Herculodge

My Brother DCP 7020 Is the Worst Printer I've Ever Purchased

A few months ago, I purchased a Brother DCP 7020 from Amazon for $162.99 with free shipping. I kept it inside the box until today when I decided to mate it with my new iMac. 

The manual is terrible, disorganized, incoherent, lacking crucial details for taking the toner cover off the cartridge for example. 

Worse, the printer won't turn on. Worse still, after installing it--twice!--I've gotten a warning sign from my iMac: "The application LOGINserver quit unexpectedly."

So now what? The printer weighs a ton. It's huge. It doesn't turn on. It's not showing up on my iMac. I'm not sure if the toner is all the way exposed. 

I want to get rid of this nightmare. I'll put my HP back without all the bells and whistles--copier, scanner, etc. I don't care. I'll take simplicity and reliability every time. 

The window to return was April 24, 2008. I'm screwed. With my HP staying home, I refuse to spend more money,including repairs on the Brother, so there will be no printer in my new office. The lesson? Don't buy electronics and let them sit in a box. Open them immediately and make sure they work. 

Shortly After My iMac G5's Warranty Expires, My G5 Goes on the Fritz

I purchased my G5 in April of 2005 with the 3-year Apple Care warranty. It was my first Apple. I loved it. I proselytized it. I celebrated its elegance, its incompatibility with viruses, its high-grade materials. How was I rewarded? Two months after the warranty expired, the screen progressively got fuzzier and fuzzier, at times freezing up and at times prompting a warning sign instructing me to shut off the computer.

I called Apple Tech Support and was told the estimated repair of the screen would be $1,000. The cost of the new Intel iMac starts at $1,200. 

This is a huge bummer. I planned on keeping my G5 for 5 years before replacing it. But now that won't be possible. 

I ordered a new Apple today. I upgraded the RAM and hard-drive and got the Apple Care package. With tax and free shipping, the cost was $1,500. 

As a promotion I got a free (after I fill in the online rebate) $300 iPod Touch with 8 gigs. 

As I wait for the computer (latest arrival is July 2), I will attempt to post from my wife's computer and reply to comments. I imagine posts won't be as frequent or robust and comments will be signed "Carrie," even though it will be me. 

Call me crazy but I plan on keeping the new iMac for 5 years. Unlike the previous Mac, this one has an Intel chip and I have to assume the screen has fewer glitches than the old one. But I'm not betting my life on it. 

Formatting the SimpleTech for my iMac G5 with OSX 10.4.11

I recently purchased a SimpleTech SP-U25 160 GB external hard drive for my iMac G5 with OSX 10.4.11. The cost was 78 dollars, but I notice, a week later, that the price is now $95. The device, about the size of a calculator, is so tiny I can hide it behind my computer rather easily. It's also easy to drag my Word files and iTunes music directly into the hard drive. However, the owner's manual is, like most manuals, unclear and horribly written. This is no problem if you have a PC since in that case you don't have to format the SimpleTech; you simply "plug and play." However, Mac users must format in a way that is not accurately explained in the manual. You should go to Application, then Utilities, then Disk Utility. From there the manual says to select "Volume Format" from the list but you won't see any "list." To be more clear, what you must first do is click on the SimpleTech device, which may confuse you because you won't see the words "SimpleTech" in the rectangle on the left of your Disk Utilities. What you will see is the following: "149.1 GB WDC WD 1600 J." In fact, this is listed twice. I clicked on the first listing of this. Then I selected "Erase." Then I gave my external hard drive a name in the designated box, calling it "SimpleTech Backup." Then I clicked "Erase" and it is "Erase" that formats the disk for your iMac with OSX.

Another important point not mentioned in the manual: To avoid having to power up the external hard drive with an AC adapter, not included, and to just use the one USB connector, do not plug the USB into your keyboard. Even my Belkin USB port did not give enough power for my SimpleTech. I had to use the USB connector in the back of the iMac.

I stored about 22 gigs of music and all my Word files into the 160 GB SimpleTech and still have 130 GB disk space remaining. Unless I start buying movies on iTunes, the 160 GB should be enough to last me 4 years or so. Those who need to back-up movies might look to hard drives with 1 TB of space, which cost about $400.