The General thread for Computers And Internet
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2024 3:18 am
I've had my brother laser printer for around 18 months. Still on the factory toner cartridge, print out a dozen sheets (two sided) a month.
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18 months is a long time for the manufacture to keep a particular laser cartridge form factor. By the time you go to chase up a new one they will have stopped making them and new 'old stock' will cost a fortune. Using refilled aftermarket supplies is hit and miss. My old HP color laser was always leaking toner all over the place from refilled and/or non-genuine cartridges. The aftermarket ones cost $80 apiece (so times 4 for 4 colors), while new original ones were pushing $200. Towards the end, genuine ones were completely unobtanium.John Thomas8 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 21, 2024 3:18 am I've had my brother laser printer for around 18 months. Still on the factory toner cartridge, print out a dozen sheets (two sided) a month.
I stocked up from Amazon. I''m 62, if I keep it clean I figure my son will inherent it.keith wrote: ↑Sun Apr 21, 2024 3:37 am18 months is a long time for the manufacture to keep a particular laser cartridge form factor. By the time you go to chase up a new one they will have stopped making them and new 'old stock' will cost a fortune. Using refilled aftermarket supplies is hit and miss. My old HP color laser was always leaking toner all over the place from refilled and/or non-genuine cartridges. The aftermarket ones cost $80 apiece (so times 4 for 4 colors), while new original ones were pushing $200. Towards the end, genuine ones were completely unobtanium.John Thomas8 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 21, 2024 3:18 am I've had my brother laser printer for around 18 months. Still on the factory toner cartridge, print out a dozen sheets (two sided) a month.
I now run a Brother Ink Jet Ecotank or what ever they call it - super efficient with ink. I've had it probably 6 years now and am on the second set of cartridges.
When I was doing a lot of consulting from home I had to be able to print and scan 11 x 17 engineering drawings so I bought a Borther ink jet that woyld do all of those things. As long as I used it frequently it was fine. However, as my work slowed down I started having trouble with the print heads drying up. Eventually it got so bad that no cleaning kit would fix it and I had to trash it. I bought a $200 HP color laser at Costco on sale. Since 2018 it has performed well despite sitting for 5 months while we are in Colorado every summer.
We had the same exact problem with our Brother large format inkjet. We bought an Epson ink tank large format printer last year that's been fine so far but I'm crossing my fingers that we don't have the same problem as Foggy. I will say that we use the Epson more. I think it's because we don't have to wait for it to warm up and I don't have to fight clogged print heads every other time we use it.Reality Check wrote: ↑Sun Apr 21, 2024 9:33 amWhen I was doing a lot of consulting from home I had to be able to print and scan 11 x 17 engineering drawings so I bought a Borther ink jet that woyld do all of those things. As long as I used it frequently it was fine. However, as my work slowed down I started having trouble with the print heads drying up. Eventually it got so bad that no cleaning kit would fix it and I had to trash it. I bought a $200 HP color laser at Costco on sale. Since 2018 it has performed well despite sitting for 5 months while we are in Colorado every summer.
My better half has one of those Brother ecotank printers and loves it. Her former 20-year-old Epson inkjet was eating a set of cartridges after less than 100 pages. The new one has been a champ, and she loves it. We just bought the XL black replacement ink filler for ~$60 (that's USD = about $4,917.52 AUD) and that should be good for at least 5,000 pages.keith wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2024 3:56 am Yeah, I agree the old mono HP laserjets were the bees knees. But when you go to color... hoo boy.
Since I dumped the HP color laser, I've had a Brother inkjet MFC that lasted 10 years without a hiccup until a cheap 3rd party refill cartridge 'exploded' all over the insides.
I replaced that with my current Brother MFC ecotank and it has been flawless.
Only in my computer as far as I knowchancery wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:30 pm I'm a fan of G-Technologies drives. They're not the cheapest, but they're sturdy and reliable. They have also provided me with helpful tech support by phone & email, even for devices for which the warranty has expired. Look for a solid-state drive.
You'll need to worry about the kind of cable, because your ancient Macbook presumably has a USB B port, while your next Mac will have a USB C rev 2 (or later). So you'll need to think about whether you want the inconvenience of a dongle now or later. Get at least a couple of terabytes; you probably won't save much by getting a smaller drive.
