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Old 06-25-2017, 02:45 PM   #31
Longshot6977
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Has anybody noticed how difficult it is to get specs on anything? I swear it's a conspiracy. On more than half the "Top laser printers of 2017" there are no specs on consumption. I went to the websites of Canon and Dell I believe, and it's a labyrinth of useless information. The printer I have now has the magnetic memory strip on it to let you know when the inkjet is empty. I started refilling them and I had to override the printer because if that strip said it was out=it did NOT want to print. This is the conspiracy. Buy a cheap as dirt printer and pay out the ass for ink. I'm getting this Brother printer and am going to scan my face and send it to every member of PA! I got the ink! LOL!
Just a note to remind everyone that ink and toner are two completely different things. Ink cartridges go in an inkjet printer and toner cartridges go in a laser printer. You will get much more page yield with a laser printer (toner) than with an inkjet printer (ink cartridge). And laser printers use a fuser assy (applies heat and pressure to the toner on the page to adhere the toner onto the page) and a drum assy. Brother printers use a separate drum and toner cartridge while some other manufacturers use an integrated drum/toner assy as 1 replaceable part.
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Old 06-25-2017, 04:53 PM   #32
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Thank you so much Sandy. At first I was repelled by this concept. Now that I am going to be compiling novellas every Saturday I am actually looking forward to it. Every binder from every Saturday will be an epic adventure of 150 pages plus! Anyway leaning toward this brand. Everything sounds perfect. Thanks.
As others have noted, I recommend a laser printer over an ink jet. My toner vs ink cartridge cost are similar but I've found a discount source on the web for toner cartridges.

The benefits for a laser are:

1) Printing speed. You can print an individual race in seconds vs minutes.
2) Print automatically on both sides of the paper (duplex). Mine even prints horizontally two to a page but the prints too small. But still readable.
3) Get a Scanner Laser Printer and a Fax Machine (though I've never used the fax feature).

At least look for these features.

I've read that ink jets use a little bit of ink every time you turn the printer on which is one reason they go thru ink so quickly. Btw, I used to have an ink jet until it broke.

The laser printers use toner and don't use toner every time the machine is turned on (supposedly).
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Old 06-25-2017, 06:39 PM   #33
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I'm in the market for a printer too, and I read a lot of the reviews for the Brother printers.

One of the biggest complaints is that even though you might have 500 pages left in ink, the printer will tell you it's time to get a new cartridge or whatever and it won't let you override. You just can't print until you install a new cartridge.

In one of the reviews someone found a complicated way around it, but it's still a pain. Like one guy said, "if I have ink left let me use it. If I don't want to buy toner now I shouldn't have to."

Other complaints were faulty wireless connections that had to be reconfigured every time you got disconnected. Page creases. And a few others that I can't remember.

They did seem to agree that Brother had good customer service though, and I think that for the money you probably can't beat their product.

Whatever you decided to do Cincy, let us know how it works out.
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Old 06-25-2017, 11:16 PM   #34
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My Epson ET-4550 seems to be quite economical as far as ink goes. The printer itself cost about $500.
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Old 06-25-2017, 11:38 PM   #35
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I have a Canon 3 in 1 B&W laser.. My first Canon stopped working after 6 years. Toner from Cannon is about $70 but generic costs about $20 . The printer cost $99 from Newegg. The starter gives about 700 pages. If you don't need color laser is the only way to go.
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Old 06-25-2017, 11:41 PM   #36
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I'm in the market for a printer too, and I read a lot of the reviews for the Brother printers.

One of the biggest complaints is that even though you might have 500 pages left in ink, the printer will tell you it's time to get a new cartridge or whatever and it won't let you override. You just can't print until you install a new cartridge.

In one of the reviews someone found a complicated way around it, but it's still a pain. Like one guy said, "if I have ink left let me use it. If I don't want to buy toner now I shouldn't have to."

Other complaints were faulty wireless connections that had to be reconfigured every time you got disconnected. Page creases. And a few others that I can't remember.

They did seem to agree that Brother had good customer service though, and I think that for the money you probably can't beat their product.

