So...no one thinks they have a good printer for OS X?

rharder

rharder

Do not read this sign.
For over a year now people have been asking what's a good printer to get for OS X. Good drivers? Good quality? I haven't seen any enthusiastic or definitive responses.

Heaven forbid I should want to network a printer one way or other. That's even more impossible-seeming.

How frustrating.

I've only been able to share a printer by using my Windows XP box as a print server attached to my HP DeskJet 722C. Oh well, at least my Mac thinks it has a Postscript printer to print to.

If anyone has any closing praises for their printer I'd love to hear them. Otherwise I guess I'll just roll some dice and buy something cheap.

-Rob
 
Well, I bought myself el-cheapo Lexmark Z43 printer, and have been quite happy with it. Of course, my needs for it have been limited to printing out (mostly text) documents and B&W PDFs. I don't know what your needs are, but it's suited me just fine. And for $100. . . .

Networking it? Bah humbug! :rolleyes: I'm waiting for Jag-wire. :p
 
My Epson Stylus 740 works fine with OSX, as does my HP Deskjet 1220.

They work with drivers that come with OSX, and not from the manufacturer.
 
I have an Epson Stylus Photo 890 and it works great with OSX. Yippeeee! Woohoooo! Is that what you were looking for?:D
 
Yeah, I'd be willing to throw a lot of weight behind the HP deskjet series. Apple themeselves built the drivers and I have yet to have any problems.

I guess only the people with problems complain, and the rest of us take it for granted?:cool:
 
Printer sharing is in Jaguar 10.2 AFAIK.

I'm using an HP 1220c locally and a Lexmark laser off the network hub.
Both work great, but I really want to start sharing the 1220c, so 10.2 better deliver.
 
We've used the following very nicely in OS X.
Epson PM-3000c
Epson PM-3500c
Epson PM-4000cx

All are A3 size printers. They work as advertised though there is room for growth. OS X doesn't yet accommodate custom page sizes, for one.

By the way, the PM-4000cx is incredible. This uses an encapsulated pigment rather than a dye ink. The results are remarkable.
 
I have an Epson Stylus Photo 820 and it works great with OSX. There is even a separate 12-page instruction manual on setting it up for OSX and OSX driver software is also on the CD.

Printing is fantastic, much better than you would expect with a $100 printer. On high-quality mode I can get photographic quality prints from it.

The only thing to be careful about with the 820 is to use Epson printer paper (Premium Bright White for text). I tried using a cheap paper and it clogged the print heads.
 
Hey, there are those enthusiastic replies I was looking for!

I'm thinking I'll just end up with the Epson 820: it's under $100 and has great quality.

My other thought was the Epson C80N which is networkable at $300+. I don't think any of the HPs work on the network (the inkjets, not the excellent laserjets), which is too bad. HP otherwise seems committed to having OS X drivers.

Has anyone else had problems with cheapo paper in the Epson 820?

This Epson 4000-cx sounds interesting. I'll have to go look up info on it. Off to google...

-Rob
 
Originally posted by rharder
I don't think any of the HPs work on the network (the inkjets, not the excellent laserjets), which is too bad.
Click to expand...

They will work, but not by themselves.

You need to buy the JetDirect print server to connect it to the Ethernet network.

Either that, or wait a few months until 10.2 comes out with printer sharing.
 
Have to C80N. Nice.

Also have the el cheapo Lexmark Z32 that I think was basically free with one of the last Macs I got for my wife (the Dual tower, i think, not the TiBook). There was some special at the apple online store. I think i got an airport card too, but maybe that was another purchase and another promo...

Anyway, the lexmark is great. Even if you pay for it I think it's only like US$70. Puhlease! that's less than dinner out on the town here in Boston.

I did have paper problems with my old Epson printer (740). It ended up dying a horrible death but not only because of the constant headaches I had with the ink carts. I hated that printer - something was always wrong with it. Towards the end it just constantly groaned and made a sick grinding noise whenever turned on - and would only print in PINK! no matter if it had new ink or not. Now my dogs use it as a ****ing post in the back yard. better than a hydrant and it always brings a satisfied smile to my face...
 
I should note that the Epson Bright White paper I mentioned was not all that expensive (something like $9 for 500 sheets) and came with a $3 rebate to boot. I am sure any good paper would work fine but with the Epson paper so cheap I wouldn't bother with anything else.

FYI Staples has the cheapest prices I have seen for 820 ink cartridges.
 
Just to reiterate my beef and possibly clarify...

I bought my HP1220 (a wide format deskjet) with the additional cost of its 'postscript' support... which turned out to merely be a software package for OS9. This software package is no longer supported by Adobe, which means that I cannot do postscript in osX...

I have been able to get decent output using PDF workflows... but only when the PDF's are saved directly from Adobe applications... then I get the nice antialiased paths I'm used to.
 
I have this nice Xerox personal laserprinter which only works with windoze. I remember reading a thread somewhere from someone hacking his own driver for a non-suported printer. Is there any way anyone can make one for me? There are also Unix drivers for it, so it can't be too hard, right?

Thanks,

Martijn
 
dev,

What's even worse than losing Postscript from the 1220 is that PressReady won't run in X and is dead (as you mentioned). The real magic of PressReady wasn't PS support, but real CMYK proofing, which is monstrous for me. I'm thinking of setting up a dedicated machine that will just print in OS 9 to the 1220 thru Pressready.

If you need PS in X to the 1220, I recommend switching to InDesign, which will output proper formatting for brilliant prints in X, EPS and all.
 
I've been thinking similarly about setting up an old machine I have laying around with a pci usb adapter and setting it up as my RIP. I don't really have any need to update the drivers or software... what prints well prints well...
 
To expand on the XP-as-a-print-server thing, I have instructions (http://iharder.sourceforge.net/macosx/winmacprinter/) about how to use windows XP (and I'm told it works with other windows versions) as a print server. I was able to treat my old HP DeskJet 722c as a networked Postscript printer. Very nice. Too bad I'm dumping the XP box.

-Rob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top