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jaylach
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Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 8:34 pm |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9776 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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sboots wrote: I'm glad to see that you're having fun. Actually I AM having a bit of fun. MacOS Big Sur is interesting but I'll definitely stick with Windows for my main OS. Still it is good to be at least familiar with other operating systems. Granted I have only had the thing for a day and a half but it seems to be a pretty nice little system. Would I spend the retail price of $999.00? No but the $429.00 I paid may have been a steal especially as the price has now jumped to $550.00. Good thing I decided not to wait. I ordered a $22.00 carry case for the thing. Even if I never take it anywhere I like to have protection when not in use. I got a case a bit larger than needed but like a bit of extra space for things like the charger and mouse. A case also makes it easier to keep everything together so I'm not trying to figure out what mouse was paired and where the charger is. https://www.newegg.com/gray-brinch-model-bw-127-bw-128-shoulder-carrying-case/p/18W-01KB-000C8I also ordered a cooling pad but canceled. After I ordered the pad I reached over and felt the bottom of the thing and it wasn't even warm after running ~2.5 hours most of it sitting on a cloth easy chair. The reason it is sitting on a chair running is that I'm doing another battery life test as I quit the original to upgrade the OS version. I have it running a screen saver and the keyboard backlit on so it isn't just sitting totally idle. So far ~2 hours running on battery with 76% of the battery remaining. <edit>I guess the next step will be to use Bluetooth to try to pair the thing to one of my TV's and try casting. This is something I've never tried before even with my Surface 3. Since I have my desktops networked with the thing I want to try streaming movies but need a player that will do DVD format. I'll see if VLC has an Apple version but probably not tonight.
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jaylach
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Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:40 pm |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9776 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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WOW! I don't think that I like this! I went to setup my Canon TS 8220 Printer on the MacBook Air and the Canon site reported that there were no driver or software downloads for MacOS Big Sur and that it was likely that they were not needed. So I open MS Word and type a short and go to print. Sure enough my TS 8220 showed as available and I printed without issue. Even if the printer is turned off a print request from the MacBook Air will turn on the printer. Keep in mind that I did absolutely nothing to setup the printer. Mayhaps I'm being paranoid but I'm going to disable the function that allows for a print request turning on the printer. And, no, the printer is not attached to my router so that it could be that only systems with access to my router could turn it on. I don't blame Apple for this but, rather, the printer as it should not be able to be accessed wireless unless setup on a computer to do so. Other than that everything is fine and dandy with the MacBook Air. I have Windows 11 running in a VirtualBox virtual machine and a 256 GB SDXC card added to use as a data drive. Just need to install photo editing software, probably GIMP, and setup my data to sync from my main to the Apple data drive. I won't do all data, just my documents, music and pictures.
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jaylach
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Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:15 pm |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9776 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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GIMP installed fine and I have VLC as a media player so I can access the media drives on my main system and watch movies on the MacBook Air. That's not something I'm likely to do often but it does give the option when I'm soaking for a couple of hours in my tub. It would seem that the MacBook Air is unable to play DVD formatted videos out of the box hence the install of VLC.
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sboots
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Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:29 pm |
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Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:48 pm Posts: 3111 Location: Virginia
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Odd that the printer would turn on for a wireless request. I've got a Canon printer on my network and it won't even turn on for a wired print request.
_________________ stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020 "Life's always an adventure with computers!"
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jaylach
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Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:11 pm |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9776 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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sboots wrote: Odd that the printer would turn on for a wireless request. I've got a Canon printer on my network and it won't even turn on for a wired print request. If you delve into the printer settings it is likely that you would find an option to allow a print request to turn on the printer. This setting is normally disabled by default.
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sboots
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Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 11:09 am |
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Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:48 pm Posts: 3111 Location: Virginia
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jaylach wrote: If you delve into the printer settings it is likely that you would find an option to allow a print request to turn on the printer. This setting is normally disabled by default. Being disabled by default would explain why I wasn't aware of it.
_________________ stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020 "Life's always an adventure with computers!"
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jaylach
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Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 12:45 pm |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9776 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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sboots wrote: jaylach wrote: If you delve into the printer settings it is likely that you would find an option to allow a print request to turn on the printer. This setting is normally disabled by default. Being disabled by default would explain why I wasn't aware of it. If you want to enable and have an LCD screen I believe that you should have a settings option. If no screen you should find it in the computer end software if you have it all installed. Then again I don't believe that all Canon models have this feature. Mine is a TS 8220. I've decided to leave it enabled unless a problem arises as I've yet to have an issue.
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sboots
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Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:30 pm |
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Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:48 pm Posts: 3111 Location: Virginia
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If mine has the feature I'm fine with leaving it disabled as the printer is connected to the network and sleeps rather than being powered off.
_________________ stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020 "Life's always an adventure with computers!"
