Protect Your Office Equipment Investments

Considering the cost of your electronic equipment, you would be foolhardy indeed to plug it directly into a wall outlet. There is not a power company that can guarantee you clean, constant 120-volt power 100% of the time. Power surges, brownouts, blackouts, radio-frequency and electro-magnetic interference can severely damage your equipment and data.

Surge Suppressors

At the very least, plug your machines into a good surge suppressor — not the $20 variety. Look for one with a warranty that covers the cost of repairs or equipment replacement if the suppressor fails. Compare UL1449 ratings for the suppressors you are considering.

UPS Units

A better choice, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units protect from surges and spikes, and some “condition” line power that falls below 120 volts. These units give you time to save files and turn off your systems before power is lost. Prices range from $100 (for a few minutes extra running time) to $5,000 (to power a corporate data center for a half-hour or longer).

Surge Suppressors

Double-conversion or on-line UPS units convert utility power to DC power for the batteries, then back to 120-volt AC power for your systems. This mitigates the effects of power surges and sags. Batteries always stay on-line. Stand-by UPS units only switch to battery power if the utility power fails. Although operating costs are lower, they don’t condition line power against surges, spikes and sags, and their batteries can take several hours to recharge. The most common UPS units — line-interactive — monitor line power, boosting sags and bucking spikes. This design is less expensive, has lower operating costs and usually lasts longer than on-line units, but allows more power variation.

Whatever type of power protection you choose, make sure it has a RJ-11 jack for your modem to protect from power surges through phone lines. Feel free to call us for more information. ■

A: The “dropouts” you describe could result from a number of causes. Try the following:

1. Check to ensure the type and quality of paper you are using meets printer specifications.

2. Make sure the relative humidity in your office is between 35% and 55%.

3. Change to a darker toner density setting.

4. Replace the toner cartridge.

5. Your printer may require periodic installation of a Printer Maintenance Kit; order and install one if it’s due. If none of the above steps solves the problem, give us a call for on-site service. ■

Winners List May 2006

Cindy Bennett @ HG Rice Company
Heather Rogers @ State Farm Insurance-Brent Cooper Agency
Karen Hopkins @ The Hopkins Group
DJ Whipple @ PostNet - Garland
Wally Mason @ Lane Freight

Call 972.881.9538 to receive your FREE compatible toner cartridge.

Cost Tamers: Liven up Your Marketing Material With Stock Photos

Graphic designers and advertising agencies rely heavily on professional stock photography to create eye-catching ads and marketing material. However, using online stock services on a regular basis can take a toll on your budget. Traditional online stock photography vendors such as Photodisc and Corbis can charge upwards of $500 for a high-resolution 5x7 image.

In recent years however, a few community-powered online stock agencies have begun offering high quality, low-cost alternatives. iStockphoto is one such marketplace with over 700,000 images in its library. A unique relationship with HP allows customers to access iStockphoto’s image library from the HP in-house marketing portal at www.hp.com/ go/inhouse. Users can purchase royalty-free images for as low as $1 for a web-ready photo. ■

Staying Current: Memory Card Slots on a Color Laser!

On June 1, 2006, HP will make available the Color LaserJet 2605 series printers designed for brilliant business color output. The HP Color LaserJet 2605dtn in touted as the world’s first single-function color laser printer to include photo memory card slots.

The 2605dtn has a 300 MHZ processor and comes with 64MB of memory for seamless printing of even the most complex color files. It prints monochrome at 12 ppm and color at up to 10 ppm at 600x600 dpi resolution. This versatile printer comes standard with two 250-sheet input trays as well as automatic two-sided printing for printing media sizes up to 8.5” x 14”. If you are looking for a color laser printer that is low on cost but high in features, give us a call to find out more about the Color LaserJet 2605dtn. ■

Savvy Solutions: Solving PDF Problems

While Portable Document Format (PDF) has become a standard in inter and intra office communication, problems with opening certain PDF files, can be frustrating. A common problem occurs when users of Acrobat version 5 and higher receive an “Error reading linearized hint data” message and the file doesn’t open.

To correct this problem try the following:

1. Open Acrobat Reader and open the menu Edit/Preferences/General/ Options.
2. Disable the entry: “Allow fast web view.” Save the changes and reopen the web browser and try to view the file again. ■

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HP Introduces New Wide-Format Printer

The North American release of the new HP LaserJet 5200 printer series, allows workgroups to create professional, wide-format documents with ease and an affordable prices.

The HP LaserJet 5200 utilizes the Instant-On Technology which reduces warm-up time so the first page comes out quickly—in about 10 seconds—, regardless of when the printer was last used. The series is also supported by the HP Easy Printer Care 1.5 printer management tool.

The HP 5200 is designed to deliver efficiency and versatility as it prints at speeds up to 35 ppm and at resolutions as high as 1200x1200. The robust duty cycle of the 5200—up to 65,000 pages/month—makes it well-suited for both small and large workgroups.

The printer’s tabloid printing capabilities and high-quality prints are perfectly suited for marketing proofs, architectural plans, or financial ledgers and spreadsheets. Versatile paper handling include a 350 sheet standard input capacity that is easily expandable to 850 sheets (with optional tray) to let your productivity and creativity soar.

Larger workgroups can take advantage of the optional HP Jetdirect 625n Giagbit Ethernet Print Server (part#: J7960G) to effectively and easily network the printer. The Print Server easily slides into the EIO slot of the printers - reducing the number of cables to the printer (no power cords, no USB or parallel cables). The print server provides full operating system and protocol support and best security features.

Give us a call to find out how the LaserJet 5200 can enhance your office printing needs. ■

Taking the Mystery Out of Printer Fonts!

Have you ever wondered about the difference between “internal fonts” and “resident fonts”? They are not the same thing.

An internal font is one that comes built-in on your printer. Thus, if the manufacturer advertises 24 internal fonts, those fonts are permanently loaded into your printer’s internal ROM (read only memory). Because these fonts stay in your printer, they can also be considered “resident” fonts.

The reverse isn't true, however; “resident” fonts are not necessarily “internal” fonts. You can download fonts from your computer for storage in your printer’s RAM (random access memory) if your printer has enough of it. These fonts become “resident” fonts, staying in your printer until you remove them. Unlike downloaded fonts, you cannot remove internal fonts. ■