tech
Tech Know Going to print
When I am asked about which printer to buy I always say: you don't really need one. Most people buy printers, well ... because that's what you do, right? Monitor, CPU, modem and a printer - that's most people's basic shopping list when buying a computer. I always tell them to do without the printer first. Paper is passe; if you know a trick or two you can save yourself having to sort through stacks of once-used printouts and save a few trees to boot.
Printing web pages, for example, is a major waste of paper. One page of poorly formated text is often accompanied by two more with nothing of interest on them. Saving pages to disk is slow and cumbersome. Instead, use your mouse to highlight the text you require then cut and paste it into a word-processor file. Better still, paste it into an Outlook Express e-mail document. Outlook has a rewrap paragraphs function under the edit menu to clean up line breaks. If you really insist on making hard copies, using this trick can make them more readable and keeps paper usage to a minimum.
Sometimes people print web pages rather than bookmarking them. A long list of once-used bookmarks can become more difficult to sort through than a desk full of A4 printouts. If you use Internet Explorer, simply highlight the URL at the top of the page then drag the small icon to the left of the URL, or the URL itself if you are a Mac user, onto the desktop. A small file will appear that you can double click to re-access the web page.
But then there is proofreading. If you think it's much easier from a hardcopy, think again. Windows and Mac OS both have text-to-speech capabilities. With the Mac it is built in and can be used in Simple Text, AppleWorks, Word 2001 or Word for X. With Windows, you need to install a freeware program called ReadPlease 2002. On my Mac, I simply highlight the text in AppleWorks, click on the little red lips on the menu bar and a woman called Victoria reads my story back to me. Of course my wife rolls her eyes every time she hears me doing this, but Victoria never misreads anything, making it much easier to find mistakes. I even have a handheld computer with this capability so I can proof text while walking. Nerd-vana baby!
Still stubbornly insisting you need a printer? Here are a few buying tips. Shops are filled with inexpensive inkjet printers that reproduce photographic images, but is that really what you need? Inkjet prices have plummeted in recent years, but so too have laser printer prices. Fortress sells the LaserJet 1000 from Hewlett Packard (HP) for $2,388 and Epson's EPL-5900L for $1,988. A new toner cartridge for these laser printers will set you back about $450 (less if you buy a refilled one), but it should be good for 3,000 pages. A set of HP ink cartridges for its 920c inkjet ($988) costs $520 and has only one-third of the print capacity.
Inkjet print heads tend to clog if not used regularly, which means you may use most of that ink to clean the head nozzles if you don't make prints every few days. But if it absolutely must be an inkjet here are two things to consider. Firstly, Epson has spent a great deal of time and money courting photographers, graphic designers and amateur photo buffs with their photo-quality printers. If you are one of the above, that's the brand I would recommend. The Photo 810, priced at $1,188, is a particularly good choice. For anyone else, the brands are fairly comparable.
Secondly, no matter which brand catches your eye, start by looking at the cost of ink cartridges. Epson's C60 costs $888 at Fortress, cartridges costs $364. Canon's S300 sells for $988 and cartridges are more reasonable at $116 a set, but have a much smaller print capacity than HP's and Epson's.
Gadget
For my parents' generation, Levi's Dockers conjured images of petrol-station attendants and school caretakers. Levi's, however, has tried to keep up with the palm-toting times with the Mobile Pant. These cotton trousers have two hidden pockets on each thigh so you can carry hand-held computers and mobile phones without running the risk of crushing them when you sit down. There are also several hidden pockets and a special divider for coins. The fabric is wrinkle- free and Teflon-coated for that low-mainten-ance effect all geeks love; $495 from Dockers Shop, City Plaza, Tai Koo Shing, Quarry Bay (tel: 2907-0889).
WEB PICKS
welcome.hp.com/country/hk/eng/welcome.htm Hewlett Packard's Hong Kong home page. Carries software you can download to improve your product.