Whatever you decided to do Cincy, let us know how it works out.
The way around the low toner warning is to put a small piece of black tape over the the little circle window on the side of the toner cartridge. The cartridge will print until it is empty.
If you use 22lb or 24lb paper and not recycled paper, the paper will never crease.
I buy the 800 sheet Xerox 24lb, 96 brightness reams from Sam's Club or Costco for $6.88 each.
I have printed over 400,000 copies on Brother Printers thru the years and find them by far the very best laser printers on the market.
I never had one breakdown thru all the years of using these printers.
The model printer that I currently use is #HL5470DW
i upgraded from previous models as Brother added duplexing and wireless printing features to their printers.

Last edited by SandyW; 06-25-2017 at 11:47 PM.
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Old 06-26-2017, 11:23 AM   #37
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The way around the low toner warning is to put a small piece of black tape over the the little circle window on the side of the toner cartridge. The cartridge will print until it is empty.
If you use 22lb or 24lb paper and not recycled paper, the paper will never crease.
I buy the 800 sheet Xerox 24lb, 96 brightness reams from Sam's Club or Costco for $6.88 each.
I have printed over 400,000 copies on Brother Printers thru the years and find them by far the very best laser printers on the market.
I never had one breakdown thru all the years of using these printers.
The model printer that I currently use is #HL5470DW
i upgraded from previous models as Brother added duplexing and wireless printing features to their printers.
My year old brother printer does not have this problem. They have this thing called 'Continuous Feed' mode that lets you print until the toner runs out.
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Old 06-26-2017, 04:38 PM   #38
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I'm in the market for a printer too, and I read a lot of the reviews for the Brother printers.

One of the biggest complaints is that even though you might have 500 pages left in ink, the printer will tell you it's time to get a new cartridge or whatever and it won't let you override. You just can't print until you install a new cartridge.

In one of the reviews someone found a complicated way around it, but it's still a pain. Like one guy said, "if I have ink left let me use it. If I don't want to buy toner now I shouldn't have to."

Other complaints were faulty wireless connections that had to be reconfigured every time you got disconnected. Page creases. And a few others that I can't remember.

They did seem to agree that Brother had good customer service though, and I think that for the money you probably can't beat their product.

Whatever you decided to do Cincy, let us know how it works out.
Will do Barn32. I've looked around for 3 days and have made my mind up. I don't want ink because I was considering an Epson. I want toner and laser and color and high output. Just ordered this an hour ago.

http://www.brother-usa.com/printer/m...ll8250cdn/spec

For the price and the specs I don't think this can be beat. $250. All the stores in this city are out of stock and even Amazon only had a handful left. So it's not just me zeroing in on this.

I've needed to do this for a long time. I can play off computers fine. In fact the next priority will be to stock up on laptop batteries and get a smaller laptop I can take with me to the track since there isn't any power access hardly at all! I still like handicapping with past performances. I do that first then everything else. I can't be worrying about ink all the time. Having 4K toner cartridges will make that a non issue and replacements are but $55. It'll be a pain in the ass to have to punch holes and bind this up but the end product will be my own handicapping book for the day. Am kind of digging the concept. Change is not easy. I've been pissed off since derby day when I found out the distributor cut all ties to outlets for the form and only DRF you could buy was at the track. Across town 17 miles from me. The other thing I like is don't PP's come out 2 days in advance? I could handicap a Saturday card on Thursday night or most of it then finish up on Friday without spending most of the evening doing it. I like that.

Anyway will keep you all in the loop! Thanks again everybody.
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Old 06-27-2017, 08:00 AM   #39
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It'll be a pain in the ass to have to punch holes and bind this up but the end product will be my own handicapping book for the day. Am kind of digging the concept... The other thing I like is don't PP's come out 2 days in advance? I could handicap a Saturday card on Thursday night or most of it then finish up on Friday without spending most of the evening doing it. I like that.
That's exactly the way I do it for my Saturday trips to LaD. I use a big three-ring binder, along with numbered dividers. Only takes a minute on Excel to make an index page for the races you've handicapped...my index has two columns, the left sorts the races by post time, the right by track. And I start handicapping on Thursday evening, usually for just two tracks.

What will you use the laptop for? If I'm going to play a tournament simultaneously I'll take along a little Chromebook. The battery charge easily lasts all day, but about all I use it for is to access Bris Supertote, enter tournament picks, and to watch the occasional replay. I can also upload my Excel spreadsheets to Google Sheets for access at the track, but only for viewing since Google Sheets doesn't support macros.

