September 2005 - Posts

• Goodbye HP . . .

  I think I might be at a point where I will never sell another HP laser printer again. Ever. Recently (since early this year), we've been selling Okidata color laser printers.  We have a couple customers with C7350n units, and a few more with C5150n units (we're using the 5150 ourselves) and everyone has been thoroughly pleased.  Well, we just ordered our first B&W Okidata laser printer for a client - a B6300n.  I installed this thing and was immediately impressed.  Power-on to Ready to Print in under 5 seconds.  And it prints so fast - not only PPM speed, but just as important a very low time to first print (official number is under 9 seconds - but so far I've seen it around 3 seconds). We currently have an HP 4250tn in our office - and I have to admit that the Oki B6300n is every bit as much the printer as the HP 4250tn.  The 4250tn does have a higher sheet capacity than the Oki - (1,000 vs 700), and is has a higher PPM rating (45ppm vs 35ppm).  But for the average small business environment, the difference isn't even noticeable.  What is noticeable is the price difference:  $1,499 for the 4250tn  versus  $839 for the B6300n So going forward - I'm recommending the Oki printers for our customers when they ask . . . Posted Sep 15 2005, 05:04 PM by cgross with 6 comment(s) Filed under: Small Biz

• SMB Nation Follow-up . . .

  I'm finally back home from one of the more hectic weekends I've had in a very long time.  I want to thank everyone who caught my session - and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask - either via the Contact link on the blog - or via the contact info in my slide deck (check the notes section for the title slide :^) )  Also, I don't know if this was announced or not - but since I wasn't about to stick around and repeat my session on Sunday, I'm offering to repeat to anyone's user group(s) via LiveMeeting . . .   I do want to also apologize to the people where I kept the conversation somewhat short, or just wasn't able to touch base with at all - that was the primary down-side of having a super-tight schedule this weekend. I don't know about everyone else - but I thought this year's conference went *very* well - but then again, I was only there for Friday  ;^)    I've already suggested that we're at the MS Convference Center again next year - that venue rocks . . .  not to mention it seems to allow for more blue badges to hang around . . . Posted Sep 11 2005, 07:12 PM by cgross with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Community

• I think I'm getting old . . .

  . . . because the highlight of my trip so far has been the gas mileage I got on my drive to Minneapolis.  What? Minneapolis you ask?  Yep - I'm working on that whole 'balance' concept . . .   I have a close friend from college who is getting married Saturday, but we have SMB Nation this weekend.  SO - I drove the 400 miles up to Minneapolis (where I'm waiting for my flight to board now) to fly out to Seattle for SMB Nation.  I'm giving my InfoPath & Sharepoint session Friday afternoon, then I catch an early flight back to MSP Saturday morning which gives me a little over 90 minutes from when I'm scheduled to land until the bride is walking down the aisle . . .   And yes, this itinerary was approved by the bride beforehand.  In her own words - 'as long as you can land at least an hour before the ceremony you'll be fine.  Come on - it's not like I'm Bridezilla or something  ;^)' So anyway - the gas mileage - just over 29 MPG - and I made the entire trip on a single tank of gas (with a quarter tank left).  I probably could have hit 31 or 32 MPG if I hadn't been in as much of a hurry  ;^) And my luck continues - I actually found a seat at my gate with a power outlet - so no sitting on the floor killing my back, or using up my battery before we're in the air  :^) Posted Sep 08 2005, 01:47 PM by cgross with no comments