I picked up my Wireless Deskset at my local supermarket for £15 (about  $23.70 at time of writing) and at that price I wasn’t expecting too much.

First Impressions

Straight out of the box, the keyboard looked like any other. It has a fairly standard layout including the group of 6 keys above the arrow keys in the arrangement that I prefer – 2 rows of 3.

The mouse was also fairly standard – designed to be used by left or right handed people, so not sculpted in an asymmetrical shape.

The USB receiver is very small, looking like a tiny flash drive about 1 inch (2.5cm) long.

Installation

The set comes complete with two AA size batteries – one for the keyboard and one for the mouse. Trust claim that their smart technology extends the life of the batteries compared with other wireless sets. I guess they go into a sleep mode when not in use.

Apart from fitting the batteries, the only other part of the installation was to plug in the USB receiver into a vacant USB slot.

Windows detected the new hardware and it configured itself to work straight away.

In Use

The keyboard is not bad to type on. I’m not a touch typist by any stretch of the imagination, but I can type reasonably quickly and I had no problems with this keyboard. Key operation is relatively quiet compared with many keyboards – especially the Dell ones I use at work.

One thing I notice about the keyboard was that there are no indicators for Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock. I guess this omission keeps the costs down, but the Caps Lock has already caught me out once when trying to enter a password. I suspect that if I opened the keyboard casing there might be contacts on the circuit board for the indicators, in which case I could modify it. However, I imagine that the addition of these lights would reduce battery life. Having said that, I rarely use Caps Lock and Num Lock, so it wouldn’t make much difference to me.

At first, the mouse was very sensitive. For my old mouse I had the pointer movement set to a fast setting which was much too fast for this mouse, so I had to reduce the speed considerably. Once done I found the mouse to be a little erratic – it wasn’t possible to precisely position the cursor at times. Then I realised that with the receiver at the back of the PC, it might be having trouble with the signal. So rather than using one of my precious two front-panel USB ports, I used a USB extender cable to bring the receiver out to just under my monitors. This done, the mouse performed perfectly.

One thing that has always annoyed me about the computer mouse is the wire. I have often found that it restricts the movement of the mouse in confined spaces, or if the wire falls off the desk, it pulls the mouse along. Being cordless, this one is a pleasure to use. I find the switches in the mouse buttons require a firmer press than my previous mouse, which for me is a bad thing, but it’s not as bad as the buttons I used on a Compaq mouse several years ago.

Being able to sit back in my chair and move away from the desk with the keyboard on my lap is a real luxury for me. I was always very dismissive of cordless input devices because of battery consumption (if the battery fails, I can’t use my PC so I’ll have to keep a wired keyboard and mouse handy or make sure I have a good stock of batteries), but this freedom to move around is really quite good.

It doesn’t matter how swish your PC case an monitors look, you can’t make the cables look neat and tidy. Removing the cables completely is just excellent.

If you can live without the Caps Lock and Num Lock indicators, I’d recommend this set if you are looking for a budget keyboard to replace a broken or worn out one. That is unless you are used to one of those curved, ergonomic keyboards.

This printer brings professional print quality to the industrial, high-volume user. Utilizing the very latest in Hewlett-Packard inkjet technology, the EnduraJet delivers an impressive 4800dpi print resolution and superior print speeds. Four individual, large-capacity ink cartridges afford users the ability to print high volumes of professional quality discs at the lowest possible cost per print.

Professional Print Quality

The EnduraJet delivers incredible photo-realistic graphics and a superb quality finish that makes it stand out from other printers. Featuring HP’s PhotoREt III enhanced color-layering technology, up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi color resolution can be achieved and by using HP inks, the EnduraJet delivers vivid, life-like color and crisp black text time after time. Easy to use label design software is also included.

Faster and Efficient

The EnduraJet prints up to 25% faster than other inkjet disc printers. Extra large printheads mean that more ink can be placed on the disc’s surface at any one time, which results in faster printing times.

Low Cost Per Print

Due to the EnduraJet’s individual ink tank calibration, printing discs has become more economical. Users can change the individual CMYK inks based on usage, which means zero wastage. The increase-capacity cartridges also offer users a low cost per print (approx. $0.09) making the EnduraJet more affordable and cost effective to run than other disc printers.

SpeedJet Pro Inkjet Printer

This printer brings professional print quality to the in-house production of CDs and DVDs, delivering outstanding photo-quality images directly onto the surface of discs enabling customers to choose colorful backgrounds and images that reflect their company.

HP Technology

The SpeedJet Pro features HPs’ UNIQUE PhotoREt IV color-layering technology, which is able to deliver vivid, true-to-life photos. HP PhotoREt IV controls the placement of the 6-inks more precisely than ever before. Each dot is capable of receiving 32 minuscule drops of color, each one precisely positioned to achieve smoother graduations in tone and to virtually eliminate any grain in the printed image. PhotoREt IV can deliver 289 levels of shade for each color (compared with 17 levels in previous generations) and offers a complete palette in excess of 1.2 million colors. The outstanding print quality is also achieved through the clever design of the drawer mechanism, which holds the discs in place to such a high degree of accuracy, that the finest inkjet printing can take place. The drawer mechanism’s superior in/out tray also allows for fast printing speeds.

In addition to 120mm CDs and DVDs, 80mm mini discs and CD business cards can also be printed with the use of optional adapters and unlike most disc printers, the SpeedJet Pro uses standard HP color, photo and black ink cartridges for the most cost effective printing possible.

User Friendly

The SpeedJet Pro boasts a unique interface making it the easiest to use and most accurate CD/DVD printer by far. The Disc Mask ensures precision printing of designs time after time and the quick and simple calibration process ensures perfect layout.

THE VERDICT

The EnduraJet seems like the way to go as a complete package.  However, I must cover one topic that gets a bit confusing: cost per print.  The EnduraJet has four proprietary ink cartridges that can put out roughly 1,500 prints per set of four (a 69ml black cartridge and 28ml each CMY cartridges), while the SpeedJet Pro’s combination of black and tri-color cartridges (19ml each) can only put out 200 prints per set.  You must use HP genuine cartridges for the EnduraJet but you can find non-genuine cartridges for the SpeedJet Pro, since they are non-proprietary.  This drastically reduces your cost per print, however, because they are not HP genuine, one might discover the colors to be “off” and not match.  It comes down to a cost-benefit analysis based around the desired quality of the prints.

About the Author

Christian Czentye is a recent graduate from UCLA with a major in Business Economics and a minor in Accounting. He is now putting his knowledge and experience to work as a sales and marketing associate for All Pro Solutions, a leading manufacturer and innovator of CD/DVD/BD Duplicators and Publishing Systems.  In the near future, he plans on pursuing his MBA with a concentration in finance.
From low-end, entry-level duplicators to highly advanced and network-based, mission critical Blu-Ray systems, Christian Czentye invites you to familiarize yourself and learn more about All Pro Solutions’ wonderful duplication systems offered at <a href=”http://www.all-pro-sol.com”>www.all-pro-sol.com</A>.  To inquire about additional information, please fill out the following <a href=”http://www.all-pro-sol.com/cd-dvd-duplicators-publishers-contact-us/index.html”>form</A>

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