I'd like to highlight an issue that I hadn't found out about until very recently, maybe it's old news to some but I feel it's important enough to review. Several weeks ago I started a new job at a factory which makes printer cartridges for the UK and Europe. For legal reasons (and for fear of losing my job) I won't go into detail about which company it is, but you should know it's a Japanese company based in the UK.

As far as I was aware, when a cartridge ran out of ink, that was that. Naively I thought that these cartridges would display the correct ink levels whenever you went to print something off, this is certainly not the case.

The other day, while at work, I was being taught how to build a printer cartridge from scratch. The particular section of the production line I was working on was called the C08 chip line, the purpose of which was to program a small microchip and attach it it to the inside of a printer cartridge. After working in this section for a few days I noticed something strange.

When the chip was being programmed, several lots of numbers came up on my screen, It would look something like this:

2010x01x01x55 or 2011x11x04x45

I just assumed it was some kind of serial number, but being a computer geek I had to find out what it was for. Surely there are billions of these cartridges produced every year and a 13 digit serial number just seemed an odd way of keeping track of them.

After a week, curiosity got the better of me and I asked one of the technicians about it. What he told me made me quite angry. He said, “The first three lots of numbers are the cartridges expiry date, separated by an x”.

Basically every printer cartridge was programmed not to work after a certain date. If you buy a cartridge and decide that you want to wait a year to print something off, you've pretty much had it. Even if the cartridge is completely full and in full working order it will shut down.

The technician went on to explain, “The last two digits are the maximum number of sheets that the cartridge will print”. So in addition to having a short lifespan, if your cartridge is half full after printing 45 sheets (the standard for these cartridges) then the chip will still tell your pc that it is empty.

Now fair enough I can expect this from a small obscure Japanese company but I have discovered that both HP and Epson are being sued for this kind of scam too. It is clear that these companies are guilty of what can only be described as fraud.

In addition to HP, Epson and my employers it is clear that there are many other smaller companies which are involved in this con. I think very soon you will see the prices of cartridges fall dramatically. Both due to the realisation of this scam and due to the current financial climate. Hopefully the printing companies will disband this scheme and take a more honest approach to business. Whatever the outcome it's important to remember that as consumers we have a choice of what and where we buy it

The new idea is still a few years away from being marketable. Still, if and when it is available for consumer use, it may have a positive impact on the cost of printing short-term office materials and may reduce the use of "real" paper.

The idea is simply another attempt to become a paperless society. The stacks of papers in most offices reveal the failures in these attempts in the past. The use of personal computers has not actually cut down on the use of paper. Although we can read material from computer screens, most people prefer to print out something that they prefer to keep a while or to read more carefully.

The adoption of LCD (liquid crystal display) brought new hope of reducing or eliminating the use of paper. However, most people tended to print anything longer than a couple of pages in length. Reading from paper is more pleasant to most of us than reading from a screen.

The technology that Xerox is working on now involves a new electronic paper, a reusable paper with a short life for the printed material. This paper will be able to be reused up to fifty times. The printed material will fade after a few hours, depending on the environment in which it is stored.

Rather than depending on ink, this paper is exposed to particular wavelengths of light to produce the image. This elimination of ink should reduce the cost per page of printed material. The short lifetime of each printed page reduces the stacks of printed papers in the corner of the office. Even if the cost for the printer and the paper are a bit higher than presently, not having to invest in ink helps to keep the cost of pages within the present range.

Eric Cartman is not only a loud mouth, hippy hating, Nazi-esque Nine year old. But he is also rather porky. Thus leaving me to believe that if he was to have any printer it would most probably be the rather large in size HP Deskjet 9800.

Any pictures taken of himself need a printer with a half decent A3 printing capability and that is what this printer has; the tonne upon tonne of “cheesy poofs” and pies that this colossal son of a crack whore can consume merits a printer of equal magnitude. However from an external point of view one does have to say that it can be a bit of a space consumer. Place it on a desk at work and you have very little room for a monitor, a keyboard or even a small picture of your cat (in Cartman's case, his pet pig Fluffy). So again from an external point of view one would surmise that this product is meant for a networked office, with everyone using the device to print things like leaflets, posters and general office documents. With its facility for a duplicator it further seems an ideal candidate for the aforementioned tasks. But Eric has another justification for owning this printer.

This justification is that although the 9800 has a rather simple display of buttons, they are overshadowed by the space-ship like tray system. Similar to the launch pad used by Thunderbird 2, the paper tray borders on the excessive, which suits Cartman just fine. This “feature” makes him able to show off to his friends Stan, Kyle and Kenny (when he is not dead) that his printer can do lots of things, when in reality all it can really do is print. In fact, his companions could easily point out that although it does print A3 documents expertly; any other documents that comprise of more than ten pages get spluttered about the place like phlegm from the mouth of a flu ridden pirate. With no little bit of plastic or clever device to keep the paper organised, an already cluttered desk can look like the aftermath of a curry eating contest with only dinosaurs participating.

