Digital BW, The Print

First, go to www.belarc.com for a free computer system analysis 
program,download and run it and it examines and reports the hardware 
and software on your computer in exhausting detail. You will see what 
kind of card you have.

I assume you are running PS or PSP or some image manipulating 
program. No matter what, you should have a pretty good card, there 
are a number of very good cards from 150 bucks (and cheaper) on up. 
I suggest a 128 meg card, minimum, Radeon or Nvidia (both excellent)
or some other Mfg. ( I think around 175-250 bucks will do you very 
well)

They are very easy to install, but if you are uncomfortable 
installing it have somebody do it for you. 

Calibrating and profiling involve basically making your monitor, 
printer, and scanner (if you have one) all agree on a given color. 
The same red you see on the screen matches the red that your printer 
puts out, matches the red on a scanned pic, and they reflect the 
colors that appear on calibration cards, etc. There are simple, cheap 
ways and complex, expensive ways but that's the goal.

Cheers

Jules

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, jvajdos@h... 
wrote:
> Thank you everyone for your responses.
> 
> I am on a PC and have no idea what kind of video display card I 
> have.  It's probably 5 years old, and it came free with my 
computer, 
> so I'm sure it's not very good!  I am hoping to spend less than 
> $400, so I'm sure I will have to pick and choose options.  I 
usually 
> print jpeg 4 X 6, 5 X 7 and 8 X 10s.
> 
> Calibrate and profile?  I have no idea what that even means!
> 
> Yes, pure amateur here.
> 
> Thank you for your help!
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Sam McCandless 
> <samcc@v...> wrote:
>  
> > Are you on a Mac or a PC, Jennifer, and do you happen to know 
> which 
> > video/display card is in it? If you're on a Mac, it will tell you 
> if 
> > you open the Apple System Profiler under the apple icon (top 
left) 
> > and click on Devices and Volumes (second tab).
> > 
> >   And do you have any idea yet about the size/format at which 
> you'll 
> > want to print B&W prints? Or about how much you'll be willing to 
> > spend on the monitor/display plus the supplementary hardware and 
> > software you might need to calibrate and profile it?
> > 
> > Thanks.
> > --
> > Sam