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Greetings!
We want to thank all of loyal customers for their patronage and their recommendations to friends and family. We are seeing a steady increase each month in the number of new customers inquiring about our services, most of whom were recommended to us by existing customers.
Your loyalty and kind words mean a great deal to us. We are dedicated to providing you with not only a superior product but superior customer service as well.
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Some Thoughts on Vista
 Microsoft Vista, Redmond's latest operating system, is being sold pre-installed on most new computers being sold by major retailers.
If you're in the market for a new computer, there are a few considerations you may want to keep in mind regarding Vista that might influence your decision about which computer to buy.
To fully enjoy the new features of Vista, several hardware requirements must be met. The system should have a minimum of 1GB of memory, at least a 1 GHz processor and 15GB free disk space for just the operating system. Most early testers, myself included, have found that 2GB of RAM is more realistic. In addition, many older system components and peripherals simply will not work with Vista due to their not being certified by Microsoft or the vendors not having written updated drivers.
Several of our customers have expressed reservations about upgrading knowing that their current video cards and printers aren't certified for Vista. Many of the Windows gurus on the internet are suggesting we wait until at least the release of Service Pack 1 for Vista, which is rumored to be coming later this year. That will give the early adopters a chance to report many of the bugs and issues that are bound to arise and Microsoft time to offer a fix for them. Vista in a business environment will introduce other complications that should be considered before making a move that could easily break your intranet.
Here are my best suggestions, as a Windows beta tester, to those considering buying a new computer pre-loaded with Vista and those considering an upgrade on their present systems;
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Recycling Phones and Batteries
 Earth Day and Arbor Day remind us of the importance of recycling. We urge all our customers to recycle not just their ink and toner cartridges, but anything else they might be tempted to simply throw away.
The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation
(RBRC) can help you recycle your used portable rechargeable batteries
and old cell phones. Rechargeable batteries are commonly found in
cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers,
camcorders, digital cameras, and remote control toys. RBRC recycles the
following battery chemistries: Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal
Hydride (Ni-MH), Lithium Ion (Li-ion) and Small Sealed Lead* (Pb). RBRC
is dedicated to keeping rechargeable batteries and cell phones out of
our nation's solid waste stream and preserving natural resources.
Here's list of their drop-off locations around San Diego.
RBRC partners.
Answer the Call to Recycle!
* weighing less than 2 lbs./1 kg
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The End of Staple's Compatibles
 After five months of persistent rumors, Staples announced that it will
discontinue the sale of HP-compatible ink and toner cartridges. Lyra
Research first began hearing rumors to this effect at World Expo last
August. Months of relentless inquiries by Lyra finally resulted in a
January 29 e-mail response from a Staples spokesperson who confirmed
the story. According to the spokesperson, the reason for Staples'
decision was that "Hewlett-
Packard continues to rapidly advance its technology in printing systems
and ink and toner, [and] this decision offers the best solution to
customers and allows Staples to focus its resources on the many other
product categories where we can innovate with Staples-brand products."
We found some convincing evidence that Staples was indeed dropping its
line of HP-compatible cartridges in mid-December, when the office
superstore published its January 2007 catalog. Not only were
Staples-brand HP ink and toner missing from the catalog - Staples-brand
Epson-
compatible ink cartridges were also conspicuously absent, although the
catalog offered store-brand cartridges for Canon, Dell, and Lexmark
machines. Staples
provided no explanation for the absence of Epson compatibles, but the
move may have more to do with Epson's lawsuit against Armor Group
(Staples' vendor for the store-brand cartridges) and less to do with
any agreement between Epson and Staples. By early February, Staples had
pulled all HP-compatible cartridges from the shelves of its stores and
eliminated them from its Web site. Epson cartridges were still
available in stores and online, but we noticed that some SKUs were out
of stock at the stores we visited.
We want to encourage all of Staples former compatible cartridge
customers to consider an even less expensive alternative to buying
original inkjet cartridges. Cartridge World continues to provide
refilled HP and Epson inkjet cartridges at a lower price than Staples
offered for its compatibles. Because we recycle the cartridge case, we
can offer our refills for 30-50% off retail price for an OEM (Original
Equipment Manufacturer) cartridge. Our cartridges are filled with ink
specific to your printer and guaranteed for 30 days against failure or
dissatisfaction. We also provide refilled cartridges for most other printer models as
well; Brother, Sharp, Lexmark, Canon and Dell to name a few.
If
you used to buy compatible cartridges at Staples, we encourage you to
visit us and check out our line of refilled inkjet cartridges. I
believe the price and quality will impress you.
Do you use a
laser printer? We remanufacture laser cartridges at a substantial
savings over office supply prices for original cartridges and guarantee
your satisfaction like we do for inkjet cartridges.
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If there's a topic of interest to you or your business you'd like to see covered in this newsletter, please let us know. We want this to be a means of communicating information you can use. Your feedback and suggestions are invaluable to us.
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Sincerely,
Jack Carlson
Cartridge World
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