Price is something that normally comes into play when thinking about any product, whether a printer or just a piece of Edam. So once again this printer fits into the Cartman bracket of excessiveness. Retailing from around £215 this printer spits in the face of the philosophy of “less is more”.

Even the shape of the printer sells itself to Cartman; it is sleek, fat and has a front that looks like a duck dressed as Robo-Cop. Why would this be appealing? Because a duck dressed as Robo-Cop looks and sounds like an experiment gone incredibly wrong and other people failing makes Eric Cartman a very happy boy!

Stan Broflovski

The resident Jew of the town of South Park! With a successful lawyer for a father and an activist bitch for a mother, a printer is needed that can perform more than one task.

There are many all in one printers that family, or indeed a family/business, or indeed a family/business/fat bitch could choose from. The one next to me (which is some discontinued model) can scan, print and copy. But what good is this if you want to send an angry fax to someone you want to sue? Indeed Kyle had to step in when his Dad made the trip down to PC World, but what he chose was an abysmal piece of dog turd, known as part of the HP Officejet All in one series; the 4315. It can scan (after you have spent the entirety of the Die Hard quadrilogy installing it); it can print (badly), copy (to a moderately ok standard) and send faxes about as well as a large rock. The cartridges supplied are clearly used to print off the whole of the bible so a replacement is needed almost instantly; which came as an annoyance to Sheila Broflovski as she immediately wanted to print off some “Blame-Canada” posters. So one would assume that it is not the best choice from the little boy with the green hat? Well maybe it is…

You see for Kyle all he wants is to print off the occasional essay, story or poster. The most strain he will ever put on this to print things, is when he has to produce some sort of leaflet, letter or picture to get back at the anti-Semitic Cartman. And although it does have the faxing consistency of an English summer, it does suffice. The scanning is not needed and there is no problem with the copying.

But there is still one other annoyance with this printer, that makes Kyle regret that he ever got his father to purchase it. The volume of the printer is so loud, that if he wants to have an early night after a hard day of sledging, he can't. In fact the volume is so loud that Mr Hankey the Christmas poo will not come anymore. There is one positive though, as this stupendously loud printer, fax-machine, scanner and copier does also have a fifth function, which is that of a burglar alarm! Something useful in a town which has experienced mutated killer turkeys, conjunctivitis infected zombies and a threat of terrorism coming from the Queen!

Whether the printer is right or wrong for the family, there is one certainty, the HP 4315, for Sheila at least is the wrong choice, but then again she is - in the words of Eric Cartman - “A big fat bitch”!

Kenny McCormick

Being so ridiculously poor, one would expect Kenny's family to not have a computer and therefore have no need for a printer. However, the kind people of South Park - excluding Cartman and the son of the devil “Damien” - clubbed together in order to purchase the family a PC. With the surplus money raised they purchased some other essentials; a copy of Football Manager 2008, a decent set of speakers and an HP Laser Jet 1020.

The reasoning for the last purchase was that the product uses heat to print so the family now have a) something to cook with b) a sauce of warmth and c) something to…print with.

Unlike Eric Cartman's printer, this one is designed to save space, which in a house with as many people in as this one is a good thing. Indeed the McCormick house hold is a place where there is very little room, but also where very little printing needs to be done. Which is a good thing as the printer in question tends to warp every single piece of paper it touches, and when given the challenge of printing a number of pages, say 2, they become almost cylindrical. Fine if you want to make a homemade baseball bat to beat the cat to death, but if you want to print off your school work (for example a Mr Garrison set essay on Jay Leno, comprising of three pages of writing and a picture) then you are going to be disappointed.

Although he has this printer, it does not mean it is the best one for him. As I have stated before, the HP Laser Jet 1020 prints through heat and as a result even lets of a small smoke. With Kenny's habit of dying, a printer that can burn things is not the best option. And if the writers of South Park are ever to read this, I sense a new way of killing Kenny; “death through printer heat!”

Surely this printer is ideal for a small business printing out receipts or letters and not a family of poor people living off food stamps? The answer to that is yes on a logical front, i.e. that they do not even need to print. But no on a more adverse front; they can use the smoke to heat waffles, pop tarts and even to make toast. Yes I think we have the first 2 in 1 printer-toaster.

Essentially an entry level laser jet printer, the 1020 gives entry level prints. But then again, the phenomenal speed at which it prints does make up for this somewhat; but if you only use it to make toast then who really cares?

South Park Elementary

Kyle, Kenny and Cartman are not the only children in South Park who need a printer. Each day the three boys, and indeed their friend Stan (who did have a printer but it was destroyed when his sister rammed his head through it), get on the bus and go to school. The mayor decided that the schools appalling grades were down to two things a) that the teacher, Herbert Garrison is a psycho, thus motivating her to replace him with Miss Chokesondick (however she then died and was replaced by Janet Garrison, formerly Herbert Garrison (confused?)) and b) that the school was out of date and needed some new equipment.

