Excel: Use a Laser Printer to Have Excel Calculate Faster

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Problem: How can I speed up my Excel calculations?

Strategy: Believe it or not, Excel uses your print driver to draw the screen. Having an HP LaserJet as your default printer can enable Excel operations to finish in one-fourth the time it takes if you have a cheap inkjet driver as the default. If response time is critical, you can download and install the printer driver for an HP LaserJet and set it as your default printer during calculations. You don't need to actually have an HP LaserJet-you just need the driver.

Gotcha: If you don't actually have an HP LaserJet printer hooked to your computer, you will have to refrain from using the Quick Print icon and instead print using File, Print and choosing a non-default printer.