A Better Tool For Taxing Times
I willingly admit that the "killer app" that finally got me to buy a computer over a decade ago wasn't the most common one. No, it wasn't gaming, nor digital darkroom activities. No, I can thank the IRS for something because it was my taxes of all things that pushed me to bring my first 'puter into the house.
My accountant showed up at the house with his laptop (B&W screen no less), and a laser printer the size of a milk crate. He went through the interview, and entered the data I provided. After a while, I figured out that the computer was doing all of the work, and he was simply reading off of the screen. Hmmm. I went around and saw that the guy, who was a CPA, was using TurboTax. I guess I had my answer if these programs were any good.
That year things didn't go too well. First, my accountant's computer crashed before he saved anything, and he had to reinterview me. The only thing that's more painful than going through your tax info once, is doing it twice. Then, when the return was printed, there were half a dozen mistakes in it. Many of them were real simple ones that I could spot on my first run through of the return. This convinced me that given the cost of the tax software, which is pretty inexpensive, and a cheap computer, factored against my accountant that was raising his fees every year, that the computer was a no brainer. Besides, I could use it for some other things, and it seemed like a fun toy. We can simply say, that the rest is history, to quote the cliche.
Over the years, I still do my own taxes. My inkjet printer could previously take almost an hour to print my federal and state returns with the supporting documents and all the other paperwork that the tax software feels it needs to inundate the IRS with. Adding to the printing time is that the ol' inkjet didn't have enough paper capacity so that random pages of the return would end up on the floor. Each tax form gets printed as a graphics document, and the gray ares print with the color cartridges in some magenta color that really put the brakes on the job. And this wasn't even on the s-l-o-w best mode.
This year, I've really enjoyed my new laser printer. Now this is a serious business tool that gets the job done quickly and efficiently. I timed my 22 page federal return, and it spit out of the printer in just over a minute. Now this is more like it! Best of all, none of the pages ended up on the floor. While I gave up the color on my inkjet very reluctantly, it's times like these that I know I made the right choice.
--Jonas
My accountant showed up at the house with his laptop (B&W screen no less), and a laser printer the size of a milk crate. He went through the interview, and entered the data I provided. After a while, I figured out that the computer was doing all of the work, and he was simply reading off of the screen. Hmmm. I went around and saw that the guy, who was a CPA, was using TurboTax. I guess I had my answer if these programs were any good.
That year things didn't go too well. First, my accountant's computer crashed before he saved anything, and he had to reinterview me. The only thing that's more painful than going through your tax info once, is doing it twice. Then, when the return was printed, there were half a dozen mistakes in it. Many of them were real simple ones that I could spot on my first run through of the return. This convinced me that given the cost of the tax software, which is pretty inexpensive, and a cheap computer, factored against my accountant that was raising his fees every year, that the computer was a no brainer. Besides, I could use it for some other things, and it seemed like a fun toy. We can simply say, that the rest is history, to quote the cliche.
Over the years, I still do my own taxes. My inkjet printer could previously take almost an hour to print my federal and state returns with the supporting documents and all the other paperwork that the tax software feels it needs to inundate the IRS with. Adding to the printing time is that the ol' inkjet didn't have enough paper capacity so that random pages of the return would end up on the floor. Each tax form gets printed as a graphics document, and the gray ares print with the color cartridges in some magenta color that really put the brakes on the job. And this wasn't even on the s-l-o-w best mode.
This year, I've really enjoyed my new laser printer. Now this is a serious business tool that gets the job done quickly and efficiently. I timed my 22 page federal return, and it spit out of the printer in just over a minute. Now this is more like it! Best of all, none of the pages ended up on the floor. While I gave up the color on my inkjet very reluctantly, it's times like these that I know I made the right choice.
--Jonas
posted by digitaldoc at 9:14 PM
2 Comments:
I've been preaching the virtues of B&W laser printers for years, ever since I bought my first one. That first B&W laster, a Brother 1240, is still going strong by the way having been replaced by a Brother MF fax/printer/scanner.
I know OB has some issues with power consumption, but my guess would be that the added cost of electricity is minimal compared to the cost of wasted inkjet cartridges that are full of ink but dried up.
Most folks don't need to print in color, but for those that do, the price of color lasers has become very affordable. My color laser is turned off most of the time and I'm still on the original toner cartridges after three years of use. But it ALWAYS works when I turn it on and issue a print command.
You made the right choice, Jonas.
I figure that my current B&W laser printer should last me three or four years. By that time, the color lasers should have come down to something more affordable, and that is what I'd eventually like to own. I leave my laser printer off, and aside from the cable issue, I've had no problems firing it up as needed. I think the inkjet era will eventually come to an end as some company will realize the profits to be made on a sub-$200 color laser.
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