You can purchase the HP Deskjet D1600 printer for $29.95. If you need replacement ink for the Deskjet, it sells for $31.99. So, if you run out of ink, it's cheaper to purchase a brand new printer. That's like getting the printer for free.

You are reading this correctly. It is cheaper to buy a new printer than it is to purchase the cartridges.

Before you continue reading, I have no personal experience with this printer. I am not recommending it nor not recommending it. The online reviews for this printer can be summarized as adequate and certainly outstanding for the price. The quality and performance is fine. It appears to be a great printer for students to bring with them to a dorm. At $29.95, students don't even need to bring it home after graduation! For those who print 10, 20, or 30 pages a month, you can't beat the value.

Here are some of the features. At 20 pages per minute (black) or 16 pages per minute (color), it is a fast enough for single page and short print runs. The color and quality of the printer output is quite adequate according to the specs. You can print out 600 dpi (dots per inch) in black or print photos at up to 4800 X 1200 dpi. It has a monthly duty cycle of 750 pages. The paper tray only holds 80 sheets. It takes 32 seconds to print a 4 X 6 color photo.

This printer uses two cartridges; a black cartridge and a color cartridge. Some printers come with starter cartridges. When you purchase this printer, it comes with full standard cartridges.

Replacement black cartridges sell for $14.99. If you need a replacement pair (both black and color), it sells for $31.99 (more than the cost of the printer).

The yield of a black cartridge is 200 pages. That's about 7 1/2 cents per page. The color cartridge gets you an average of 165 pages making the printer cost about 10 cents per page. This makes the cost of printing about twice the cost of a more expensive inkjet. More or less, printing on this printer will cost you about $4 more per month than printing on a more expensive printer that has a lower per page cost (based on 100 pages per month).

My advice, if you don't print all that much (10, 20, or 30 pages per month), $29.95 seems like a bargain. If you need a second printer or a printer for students in a dorm room, the HP Deskjet D1600 is a great value.

For more information, go to:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF08a/18972-18972-236251-14438-64340-3811065.html

• 10 Computer Software Programs You Really Need (#4)

Acronis True Image Home 2010 is a backup and recovery program. It sells for $49.99 (suggested list price).

In my opinion, it is the best of all backup programs and is superior to Norton's Ghost.

There are two different types of items that you must backup on your computer.


#1...You need to backup your data files to an external hard drive, flash drive or other computer. Backing up your files is essential. If you lose your data files, you have no way they can ever be recovered. Your data files include your music, photos, spreadsheets, inventory data, and other documents that you created. Once this data is lost, it can't be recovered ever.

#2...You need to backup all your software programs (such as Microsoft Office and Cash Register Express) as well as Microsoft Windows to an external hard drive, flash drive or other computer. Unlike your data files, you can eventually restore your programs or Microsoft Windows by using your original CDs to reload the programs. Or, if you no longer have your program CDs, you can always buy new copies which could be rather costly.

Using Acronis True Image, you can create an image of your hard drive and copy it to an external USB hard drive. Should anything happen to your computer, your have a complete copy of your hard drive including all of your data files and programs (including Microsoft Windows).

Here's what I do to backup my data. I use SyncToy to backup my data files on a daily basic (see Computer Tips at http://news.pcamerica.com/ComputerTips.html if you missed that newsletter).

I use Acronis True Image to make a complete image backup of my computer on a monthly basis. Should my hard drive fail, I can easily recover all of my data from my external USB drive by restoring it through Acronis True Image.

After restoring my monthly image from my external USB drive, I then restore my daily data files.

It will take your computer anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to make an image of your hard drive.

Alternately, you can use Acronis True Image to constantly update all of your data and programs to an external USB drive. I'm not a fan of a continuous backup because should your computer be attacked by a virus, your backup would also contain that virus. I normally keep three months of a complete image backup of my external USB hard drive. Just in case something really bad happens to my computer (like a serious virus), I can go back in time and recover from an earlier image backup. Because I also backup my data files on a daily backup, I can easily restore these important files.

To read more about Acronis True Image go to:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/