Good luck!
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Old 06-27-2017, 11:58 AM   #40
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That's exactly the way I do it for my Saturday trips to LaD. I use a big three-ring binder, along with numbered dividers. Only takes a minute on Excel to make an index page for the races you've handicapped...my index has two columns, the left sorts the races by post time, the right by track. And I start handicapping on Thursday evening, usually for just two tracks.

What will you use the laptop for? If I'm going to play a tournament simultaneously I'll take along a little Chromebook. The battery charge easily lasts all day, but about all I use it for is to access Bris Supertote, enter tournament picks, and to watch the occasional replay. I can also upload my Excel spreadsheets to Google Sheets for access at the track, but only for viewing since Google Sheets doesn't support macros.

Good luck!
My pace program is in excel and if there are scratches I edit out those runners. I did my own painstaking formatting for each of 14 categories and the top 3 in each. It's just easier on the eyes to handicap this way. Having a laptop is essential. I have a 17.3 now but it burns battery in about 3 hours. It's bulky plus if somebody steals it which is a possibility since I walk around all over the place during a race day(paddock etc!) I'd be pissed losing a $600 laptop but a little less for a smaller/cheaper model. And I think a smaller model the battery will last longer. I'm usually at the track from about 12:30 to 6 but if I start playing night cards I could be there til 10-11 pm. No single battery will last that long. I already was bringing half an office with me to the track in my backpack! Going to have to start buying 2 seats for all my stuff! These racino types have absolutely no concern for what the modern day horseplayer needs on track to be effective. In the old grandstand I used to bring an old card table and have rocks on top of all my papers so they didn't fly away! LOL! Anyway what do you suggest for an ontrack laptop to use excel with?
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Old 06-27-2017, 12:53 PM   #41
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Anyway what do you suggest for an ontrack laptop to use excel with?..
.

I'm in the market for a new laptop myself. If you don't want to risk a high-dollar machine at the track, you might look at the small HP Stream laptops, around $225 with Windows 10. If you input a lot of data you might want to buy a 10-key numeric keypad to go with it.

Do your Excel sheets use macros?
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Old 06-27-2017, 03:40 PM   #42
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.

I'm in the market for a new laptop myself. If you don't want to risk a high-dollar machine at the track, you might look at the small HP Stream laptops, around $225 with Windows 10. If you input a lot of data you might want to buy a 10-key numeric keypad to go with it.

Do your Excel sheets use macros?
Yeah it's full of them.
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Old 06-27-2017, 08:55 PM   #43
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I never asked, but is there a reason you need hard copies of the pp's? Since you have to go "digital" with the DRF, why not just store the files on the laptop, and you can look at them anytime you want. I do this with my small, lightweight, 2 in 1 laptop. I've taken this to Santa Anita, Del Mar, and Los Al. No papers to fumble with, plus, I have my software on there as well. The only time I've used paper pp's, in the past 5 or 6 years, is if I'm at the sportsbook. I can get them for free.
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Old 06-27-2017, 09:23 PM   #44
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I never asked, but is there a reason you need hard copies of the pp's? Since you have to go "digital" with the DRF, why not just store the files on the laptop, and you can look at them anytime you want. I do this with my small, lightweight, 2 in 1 laptop. I've taken this to Santa Anita, Del Mar, and Los Al. No papers to fumble with, plus, I have my software on there as well. The only time I've used paper pp's, in the past 5 or 6 years, is if I'm at the sportsbook. I can get them for free.
I have done my own playbooks for the years dating back to 2011. I find it is easier to recreate the day with hard copy. Plus going through it in this manner I find the self learning experience is very valuable. Now that I am taking this approach it will be far easier and not really much more expensive and time consuming. For tracks I play on the fly I have a program with PP's and my pace sheet. I have all this info. Doing it that way is convenient for say when I come home after work and look at races for 2 hours. It is not as a whole a be all end all experience. I find that technology helps me not eliminates the virtues that existed before it.
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Old 06-28-2017, 04:07 PM   #45
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Anyway what do you suggest for an ontrack laptop to use excel with?
Microsoft and Samsung, to name 2, have 12" laptop/tablet computers running Win10. Battery life is at least close to what you need (10+ hours).
Excel is smart enough to enable scrollbars when there isn't enough screen real estate. You can use your fingers to move around the window if you can get used to that.
Also, you could print all your pp docs to pdf and have them available and alt-tab between them and your spreadsheet as needed.

You already know that this stuff is do-able, you just need to commit to a way of doing what you want/need and then keep refining it until it finally works for you.
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