So along with the obvious purchases of slow computers, fuzzy screens and non responsive mice; she also ordered the purchase of a Lexmark X9350 wireless printer, scanner, copier and fax. Ideal for a class of delinquents to print their work, scan their faces and get one another in trouble by printing rude pictures off each others accounts.

Despite the cartridges being as economical as a Cadillac, the sheer abundance of features (including a rather superfluous colour preview screen) comes some way to justifying the quite hefty price tag. The same price tag that Token's family thought was cheap and somewhat of a bargain. However he is rich and the kind people of South Park do not care for rich people.

But there is one major thing I am overlooking with this printer; the fact that if Cartman's printer looks like Robo-Duck, then this thing looks like Optimus Prime. The a-symmetrical nature, coupled with its two cannon like paper trays make this printer look like a Transformer ready to wreak havoc on the town of South Park

The R300 printer can print out various types of media. You can print on CDs and normal, glossy, or smaller photo paper(4X6). The maximum size paper that this printer supports is 8.5 inches by X11 inches. So you're still going to have to go to Kinko's or some other print shop if you want a poster sized image.

Complex:

The R300 printer is fairly complicated. The printer itself has eleven buttons on top of it that do various tasks when pressed. Some examples are stop, print, power, replace ink; etc. There is also a basic and advanced button, so if you're a beginner then you'll probably want to start off with basic mode.

Other Slots

The R300 printer also comes with several external slots for your memory cards and an extra USB slot. The memory cards slots are for CF cards, SD/MS Pro cards, and XD/SM cards. So whatever type of memory card your camera uses, you can simply take the card and place it in the printer.

Then you will use the small LCD screen on the printer to decide which pictures you would like to print. There is also another slot at the top of the printer for a larger type of LCD screen that you can purchase separately.

The Ink

The ink is by far the most annoying and costliest aspect of this printer. Basically, there are six different colors of ink that you have to buy. Whenever one of these colors runs out, the printer will stop working. That's right, so if you're out of one color and you want to print in black ink then you can just forget about it. You will have to purchase a replacement ink cartridge.

And it's a little pricey. For the color ink, each cartridge will cost between twelve and fifteen dollars. The black ink will cost you even more. Expect to pay between seventeen and twenty one dollars for the black ink cartridge.

Quality

The quality of the prints that come out of this printer are quite good. You can select the quality that you want your printer to print at as well, which will save you some ink. And it will save you some money. If you want high quality images then you should use high quality paper. Something with a glossy sheen to it should do the trick.

As you can see, the Epson Stylus R300 printer is a fairly good printer. But it does come with its drawbacks, just like anything. So if you want a printer that produces high-quality images, then buy the R300. But just remember about the ink.

There are many types of printers and they all have their own advantages and disadvantages. It could be the expenses in using the printer or it could be the speed at which it prints out a piece of text. Choosing the right printer for the job could mean losing a lot of money or just lots of time.

One commonly used printer is a laser printer. The main advantages are that it can print texts at high speeds and high quality. It prints texts by scanning a laser beam across a photoreceptor. The photoreceptor rolls over the paper printing the text or image onto the surface of the paper. The paper goes through a fuser, which heats the paper so that it can bond the ink onto the paper properly.

Another type of printer is a liquid inkjet printer. This type of printer uses actual ink to form images or words on a page. It cannot print as fast as laser printers but are cheaper to buy than laser printers. However, even though they are cheaper to buy, it is very expensive, as you need to continually replace the ink cartridge. Inkjet printers spray droplets of ink onto an oil coated print drum. The paper rolls over the drum and the ink is printed onto the paper, producing text and images.

There are also other types of printers, which are used for other special purposes and were widely used during some time before laser printers were developed. Some of these printers are thermal, line, daisy wheel and dot-matrix printers.

Thermal color printers use heat to produce color images. Thermal printers work by sticking a wax-based ink on a thermal ribbon onto paper. As the paper and the thermal ribbon process through the printer, the ribbon melts and the wax-based ink sticks onto the paper. The ink cools and is permanently stuck to the paper.

A line printer is a high speed printer in which a line of letters are printed onto a piece of paper at a time. Line printers were able to print 600 to 1200 lines a minute. Line printers worked by using letters engraved onto print wheels which presses onto an ink ribbon that produces letters on a piece of paper.

Daisy wheel printers were pretty similar to typewriters. The printers had daisy wheels which had letters engraved on it. A piece of paper passed through the printers and the daisy wheel rolled onto a ribbon of ink and pressed it onto the paper producing a letter. By rotating the wheel, different characters were created.

Most printers rely on pixels, or dots of ink which are pressed onto paper to form images or letters. The dot matrix printer uses small pins to create dots. There are two types of dot matrix printers. Depending on the printer, it could print out characters in lines or in by each character at a time.

Once, dot matrix printers were the most common printers used. The printer would have 9 to 24 pins on a printer wheel and each was able to print at high quality. Later, the printer was able to print color by changing the ribbon to four colored ribbon. Another wheel is added which lowers each ribbon to print that particular color onto paper.