Poll: Do you print more, or less, than five years ago?

Ecuadorian · 7 Feb 2009, 16:44

(BTW I don't even have a printer so I don't know why I am worrying)

What better way to save ink than using no ink at all? I gave away my A3 inkjet printer two years ago to a religious organization, and haven't looked back.

Now I exchange info with clients almost exclusively via e-mail, rapidshare, CD/DVDs and USB sticks. Only when absolutely necessary (i.e. the client is not computer-savvy) I print out some drawings in a small b/n laser printer. If they need color output, they simply go to any Xerox center or cyber cafe. Most of my photos remain unprinted, too. We prefer to watch them on a 70" screen with an HD projector than in 6"x4" paper.

Anssi · 7 Feb 2009, 19:47

I usually send around PDFs, and the necessary site documents are produced by sending the same PDFs to a printing office. I have used the fax for about 5 times in 5 years.

Anssi

Ecuadorian · 7 Feb 2009, 20:06

Good tip, Anssi. Sending CAD files for printing can be quite messy (different CAD versions, missing plotting configuration files, scale/alignment, etc), so converting to PDF is almost always a streamlined option to traditional "plotting".

BTW, you don't need Adobe Acrobat Pro to make PDFs, you can use the free PDF creator, which installs as a printer and allows you to make PDFs from any program that allows you to print:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

pbacot · 7 Feb 2009, 20:46

Mac OS has a built-in print to pdf with many options. I've used this for all apps without trouble for long time. Still I have my printers. I must "show-up" with printed material all the time and it saves a trip to the print shop. Also the quality of my output is under my control when I need it. For construction drawings I do use the "blue" printers a lot. I find that pdfs to the print shop is better than having them recopy my hard copy. However, either output from the print shop is often not as good as diazo prints were in producing shading. The machines or the people are just not up to it.

My Canon large format printer uses two matte black cartridges for most monotone printing. They don't run out often, but they run out at the same time and cost....$62.00 each!

I rarely use the fax machine and am reconsidering the cost of keeping this option for my 20th century clients.

remus · 7 Feb 2009, 23:19

personally i find im starting to print stuff out more often. I think its more related to the fact that im still in college and writing lots of essays, though. I prefer proof reading printed stuff, as well, so that probably adds to the total quite a bit.

FenS · 7 Feb 2009, 23:40

About the same, which is still a lot, but i am printing 2 pages on 1 side and dubblesided.
Also has got to do with a lot of reading in different documents at the same time and only having one monitor. Printing makes it easier... unfortunately