Please Suggest a printer..

T

therealTriton

Registered
Hello, everyone. I am new here. Let me know if the this is an innapropriate forum to ask this:

I am looking for a panther/tiger compatible printer with the following options:

firewire or usb connnect
4/6 separate color cartridges (that is, separate cyan, magenta, etc.,)
under 400 dollars

Gimp stuff okay, but only if 100% compatible -> no missing print modes

Is this a pipe dream?

thanks.
Chuck
 
All I can say, is avoid HP. Perhaps it isn't fair, but I have had or witnessed nothing but problems with them - plus they are butt ugly.
 
Lt Major Burns said:
http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson R1800/page_1.htm.

this is a very good printer (also has the option of flatbed cd printing, which looks VERY good - the results are very nearly as good as screen printing). it also comes in a4 (r800) and is fully mac compatible. it has 8 cartridges and is, for all intents and purposes a very good prosumer proofing printer. A4 apparantly goes for £60!
Click to expand...

Well, that printer does look interesting. I come from a large format digital printing background. It seems like you picked up on my intentions. I am no longer in the industry but I have learned the joy of postscript and high end printing equipment.

My experience with desktop epson has been that if you don't print 2-3 times a week, the printer will clog and you will have to pump a bunch of ink through it to get it to work again. This can get very expensive, especially with photo printers. HP desktop printers on the other hand usually have the head right on the cartridge and you can just pop them out and wipe them.

I have never used an epson with separate inks. I currently use a C80 but it can be an expensive drag sometimes for reasons mentioned above.
 
I will vouch for the R1800, I got one this past weeked and I've been printing with it. It's not cheap ($550 street), and $120 in cartridges (8 carts x $15.00) when it's time to replace the full set (which I know some colors run out earlier than others, etc, etc, but you get my meaning)...

But the quality is fantastic. There's no banding problem (my cheaper inkjet, when printing photos, will leave banding trails where it's printed). I had to spend a little time on phone support with Epson because Tiger threw them for a loop. The drivers do work for Tiger just fine, but when you add the printer, it will show up as "E" on Firewire when it first detects. You CANNOT select the printer and choose the driver from the "Print Using" dropdown below... you have to click More Printers and then you'll see "Epson Firewire" in the next dialog box.

Kris
 
I am partial to Canon printers. But honestly, do your research, many people have had problems with Epson print drivers in the past. Plus, take a trip to you local ink jet supple store and compare ink jet cartage replacement costs. This is huge over the life of your printer.
 
additional to satcomer, look on google for cheap printer supplies from tax havens - i got a full set for my printer for about £15 less than shop prices - £6 each!
 
I tried HP and Cannon. My choice goes to Cannon.

HP printers print fine but the drivers bug prone, the cartridges cost a lot and the transformer is external.

The Cannon printer is great, the driver is robust etc. I have the pixima 4000, has different color cartridges, does duplex printing, does CD label printing, has internal transformer, paper cassette.
 
Hello,

I am using a Canon Pixma 4000, and I bought many 4000 & 5000 for friends and family. They do a gorgeous job at Tiger, Phanter and this other os thing which sounds like the transparent things you find mostly in walls :).

Even the low-budget 4000 version offers 5 ink printing and talking about photos, this thing really produces photos. The cd-labeling is fantastic, the duplex works fine, but is a little bit slow, but hey 130€ and duplex, what do you expect.

If you need some more features, take a look at the bigger PIXMA modells.

Ciao Guido.
 
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