And, umm .... are your photos and videos backed up anywhere?
after one too many failures, one of which took my complete collection of Miyazaki films and another which took all my audio FX/musisc, I now use SSD drives. Less likely to failchancery wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:30 pm I'm a fan of G-Technologies drives. They're not the cheapest, but they're sturdy and reliable. They have also provided me with helpful tech support by phone & email, even for devices for which the warranty has expired. Look for a solid-state drive.
You'll need to worry about the kind of cable, because your ancient Macbook presumably has a USB B port, while your next Mac will have a USB C rev 2 (or later). So you'll need to think about whether you want the inconvenience of a dongle now or later. Get at least a couple of terabytes; you probably won't save much by getting a smaller drive.
And, umm .... are your photos and videos backed up anywhere?
I just googled SSD drives, DANG they go anywhere from under $100 to nearly a thousand! What size/kind would I need to be looking at?Flatpoint High wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:36 pmafter one too many failures, one of which took my complete collection of Miyazaki films and another which took all my audio FX/musisc, I now use SSD drives. Less likely to failchancery wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:30 pm I'm a fan of G-Technologies drives. They're not the cheapest, but they're sturdy and reliable. They have also provided me with helpful tech support by phone & email, even for devices for which the warranty has expired. Look for a solid-state drive.
You'll need to worry about the kind of cable, because your ancient Macbook presumably has a USB B port, while your next Mac will have a USB C rev 2 (or later). So you'll need to think about whether you want the inconvenience of a dongle now or later. Get at least a couple of terabytes; you probably won't save much by getting a smaller drive.
And, umm .... are your photos and videos backed up anywhere?
what size is your current HDD? I have two 1T SSDs one for media & one for backupMsDaisy 2 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:43 pmI just googled SSD drives, DANG they go anywhere from under $100 to nearly a thousand! What size/kind would I need to be looking at?Flatpoint High wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:36 pmafter one too many failures, one of which took my complete collection of Miyazaki films and another which took all my audio FX/musisc, I now use SSD drives. Less likely to failchancery wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:30 pm I'm a fan of G-Technologies drives. They're not the cheapest, but they're sturdy and reliable. They have also provided me with helpful tech support by phone & email, even for devices for which the warranty has expired. Look for a solid-state drive.
You'll need to worry about the kind of cable, because your ancient Macbook presumably has a USB B port, while your next Mac will have a USB C rev 2 (or later). So you'll need to think about whether you want the inconvenience of a dongle now or later. Get at least a couple of terabytes; you probably won't save much by getting a smaller drive.
And, umm .... are your photos and videos backed up anywhere?
2 Ts okay, but what's a dongle?chancery wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 4:18 pm You should backup your files PDQ.
The rule of thumb for backup is to get one that's 3-4 times the size of your MacBook's internal storage. Checking the specs for your model, you likely have 128, 256, or 512 gigs of storage. You'll want at least 1 Terabyte; I'd get 2T.
And you'll need to figure out your port situation. It looks as though you have Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0, both of which use type B connectors. It might be hard to find a drive that uses those connectors, so you'll need a dongle. I'm reluctant to give you specific advice, because it's been years since I had to puzzle through the intricacies of the change from Type B to Type C connectors, and don't recall the details.
The sales line at G-Technology can probably help you sort it out. But please, get those files backed up.
Wikipedia - "A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality."
Okay thanksMN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 4:50 pmWikipedia - "A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality."
So, a short cord with a USB-B on one end and a USB-C on the other. As one example.
I needed a dongle for my ethernet cable(s) for my MacBook Proschancery wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2024 5:23 pm Or you may be able to find a cable with an older connector on one end and a newer connector on the other. A few years ago G-Technology drives, or at least some of them, came with several different kinds of ports and a half-dozen or so different kinds of cables.
I bought a MacBook 12" in 2017 and a MacBook Air in 2020. Both of them used USB 3.1 rev. 2 ports, and I recall that there was a bothersome difference with USB 3.0 ports, which you might have. More than that I don't remember.