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jaylach
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Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 7:27 pm |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9776 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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sboots wrote: If mine has the feature I'm fine with leaving it disabled as the printer is connected to the network and sleeps rather than being powered off. Just going back through some previous threads and have to ask if your printer is on a UPS to avoid firmware damage if there is a power outage. Things may well have changed but, not too long ago, printers were one of the most susceptible devices on a system as to firmware corruption if not shut down and a power failure occurs. A printer being in sleep mode may circumvent this but I, personally, would rather turn off a printer. I guess that, in reality, my method may be a form of sleep mode as the thing can't really be totally off if a print request can turn it on, but I think it works a bit differently than a printer just being put to sleep or standby. Please correct me if my thoughts are wrong but I tend to see it just like an actual computer... shut down is different than sleep even though, in both cases, the thing is not truly off. I think a printer being set to sleep/standby rather than shut down is sort of like setting a computer to wake on LAN where extra stuff is active in sleep/wake where it is not if shut down.
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sboots
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:31 am |
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Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:48 pm Posts: 3111 Location: Virginia
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My printer isn't on a UPS. My opinion is that printers are cheap enough to risk. The brother laser retails for less than $100 and I've had it for years now. It's been through quite a few power failures without issue. I also have a Canon multi-function inkjet and it also hasn't had any issues with power failures. It also survived a lightning strike of the transformer feeding our part of the grid which knocked out one of my cable boxes, my Xbox and the power supply for our reclining sofa in our family room.
_________________ stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020 "Life's always an adventure with computers!"
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jaylach
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 5:14 pm |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9776 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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Hey Steve, I've had cheap printers and not so cheap. Have you ever noticed that it seems the cheaper the printer the more you end up spending on ink?
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sboots
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 7:12 pm |
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Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:48 pm Posts: 3111 Location: Virginia
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jaylach wrote: Hey Steve, I've had cheap printers and not so cheap. Have you ever noticed that it seems the cheaper the printer the more you end up spending on ink? That is absolutely true! Thankfully, most of our printing is B&W on the laser printer, and a cartridge lasts me a few years. The Canon inkjet cartridges are painfully expensive, but we don't do very much color printing, so I typically buy only one or two sets of cartridges per year for it.
_________________ stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020 "Life's always an adventure with computers!"
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jaylach
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 7:35 pm |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9776 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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sboots wrote: jaylach wrote: Hey Steve, I've had cheap printers and not so cheap. Have you ever noticed that it seems the cheaper the printer the more you end up spending on ink? That is absolutely true! Thankfully, most of our printing is B&W on the laser printer, and a cartridge lasts me a few years. The Canon inkjet cartridges are painfully expensive, but we don't do very much color printing, so I typically buy only one or two sets of cartridges per year for it. I found it true especially with photo printing. I used to have a Canon Pixma MG5220 (I think that was the model) that I paid something like $60.00- $70.00. I would get something like 12 8X10 photo prints. I now have a Canon TS8220 that I paid around $280.00. On this printer I get in the area of 25 8X10 prints. With double the output the current printer has probably paid for itself just in ink savings. I also don't like 'tri-color' based printers where all three colors are in one cartridge. My reasons are as follows: - Say that you run out of cyan ink on a tri-color cartridge. You are throwing away yellow and magenta ink to get back the cyan with a new cartridge.
- Since all tri-color cartridges I know of have the print head built into the cartridge the price is higher as you are buying a new print head every time you buy a cartridge. With separate cartridges for each color you are only replacing what is needed and these types of cartridges just feed a print head that is actually part of the printer which means that you are not buying a new print head with each new cartridge.
- With a tri-color cartridge based printer you just have the tri-color and black. Same problem here with ink well printers. With my TS8220 I have 6 cartridges which are all independent from each other. There are the basic cyan, magenta and yellow but also, both dye based and pigment based black along with a photo blue cartridge. Are the extra cartridges important? Yes and no. If just printing text documents with an image here and there it's not really important but, if printing photos it is a large factor.
Bottom line is that it is just like buying a computer. What to buy all depends on how you are going to use the thing. I am also in a bit of an unusual situation as my apartments have a 'rewards program' where you get points for taking safety quizzes and even just paying your rent on time. I 'cash in' my points for Walmart gift cards. I use the cards mostly to get free ink. Right now I have $70.00 in current cards with another $25.00 card on the way. It will give me $95.00 in free Walmart stuff which is enough to just about cover an new set of ink cartridges along with a couple of sets of sweats for the winter... I sort of live in sweats.
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sboots
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 8:42 pm |
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Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:48 pm Posts: 3111 Location: Virginia
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I never liked the all in one cartridges, either. Our inkjet uses a set of cartridges and also has a larger black one. I've never kept track of how many photos we can get out of a set, but we typically only print 4x5 photos.
_________________ stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020 "Life's always an adventure with computers!"
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jaylach
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 9:03 pm |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9776 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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sboots wrote: I never liked the all in one cartridges, either. Our inkjet uses a set of cartridges and also has a larger black one. I've never kept track of how many photos we can get out of a set, but we typically only print 4x5 photos. I can never keep it straight but my guess is that the larger black ( I have one too ) is for printing text while the smaller black is for graphics/photos. There is a difference between the black cartridges being dye based and pigment based as I'm sure yours are as are mine. One type is better for text and the other is better for graphics. I also have 'photo blue' which does not seem to actually act as a color but, rather, as a color blender. It's purpose, as far as I can figure, is to increase the ability of the printer to better blend colors by enhancing color boundaries(sp). This 'photo blue' cartridge DOES make a difference as to output on photos. It does not really seem to better define colors but does seem to give better sharpness between colors... Best that I can say is that it makes the output cleaner and more accurate in relation to the source.
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