HP Photosmart 8250 Printer (Q3470A#ABA) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is an excellent printer for the serious photographer. The images are clear, sharp, and crisp, and professional in every way, at least to my amateur eye. I am a picky amateur photographer, and I bought this printer so that I could easily print 8x10, 5x7, and 4x6 photos from my several digital cameras. This printer does the job. This is a beautifully engineered and solid piece of equipment.
Some technical issues. Beware, when the ink first prints, it smears easily, so let it dry for a few minutes--it dries quickly enough. I am happy to say that the photo download from the card reader slot (I measured it on the CF card reader--I haven't tried it for my SD cards yet) is lightning fast, as compared to my older HP printers, I guess that is the USB 2.0 that this device features. This is a welcome improvement--earlier HP printers lagged behind even cheap card readers in speed. No more.
So far my print feeds have been flawless and jam-free. You can effortlessly switch between 4x6 and 8x10 prints, and the feeds are fine. (Haven't tried 5x7s yet, but I expect no problems.) When you first take the printer out of the box it will prompt you to put paper in the printer and let it test the ink cartridges. Beware--you need to install them first. This only takes a second, and these are the most foolproof printer cartridges I have ever seen, but the printer does not tell you that the cartridges are not yet installed, at least not until you try to run the diagnostic. No big deal; I installed them, and the printer calibrated itself perfectly!
The printer installed perfectly and effortlessly the very first time. Simply insert the supplied CD and follow the instructions. Remember not to insert the (not supplied!) USB2 cable into the computer until the software prompts you to do so.
It appears to me that some of the other reviewers (here on Amazon) of this printer made the same initial mistake I made. Specifically, here is the deal: this printer can detect what kind of paper you are feeding it (if it is HP paper anyway)--it detects it from a code on the back of the paper and it adjusts the ink application accordingly. Further, this printer is very precise as to how it applies ink to a given paper type. So if you try to manually tell it what kind of paper you are using, and if you guess wrong, you will get lousy pictures with the ink incorrectly applied. Once I figured out the rather amazing fact that this printer KNOWS what kind of paper it is printing on, I started getting wonderful pictures. (It literally never occurred to me that it could do this--I had to, you guessed it, read the manual to find this out). This is cool--you can insert different kinds of HP photo paper in the same stack, e.g. matte, glossy, etc. and expect to get perfect pictures without having to look in the printer to see what paper is next. Just tell it on the print menu to automatically select the paper type. I love the 21st century!
Personally, I think that HP has hit a home run with this one. While I cannot compare this one to its rivals from Epson or Canon (I have not reviewed these), I can say that I am completely satisfied. Recommended.

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Box Contents: HP Photosmart 8250 Printer, HP 22 Tri-color Inkjet Print Cartridge, 5 ml ink volume, HP Image Zone Express Photo and Imaging Software on CD-ROM, Setup Poster, User's Guide, Power Supply, Power Cord The HP Q3470A Photosmart 8250 Printer lets you enjoy easy photo printing, the world's fastest photo printer. Easy to set up and use, it prints beautiful photos and laser-quality black text. Print a 4 x 6 photo in as fast as 14 seconds for as little as 24¢ each, or everyday documents at blazing speeds up to 32 ppm black text, up to 31 ppm color text. Six convenient individual ink tanks help avoid the hassle of running out of specific inks in the middle of a photo or page by letting you easily replace only the inks you need, when you need them. Also accepts custom sizes Memory card compatibility - CompactFlash Type I and II, Memory Stick (including PRO, Duo, MagicGate), Microdrive, MMC, Secure Digital (SD), mini SD (optional adapter required), xD-Picture Card Max. Memory - 64 MB Also connects to HP bt300 Wireless Printer Adapter or HP bt450 Bluetooth Wireless Printer and PC Adapter System Requirements(PC) - Intel Pentium II (or equivalent) or higher; 64 MB RAM (256 MB recommended); 600 MB available hard disk space (2 GB recommended); Windows 98, 2000, Me, XP Home, XP Professional; SVGA monitor (800 x 600, 16-bit color); 4x CD-ROM drive; USB port; USB cable (not included); Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 System Requirements(Mac) - G3 processor or higher, 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended), 150 MB available hard disk space, Mac OS X v 10.2 or higher, SVGA monitor (800 x 600, 16-bit color), 4x CD-ROM drive, USB port, USB cable (not included) Uses c8721w, c8771w, c8772w, c8773w, c8774w, c8775w ink cartridges Dimensions(WxDxH) - 17.59 x 19.13 x 8 Weight - 18.7 lbs.

