I can appreciate that colour laser printers may not be the best choice for pictures but how are they for letterhead??
I had actually looked at the possibility of the Xerox printers you mentioned but have you personally used either of them? I'd really like to get some feedback on the actual user opinion and real world experience before I make a purchase.
The 8500 is going to be the better printer for proofing work IMO. BTW, not sure if I mentioned it but the 8500 also has a nice rebate going on it, dropping the price to $499. Its also solid ink based, which is much nicer than toner.
I've had really good luck with color matching on my Epson R1800. Its usually dead on, or so close its near impossible to tell the difference. Just slow and expensive to replace the cartridges. The 6120 is also excellent (at least it has been so far for me) at color matching. I'd be very willing to wager money on the 8500 keeping the streak going there as well. If the guys I know had problems with it, I would have heard about it by now.
Driver-wise I'm skeptical on the Minolta. They've had less than perfect Mac support across their printing products within the past few years, especially in the lower priced lasers. I looked at one about a year ago and was going to buy it, except there was no Mac support. Chose the Epson Inkjet instead.
Solid is much easier to deal with than toner. Basically open the lid, drop it in, and close the lid. No mess, unless its 120 something degrees out (or something like that), no fuss.How is it for maintenance using the solid ink vs. a toner model? Are the colors overly saturated? (Seems like I read that in a review somewhere?)
They haven't, as far as I know. I don't have that one, but I'm seriously considering making the purchase in the next month or so. Can't pass up the price.Have you had to replace any parts, etc?
I had that problem once or twice, fixed by using a good (i.e. EXPENSIVE, of course) paper. That was in the HP inkjet days. The Epson I have now uses a pigment ink instead of dye based, seems to have less of an issue with poorer quality paper. Still use their branded paper just to be safe though, not to mention the quality is amazingly better.I've also found that in cases of proofing anything where the whole page is filled with color that you end up with a soggy page that becomes difficult to create a mock-up with.