in article 94Lbc.69231$JO3.39665@attbi_s04, Paul Newhouse at snipped-for-privacy@pimin.rockhead.com wrote on 4/3/04 8:14 PM:
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As I walk around the store, if I hear a sales person giving mis-information to a customer who clearly doesn't know better, I just interrupt the sales person with a "I've used this in the past and find it works well" and point to the right product. I've heard DVD+R media to people who said they had a Macintosh. Sales person said, "Oh, they are all the same. Don't pay more the the Apple brand" then hand them a box of essentially identically priced DVD+R. The sales guy glares at you, but I don't care. I did have one guy tell me not to interfere with his customer, and I told him point blank that he didn't know what he was talking about, and if he cared to get his manager, I'd explain to him the misinformation he was spreading. He walked away. Hehehe.
I recommend such interference in ALL computer stores where the sales folks are willfully ingnorant.
We didn't let the guy get out of the store without pointing out the round peg in a square hole problem. And have often spoken directly to the customer, while the sales bozo is there, and given them the benifit of our experience ... if we can stop laughing enough to talk *8-D
Agreed, the right thing to do. I was concerned, during the round->square episode, that I might have to take some of my cohorts to the hospital for sedation (not wanting them to bust any ribs and puncture something important). I nearly had my dropped jaw runover by a shopping cart!!
One of the advantages to building your own is the use of standard off the shelf motherboards and other parts. Many of the Compaq, HP, Dell and Gateway computers have proprietary motherboards which can't be replaced with a normal AT or ATX form factor motherboard. When my Compaq Presario was getting too slow and outdated to handle the latest Winslow bloat several years ago I decided to roll my own. Now it's just a matter of swapping a new motherboard or peripheral card for a couple hundred $$ when something goes awry, rather than buying an entire new system
Ran into this same prob with my HP. 800mhz is too slow for video rendering and so forth and the max RAM the board will support is 256 megs. I had already done an HD and DVD-R/RW upgrade so I figured I would just replace the board and CPU. Ended up having to replace the ATX case also due to connection issues. Add to that the setup software not working with a non-HP board meant I had to buy XP full. Now I have an Athlon 2400+ w/512megs RAM upgradeable to 2 gig. Cost me probably less than a quarter what the HP cost when new. AND easily upgradeable now.
As I said, I love my Compaq. I didn't mention HP at all. Why? Because they do build trash. 1 HP PC, and 3 HP printers have all been consigned to the trash heap in the last 5 years. From normal home use. The latest to die was a 697C printer. When Compaq and HP were about to merge, I recieved a survey from Compaq asking for a consumers take on the merger. My response was "don't do it, they will drag you down to thier level, which is rock bottom". I've had several conversations with Compaq tech support, and they have always been right on the money with advise and accurate with all technical questions. HP tech support actually has eclipsed AOL's tech support in applied stupidity. My fear is that Compaq's support crew has been diluted by dolts. Maybe next time, I will "roll my own".
I personally prefer Epson inkjets, but after the first year, any of them are just trash if they break; less expensive to replace than fix. My current one is an Epson 1280.
HP still makes the best lasers, though. I have a 2200DTN on my home network, and will probably never have to buy another.
I guess different people have different experiences - I wouldn't buy any printer other than a HP. Bought my first HP back around '87 when the ink jets first came out. It worked faithfully, in a business environent, churning out page after page, until1999. Always worked, beautiful print quality, until it gave up the ghost, and since I decided I now wanted a colour printer, chose not to have it fixed.
Bought an Epson - BIG BIG mistake. Bloody heads clogged up all the time - had to clean them EVERY time I wanted to print. Took it back twice, but clogged heads persisted. So, gave it away, (I was too honest to sell that heap of garbage) after 6 weeks and bought another HP, which is still working fine, tho now owned by a friend. With a new computer card I wanted a USB printer so bought a HP 930C - a delight to use - photo prints are beautiful, text is crisp, and altho I only use it now and again since I have retired it always prints perfectly even after sitting for weeks and weeks between uses.
I love HP printers - wouldn't buy anythng else these days
We're still using an HP4 laserjet, a cheapo printer if there ever was one. The darn thing weighs nothing as it's made mostly of plastic but it still works reliably, turning out great copies with hardly ever a paper jam. Can't say that about the more expensive brands that we've had over the years and ended up being thrown away.
Talk about bullet proof! The Apple LaserWriter II (a clone of the LJ3) was (and is) a great printer if it's still working. Repair parts are non-existent anymore, as are toner cartridges for a decent price.
Those LJ 5 and LJ 6 printers where the paper comes out vertically are nasty. The later 1100, 1200 and 1300 are only slightly better. If you can afford any of the current crop, the 2300 series, 4300 series and 4600 color series are very nice, IMO.
I have a HP LJ 5MP that has churned out 29480 pages since I bought it. 200 sheet paper tray (am looking for a 500 sheet tray too if anyone knows of one for sale), 600dpi, about 15 ppm, expandable memory, networkable, Works with Apple Macs (couldn't resist that).
The 6 series has the vertical stack. The 2-5 series were the U path printers. The LJ 5MP also has a flat path for envelopes and thicker stock.
"Brian Paul Ehni" wrote in message news:BC98DCCF.5768% snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net...
Waah! My favorite printer part & service web site is gone (had a fantastic search option in using an exploded parts diagram, description (general text), or Part#). Dang! Another Dot.gone! Now we go to the backup site which offers diagrams as well (sort of)
formatting link
Simply searching for Laserwriter II, I find diagram and parts (with pricing) Diagram Number Part Number Description Prices and Alternates Where Used
You can actually get remanufactured toner cartridges via mail order through West Point Products. The company is headquartered in Pittsburgh, with a plant in West Virginia.
I don't have their phone number handy, though their plant's address is:
West Point Products Inc Schoolhouse Ln PO Box 50 Valley Grove WV 26060
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