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Tripp Lite U215-004-R USB Peripheral Sharing Switch - 4 port Review

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(More customer reviews)This product is great. I have it connected to multiple computers and I have also connected this product to a USB hub with multiple printers so I can print from any one of the computers to the printer that I select. It comes with software, but it works without the software for Windows XP and Vista Operating Systems. Although it is not an automatic switch, the manual switch works great for what it does. It's awesome!!!!

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TB6560 3 Axis CNC/ Laser Machine Stepping Motor Controller. Support Mach3 & KCam Review

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(More customer reviews)I have purchased two of these. I have 2 home built cnc's running these controllers with Mack3.
As the previous poster stated, there is no documentation with the card.
However, a quick trip to their web site, and you can download a pdf that covers everything you need to know about the card.
I prefer this card over many others because it does not required a separate power supply to run the card.


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Canon PIXMA MP780 All-In-One Photo Printer Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, if you're in the market for a printer, you can't go wrong with a Canon. Canon printers consistently beat out the competition in independent tests for print quality. Their items are elegant, well designed, and most importantly, ink is affordable.
We all know the razor and blade scheme: sell the printer below cost and make it up with pricey cartridges. Canon, however, saves you a lot of money by including the print head with the printer and not on each cartridge. Because of this, genuine Canon cartridges can be had for around $12, while 3rd party cartridges, which many claim work just as well, can be found for as low as $2.
If you've already decided on a Canon multifunction, lets see which model is right for you. Canon's current market list is as follows:
MP130 - New model, and the most affordable yet.
Copy/Print/Scan
18ppm black, 13ppm color
2 ink tanks
No auto sheet feeder!
Card slots
MP390 - Has a fax, About half the cost of the MP7xx's.
Copy/Print/SCan/Fax
18ppm black, 12 ppm color
2 ink tanks
card slots
MP750 - Older model - exactly the same as mp780 but no fax.
Copy/Print/Scan
25ppm black, 17 ppm color
5 ink tanks
Built in Duplexing
MP760 - New Model - geared towards photo enthusiasts.
Copy/Print/Scan + Special Photo Features
25ppm black, 17 ppm color
5 ink tanks
No auto sheet feeder!
Built in Duplexing
*Unique photo features:
2.5 inch lcd screen
Built in film adapter for 35mm slides or negatives
can print directly from negatives
Card slots
MP780 - Does it all except for the mp760 photo features.
Copy/Print/Scan/Fax
25ppm black, 17 ppm color
5 ink tanks
Built in Duplexing
Now, let's look more closely at some key differences between these models:
*Fax: The first thing you should do is decide if you need a fax or not. If you do, you should choose between the MP780 or the MP390. If not, don't rule those two out just yet, they may have have other features you can't live without.
*Note: There is NO auto fax/telephone switching on these models if you wish to use the same line for faxes and voice calls.
*Number of ink tanks: The next important thing you should look at is whether you want to be able to replace each color individually or not. The MP750, MP760 and MP780 all have 5 individual ink tanks (photo black, black, cyan, yellow, magenta), while the MP130 and MP390 have only 2 (black and tricolor). The cost of each cartridge is about the same, but you will waste some leftover ink by throwing out the MP130 or MP390's color cartridge when just one color runs out.
*Photo printing: If you're planning on printing a lot of photos, you should probably go with an mp7xx. These have a superior print head, as well as the 5 separate ink tanks. The MP760 is especially noteable with all the features Canon has added specifically for photos. These come at a price however, as the MP760 does not share the auto sheet feeder of its MP750 and MP780 cousins, or the fax of the 780.
*However - If you plan on printing directly from memory cards, beware! The mp750 and mp780 do not have card slots! The 2 cheaper models and the mp760 do.
*Auto sheet feeder: The mp130 and mp760 do NOT have an auto sheet feeder. All 3 of the others do. An auto sheet feeder is very useful when doing a lot of scanning or faxing.
*Duplexing: The mp7xx models each have built in duplexing.
*Size: The mp7xx models weigh around 30 pounds and are quite big. The MP390 is a smaller, and weighs 18 pounds. The mp130 has a tiny footprint for a multifunction printer, and weighs 14 pounds.
Some features that all of Canon's current MFPs share:
*Copying: Each of these models has a copy function, and all have the same resolution (600x600 black, 1200x1200 color).
*USB 2.0 connection
*Pictbridge direct photo printing support
*All 5 models are great looking and will complement almost any decor.
My recommendations:
If you want a great price on an excellent printer and don't need a fax: MP130
If price is an issue but you still need a fax: MP390
If you can afford an MP700 series and don't need a fax, card slots, or the MP760's photo features: MP750
If you need its exclusive photo features (but no fax or auto sheet feeder): MP760
If you can afford an MP700 series and need a fax (but no card slots and none of the MP760s photo features): MP780

