Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-05-11)

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25 May

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN...

Want to know the difference between

technical terms? Email noproblem@

computeractive.co.uk

??

It’s vital to buy and

fit an SSD with the

correct physical

interface for your

computer

SSD memory types

• Will Sandbox keep Windows
  10 safe?


• How do I cut my electricity
  bills?


• What’s up with my Number
  Lock? ...And many more

Q

My Canon Pixma iP7250
printer (pictured) has recently
developed an unusual problem.
When printing a page of text, every
fifth line is sharp, but all other lines are

blurred and appear to be printed twice,

slightly out of register. Any advice

please? I appreciate your helpful

magazine.

Clive Herrod

A

This sounds like a classic case

of misaligned print heads. This

can happen gradually, over

time, but a knock can cause it to happen

suddenly. Perhaps a boisterous pet or

child bumped into your printer?

Either way, in the Canon Printing

Preferences box, click to select the

Maintenance tab and then click Print

Head Alignment (see screenshot left).

Now follow the instructions for

carrying out the procedure for your

particular printer. Note that it can take

a good while and uses plenty of ink, so

be prepared.

Why are my printed lines blurred?

Q

You often espouse the benefits

of SSDs. However, when

looking to buy one recently I

found myself bamboozled by Amazon

reviews saying things like: “Don’t buy

this because it uses QLC chips. Go for

the model with TLC chips instead!”.

Could you shed light on the differences

and whether they matter? I was hoping

that using an SSD to replace the hard

drive in my four-year-old laptop might

speed things up, but all this stuff has

put me off!

James Day

A

If you read our Cover Feature

on SSDs in Issue 626, you’ll

know that the main hurdle to

buying and fitting an SSD is acquiring

one with the correct physical interface

for your computer. As that aspect is

crucial, it was the focus of our feature.

However, as with almost any other

area of technology, it’d be possible to

drill down almost endlessly to consider

the pros and cons of every component

• including SSD memory chips.
  The different types have their good
  and bad points, but it boils down to a
  mix of speed, reliability and cost. The

C in TLC and QLC stands for ‘cell’.

Each cell stores one, two, three or

four bits of data, giving us single-

level (SLC), multi-level (MLC),

triple-level (TLC) and quad-level

(QLC) cells. SSDs with TLC and QLC

dominate the consumer market.

The higher ‘density’ of QLC chips

makes QLC SSDs cheaper to produce, but

fractionally reduces expected overall

lifespan. This is because an individual

cell’s resilience is degraded by an

extremely tiny amount with each read or

write operation. As each QLC holds more

bits per cell, it will end up being read or

written to more often than a TLC.

For most everyday users, we’d say don’t

worry too much about any of this. Yes,

QLC drives are theoretically less

durable than TLC models, but in the

real world both types will offer many

years of reliable service.

Moreover, beyond the benchmark

tests, few people would notice the

speed differences between one SSD and

another. But between a hard drive and

SSD? The difference is stark – so don’t

let the jargon put you off!

Select ‘Print Head Alignment’ and follow the
instructions to correct your printing

Issue 631 • 11 – 24 May 2022