Posted by CF on 6/26/09 11:19am
Msg #293700

Anyone upgraded/added memory to their printer?

Did it make it print faster? Was it able to handle the large size pacakges that we encounter? Just curious if this may make a difference in pritning speed. I just purchased a printer that is suppose to print 32 ppm....but it is not doing that. I think it is the memory. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you!!!

Reply by PAW on 6/26/09 11:52am
Msg #293706

Adding printer memory MAY (or may not) help speed up printing. Overall, printing should be faster, but there are still many PDF documents that are scanned images, rather than text documents. Scanned images take CPU power and PC memory to render and send to the printer through the printer driver. Then the printer needs to 'build' (render) the page in its memory. All that takes time.

The end result is that more memory for BOTH printer and PC, plus a fast processor in the PC and a fast processor (engine) in the printer, will make printing faster. Each on their own, will help, but it takes all four elements to make a really zippy printing experience.

Reply by CF on 6/26/09 12:15pm
Msg #293709

How can you tell if your pdf has been scanned as image? Just curious- thank you!

Reply by PAW on 6/26/09 12:48pm
Msg #293711

The easiest way is to search for a word, like "Mortgage". If you can see the word, but the search doesn't find it, and highlight it, the doc is probably scanned. Another tell-tail sign is the size of the PDF file. Scanned images take a lot of file space. So scanned images are much larger than text files. A 100 page document should be less than 1 Mb in size for text. About 3 to 4 Mb if it is images.

If you're using Adobe Reader 9.1, you can tell by the cursor. With text documents, the cursor is an I beam, with images, it is cross-hairs.

Reply by CF on 6/26/09 1:18pm
Msg #293716

Thank you so much for the information. I appreciate it....I think that the culprit is a scanned image. I am going to talk with my nephew, my IT, person and see what we can do. Have a great day!

Reply by parkerc/ME on 6/26/09 5:01pm
Msg #293741

Thanks, PAW. That is VERY interesting. What I'm seeing is that every set of docs I get must be scanned as images, because I've never received a package for less than 6 Mb . . even those of less than 100 pages (which are few!). Good to know.

Reply by Gary_CA on 6/27/09 1:00pm
Msg #293803

All scanned PDF's are NOT created equal

Usually from a major TC you'll get scanned docs that print pretty quick, because they've got good scanners and software configured correctly....

Then you get "just a few pages" from the Mortgage Broker. A "few" pages ends up being 40 but the kicker is they scan it full resolution and full color and the friggin PDF is 234 Meg.

Nothing you can do, just part of the game.

Reply by JerryhFL on 6/26/09 3:12pm
Msg #293728

Are all loan documents scanned?

If they are, why do some print at a very high rate while others are very slow. Both use the very same printer and settings.

Reply by PAW on 6/26/09 5:20pm
Msg #293743

No, not all documents are printed then scanned. Many companies know how to do it correctly using document conversion software. Heck, some processing software packages even include PDF as an output option.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 6/26/09 1:29pm
Msg #293717

Just for fun, how fast do you think it is printing?

In my circle of friends and associates, I have been finding out that as a printer manufacture's claim of speed increases, so does the disparity of claimed vs actual. My Brothers' claim 21ppm and it pretty much is that. Yes, i know, that's slow by today's claimed standards, but I have two of them and I print one set on each one at the same time (that does take a fast processor and a lot of computer RAM) so I am approaching 40 ppm with this set up. Plus, if one printer breaks, I can still get the job done. A friend of mine spent a bundle for an HP printer (sorry, I forgot the model number) and it is suppose to print 32ppm, but when you read the fine print, that is with 5% coverage in 300 dpi mode. When the page coverage and quality increases, the speed decreases. It just could be that you have all 4 of PAWs attributes maxed out, but you still won't get 32ppm. It depends what parameters the manufacturer used to measure the speed. You could be maxed out for what you are printing.

Go into your printer setup and make sure that you are set to spool and print immediately.

Reply by CF on 6/26/09 3:40pm
Msg #293730

Re: Just for fun, how fast do you think it is printing?

I just set it up last night and gave a time test for my 2 edocs today and it is printing approx. at 11 ppm. That is SLOW and I am not happy with the result. By looking at the size of the doc package it was scanned as an image it was only 76 pages but 5mb...so I think that is what the problem is. I am going to recheck all my setting and see if I can up it from there. I have no idea what the speed of my computer is or what it has, but memory upgrade may be necessary. Thank you for reminding me about the setting and I am going to mess around with that too. I bought a new Brother 8480DN that says it is 32ppm. We will see if I will keep this one or not.

Reply by MW/VA on 6/26/09 3:54pm
Msg #293731

I'm no "tech genius", but in my limited experience I have learned that it's not always about the amount of memory--it can be drivers or firmware. I had lots of issues with HP printers & switched to "post script" drivers for the large text files. Many printers are fast, but get bogged down with these large text files. If you call tech support you can tell them the unusual requirements of the large text files & they will generally guide you. LOL