NEW PRINTERS ADD LIFE TO OLD COMPUTERS
It's a fact of life that things get older. And no where is that
more apparent when it comes to consumer electronic products. Leading
the obsolescence pack I believe is the personal computer. Granted
that digital cameras, DVD players, TVs and mp3 players continue to
take better pictures, get smaller, offer higher resolutions and
store more songs and data than last year's offerings. But a new
personal computer almost immediately begins to feel its age as the
continuous stream of newer software applications and games continue
to push the limits of even the fastest of today's models.
But instead of having to pony up for a new computer system this
year, there are ways to upgrade certain components. Most agree that
adding more memory is the easiest way to speed things up. Adding a
newer video card and a second faster hard drive continues to keep
things current. But another consideration you may want to make is
upgrading the peripherals that are connected to your computer. I
believe the first peripheral you should consider replacing is the
printer.
 With
me, I had bought two new computers but was still using the same old
inkjet printer I had been using with the first model. When it came
time for the third new system, I realized that the bottleneck was
now the printer. It took a long time to print and the output was
terrible by today's standards. Getting the new printer was like
opening the floodgates. The images were breathtaking and produced
much more quickly. If you're ready for a top-of-the-line printer,
you may want to consider the Epson Stylus Photo R320.
This printer has just about every feature you'd want in a
personal printer. If you're into digital photography, this printer
has your name all over it. In fact, you can print without turning on
the computer. Just take out the camera's removable memory card and
insert it into the R320. It supports most of the popular formats
such as CompactFlash, Secure Digital, Memory Sticks, SmartMedia, xD-Picture
Card and several others. A small movable color display shows the
images while an LCD screen below presents all of the options from
which you can select. These include paper size and type, layouts,
filters, image enhancements and number of copies. You can also
directly hook up a number of digital cameras. A variety of direct
connect and camera printing technologies such as Exif Print and
PRINT Image Matching are supported by this printer.
An included tray lets you print directly to both 12 cm standard
size and 8 cm mini printable optical media discs. Since these CD and
DVD discs sell for about the same as their standard counterparts,
you'll save by not having to buy press-on labels.
The R320 sports an impressive industry-leading maximum resolution
of 5760 by 1440 dots per inch. There are six individual color ink
cartridges that can spray a tiny 3 picoliter droplet from any of 90
nozzles. The result of all this technology is a photographic image
that is comparable to anything you'd get back from a photo lab that
developed your roll of film. The only difference is that you won't
have to wait while you drop off and then go back to get your
pictures. Plus the cost per picture is somewhere around a
competitive 29 cents per 6 by 4 inch print. Epson makes a wide
variety of papers with surfaces such as matte and glossy in many
different sizes. The R320 is capable of printing a variety of
borderless image sizes too. Printing speeds produce a 4 by 6 photo
in 39 seconds, and an 8 by 10 inch photo in 77 seconds.
If you're thinking "new year, new computer" but your wallet says
"new year, no computer" then perhaps adding a new printer will
breathe life into your aging system. And while computers age the
most quickly, printers seem to have a lot more longevity. With
something like the R320, you'll be hard pressed to find something
that will do much more for some time to come. The Epson Stylus Photo
R320 sells for $199.99, connects to a Windows PC or Macintosh via a
USB 1.1 or 2.0 port, and comes with Epson Print CD, Epson Film
Factory 3.0 and Adobe plug-in software for both platforms.
www.epson.com |
