Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
The moral I got from the story was "Take the extra time and do the research to make sure the product does what you want."
The consequences of not being willing to spend the time up front are what you experienced - getting something that won't do the job and having to spend more time and money afterward to repair the oversight.
|
That is true. On the other hand, how much time should one spend doing so?
I've read specifications (most of them OK for what I wanted), looked at product shots, and read several reviews that gave the device good marks and didn't raise any complaints.
For all intents and purposes, it looked just fine. I'm sure it can do what I'd like to do with it, except for the fact that it doesn't have a backlight. And that's what irks me to no end: the pictures are edited to make it look it DOES have a backlight.
Specifications can't be trusted: even those of the Brother are not complete. It jus says "LCD Screen". Backlight is not mentioned. On the descriptions page however, is a list with characteristics, and a download for the product leaflet, and both do mention the backlight.
I did find a product video regarding this device:
And a very extensive review:
This thing seems to be specifically created for the stuff I want to do. It only has two drawbacks:
- I will only need it once for a lot of labeling, and then only sporadically.
- It's fracking orange (probably so you can find it easily in between a bunch of grey/black machines).
PS: There's a project at work that may get off the ground. If that happens, I definitely *NEED* one of these things, because it involves a lot of network, HDMI, power cables, and connections.
Quote:
|
And yes, if what you have is basically business/industrial needs, buy business/industrial products. The Dymo you got wasn't really intended for your use case. The Brother you are looking at is.
|
I don't really have industrial needs. Do I *NEED* a workstation class, ISV-certified notebook? No. I can do everything I want with a higher mid-end laptop as well.
However, there are some wants:
- a 15.6 inch IPS screen (I'm already used to wide-angle screens with my SPVA and iPS Eizo screens which I've used for the last 8,5 years)
- an SSD for software, an HDD for data (used to that as well, in my desktop and older laptop)
- the capability to install 32GB of RAM (I was used to 8, but that's often running low now; at this point, 16 is installed, but I want to be able t to upgrade)
- it must be built like a tank (this will, eventually, be my only computer)
- have 5 years of on-site warranty (because of being the only computer in use and maintained)
- 5+ years parts availability (I intend to use this laptop until it either breaks after 5 years and can't be economically repaired, or, at some point, isn't fast enough anymore. Being not fast enough anymore is what happened to my older desktop and laptop).
Those are all things I don't really *need*, but because I want them, it puts me in the middle of the workstation class notebooks.
Fortunately, I can afford one of them; at least in this time of my life. If I didn't have had the money, it would be pointless wanting these things. Then I'd just have to buy what I could afford (which I did, before getting to work full time).