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Includes: Easy-PhotoPrint, Easy-WebPrint, ScanSoft OmniPage SE, Presto! PageManager, power cord, print head, & ink tanks. Canon Pixma MP780 All-In-One Multi-Function Machine - Combining 4 popular office devices into one machine, the Pixma MP780 saves you money and space when compared to purchasing them separately! Speed - Up to 25 ppm (black) / Up to 17 ppm (color) Resolution - Up to 600 x 600 dpi (black) / Up to 4800 x 1200 dpi (color) Color Copier Speed - Up to 25 cpm (black) / Up to 17 cpm (color) Resolution - Up to 600 x 600 dpi (black) / Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi (color) Reduction / Enlargement - 25% to 400% Color Scanner Resolution - Up to 2400 x 4800 dpi (optical) / Up to 9600 x 9600 dpi (interpolated) 48-bit Color Maximum Document Size - 8.5 x 11.7 Color Fax 33.6 Kbps Modem Speed - approx. 4 sec. per page (black) / 1 min. per page (color)

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Sabrent SBT-PS2U USB to Dual 2-Port PS/2 Splitter Cable Converter Review

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(More customer reviews)I was so excited about this product, but it didn't do anything. My computer (Windows XP Home operating system) couldn't recognize the device. It was as if a driver was missing, but there wasn't any indication of how to get one. I poked arougd the Abrent website a bit and it wasn't helpful. Rather than mess around with product support, I decided to just return the thing. My Logitech mouse and old keyboard work fine with another adapter I have, and my computer didin't recognize this thing no matter what I had plugged in (including nothing), so the problem was with this splitter.

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The USB to PS/2 converter is the best solution for those who want to use legacy PS/2 devices on new USB systems. You can connect a PS/2 mouse and keyboard through the USB port on any computer. It supports your computer USB interface to the PS/2 port of the KVM switch. Enjoy using your keyboard and mouse connected to the USB-PS/2 adapter as a USB-compatible device!The USB to PS/2 converter supports both UHCI and OHCI specifications. Also, it runs on bus power, which means no power adapter is required. And it is easy to install, with no software driver needed. Requires available USB port, and one of the following operating systems: Windows 98se, Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP; Netware 4.11/5.0, HP Unix, Linux; for an Apple computer, Mac OS 8.6 or higher; or Sun Microsystems.What's in the Box One USB to PS/2 dual PS/2 converter adapter.

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Xerox DocuMate 510 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The unit seems to do a pretty good job as a document scanner. The rating depends on the purpose for which you purchase this scanner.
Couple items to note:
1. The unit does not come with the PaperPort Pro 9 office as advertised by Amazon. It is bundled with the Deluxe 9 software which is a less costly product.
2. The flat bed scanning of photos is not up to my expectations. It is probably ok if you're scanning photos for commercial / non-artistic reasons. I do not believe that this takes the place of a 'decent' photo scanner. I had planned to compromise on getting shorted on the Pro 9 Office software and keep this scanner. However I decided that it was not worth it given the compromise that I would also have to accept in the photo scanning.
3. The ADF always pulls slightly to the left as the pages go through. I don't know if this is a typical problem on other ADFs or not.
4. The instructions for the software both hard copy and on the web site are not thorough. A lot of trial and error is required in order to better understand the scanner options.
5. I don't like the fact that the Deluxe 9 software provides the 'preview' scan in a small sub-window. The window is too small to get any valuable 'preview' info.
6. A positive item is that Xerox has spare parts available for the ADF and scanner which may need replacing. I don't believe that this is typical for other non-commercial consumer type units.

