Printers - Best bang for the buck?

[TRGraphics]

I need a new printer and I thought you guys and girls could help me out with a good choice.

I don't want to spend a bundle, $500.00 tops.

The last printer I bought was 6 years ago. So I'm not exactly on top of the new stuff available for printing arch. renders for proofing.

Thanks!

Tony

[cocolas]

a couple years ago I bought the Epson Photo Stylus 1280, and I have to say that I had a great experience with it so far......the quality, especially when printing at 1440 dpi was really ecxelent......
it has good color read and no visible pixelation.

it can be a bit slow, but I don't mind due to the quality it pump out.
I used it for presentations of renderings and boards, as well as for my portfolio that I sent out to potential emplyers....and it worked well.

back when I bought it, it cost me close to 500, don't know what it would be now, althought I'm sure there is newer models in that same category.

the ink cartruges were around 20 bucks for the black and 26/27 for the color.....

paul.

[jujubee]

I guess the question is what are you going to use it for. For personal or business - which direction are you leaning towards. How important is color fidelity?

I used to work for Xerox Tetra Laboratories Research and Development Division as a systems analyst. The printers we were inventing back in 96 are just coming out this year. We used to have charts on the walls of all our competitors and at the top of our list was HP (I wonder if I could get in trouble for saying that.)

Since then, I've always owned HP printers and love them to death. I had an 882c which lasted me for over 6 years - everyone else I knew that owned one loved it and most still run it to this day. Now I have a Photosmart 7960 - 8 colors with absolutely astounding photos and pretty rockin speed. My only problem with this is ink prices. Runs me about $80 US to replace all the cartridges. I can get about 100 postcard sized photos and a bunch of plain text pages out of a cartridge set.

Oh and one more thing as food for thought - a report in Consumer Reports two years showed that while Canon had cheaper costing printers with good quality at the time, the average ink costs over a course of a period ran significantly higher than if you just bought a slightly more expensive printer from a competitor.

[Gijs]

I have a Canon S9000 at work. (A3+ (=13 x 19 inch)) Works tremendously with Epson papers (heavy weight matte and Premium glossy photo paper). I have hardware calibrated the printer and now the output is very reliable to my screen.

Epson's quality is maybe slightly better, but having an A3+ in less than 5 minutes at highest quality cannot be beated by the Epson's.

[percydaman]

hehe I used to do tech support on those hp printers. Own a cheapo HP at the moment but use a faster driver... insider secret...

[jujubee]

damn. not that I really need it but can you speed up my 7960 and my old 882c?

[TRGraphics]

Thanks for the input so far. I really need the printer to test renders at home mainly. All of my clients do there own printing but I would like to offer it if someone asked.

I would also like the ability to calibrate it with my monitor. Right now I can't do that. Oddly, no one has ever complained about the delivered renders. Which is a little strange to me!

Percy are you saying its all in the driver for HP?

I'll look at the models suggested so far. Thanks.

Tony

[PixelJockey]

Like Gijs, we have the Canon s9000 here at work too and it rocks. I got it's little brother the s960 for home and it rocks too. I find the Canon paper seems to work best for me. Kodak paper in particular doesn't play well with the Canon ink.

[percydaman]

lol ya it is all about the driver. Take a look at your printer line and see if theres a higher end model in the same line. For me, I have an old 932c. Install the 970c printer driver and it has same speed and functionality for half the price! only thing is its missing the duplexer, otherwise its same printer. I dont keep up on all the printers now, since its been years since I worked there.

[siliconbauhaus]

you can pick up a minolta colour laser for less than 500 these days

[Gijs]

you can pick up a minolta colour laser for less than 500 these days

But colour lasers for that price don't even come close to the quality of an inkjet