he drove his lawn mower blades into the ground and through my internet cable. The phone company installed a new cable, too rich and powerful for my Cannon. It never scanned or made color prints. So I am stuck with a utilitarian Brother printer, that to its credit, has printed all these years.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a smart phone, just a standard mobile which I seldom use. I use a PC, printer and separate flat bed printer all of which are a few years old.
ReplyDeleteThis PC came with Windows 10 installed, however my printer and scanner would not work with it - new version of Windows meant all new ancilliaries.
Research said my old printer and scanner would still work with Windows 7 so I had this installed on the PC instead of Windows 10 and all work perfectly. As does Microsoft's Office 2000 which I still use.
Microsoft has us all over a barrel. They continually bring out new versions of their programmes, meaning that to use them you also have to upgrade everything else. This I refuse to do and I note that many organisations (Banks, NHS, etc.) still use older versions of Microsoft. Otherwise they would have to replace all thir PC equipment.
If we bought a car without an instruction book and had to learn to use it by trial and error, and whenever the maker brought out a new part the car would become useless and we had to buy a new one, we would be up in arms. But the computer people seem to get away with it.
A Luddite speaks!
I have always used Macs and whenever I have had to use Microsoft I find it really difficult and complicated. I suppose it is what you are used to, but I would not want to swap now. They all have us over a barrel. Printers are cheap but ink is almost the same price as the printer. Apple phones do not allow you to use ordinary headphones so you have to buy their ear buds for about £300. My old iPhone is not like that though. It would cost the NHS so much to change their systems that it would break it.
DeleteI m going to patent two tin cans with a piece of string between them and call it the iCan.
Not at all - good to think of Christmas on hot days.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping for snow already...
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