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Designed to be at home in any office environment, the Xerox DocuMate 510 single-pass flatbed scanner offers 600 x 1,200 dpi resolution, 42-bit color, and fast USB 2.0 connectivity. It has an auto document feeder that's able to handle up to 50 sheets of 18 lb. paper at a time, allowing convenient scanning directly into PDF format at up to 10 pages per minute (at 200 dpi, black-and-white).
Able to handle originals ranging from4.5 by 5.5 to 8.5 by 14 inches(via ADF), the auto document feeder will to help speed up any office environment by letting you batch scan items as small as checks or index cards, as well as legal sized documents. The DocuMate 510 is clearly designed for office document support and includes software tools to help streamline file management, text editing, and single-button PDF creation. It has a certified ISIS driver for compatibility with ISIS-based imaging applications, and it is at home in any Windows 98SE, 2000, ME or XP environment.
What's in the BoxDocuMate 510, power supply and cord, USB cable, Quick Install card, user's manual, CD-ROM (including TWAIN and certified ISIS scanner driver, ScanSoft PaperPort Deluxe, ScanSoft TextBridge Pro 9 OCR, ArcSoft PhotoImpression)

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Visioneer RoadWarrior Mobile 600 DPI USB Scanner (RW120-WU) Review

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(More customer reviews)I looked closely at the NeatReceipts scanner before deciding on this one, but think made the right call.
I have been a Visioneer fan for some time, and I saw one of the Strobes used in my doctor's office and have been interested in one ever since.
The Strobes were overpriced so I never bought one, but broke down and got this one. I figured this was the low end of their line, since the documentation is for the RoadWarrior and the Strobe 100, but when I called Visioneer they told me this one has all the latest hardware in it and buying one of the other models would be a step backward. That made me feel better at least.
I should explain my decision: I used Quicken religiously and have always wanted a way to easily attach receipts to Quicken entries. (Older versions of Quicken had ways to, but they were all iffy and imperfect. Quicken 2007 does allow more direct scanning, although it, too, is pathetic but workable and does work with this scanner). I mention this because it seemed to me that the NeatReceipts scanner's claim to fame is that it reads the receipts and stores them and you can search by them. That's not ultimately what I need. My data is already sorted and I don't need to OCR the receipts--just store them for when I want to see them. Plus, buying this scanner got me PaperPort 11 (I have been using 9, refusing to upgrade due to cost) at no additional cost, which I do use extensively also. A two-for-one deal!
The scanner is actually quite nice. It may not be perfect, or a flatbed, but when I truly look at what I want one for, this is it. I've scanned over 200 receipts with it already and dozens of other documents. It's not as bulky or hard to place on my limited desk space as my old flatbed scanner (Visioneer 9320-USB). Plus, there's no "warm up" time which I always hated.
However, on the flip side, After the unit scans the document quite quickly, it pops up "Converting", which does take way too long for my taste. For a scan that takes say 10 seconds (for an 8.5x11), the conversion process takes 20-30. I THINK that time is dependent on what format you choose to scan to (i.e. Searchable PDFs take longer than PDFs), but I haven't found a format that just "pops" in to Paperport without conversion (I'll note here when you scan from Quicken 2007 into Quicken there is no conversion time--I like that!)
I have also scanned more than a few color photographs with this unit that have come out nicely. I was afraid this was mostly a B&W scanner, but it does well with color as well it seems.
As for difficulties feeding, I can say it is an art. I get more straight than crooked, and Paperport does do a good job straightening them for you, but it is annoying to have to start over. I wouldn't let that "quirk" of this hardware deter you from choosing this unit.
All in all, I am pleased with this purchase and would recommend it to others considering it.

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Visioneer RoadWarrior Sheetfed Mobile Scanner. Scan receipts, business cards, documents and images, 600 dpi, 36-bit color, USB 2.0 USB-powered, with travel bag

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