new printer

[dariuspuciorek]

Hi, our firm is looking to purchase a new 13x19 inkjet printer.

It would be strictly used to print architectural visualizations.

What would you recommend?

Thank you

 

(we have been using HP DeskJet 9680, looking to upgrade)

[Dimitris Tolios]

What are you after with this "upgrade"?

Did your printer just "break" / heads grew old?

You want more resolution?

Better colors?

Cheaper ink?

What's the budget for the machine + how much do you realistically print on it?

[dariuspuciorek]

thx for reply Dimitris.

-the budget is up to $2,000

-that particular printer (HP DeskJet 9680) it's very old and I mostly keep it at home not in the office, but it served me well so I was hoping to get something similar for the office.

I found this: Epson Stylus Photo 1400...(you know: something simple (no scanner or fax))

one more question, I always thought inkjet printer is better for printing than laser....would that be correct?

again thx for your input.

best regards

darius

[Tommy L]

Ive had the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 for the last 6 yrs or so, before that I had the 1280(?). Its showing no signs of disrepair. It is capable of very good prints and its reasonably quick if you dial down quality in favor of speed. I dont calibrate so I cant testify to its color accuracy. Its a heavy drinker, but I think all inkjets are. A full set of inks runs ~$125. The printer itself is cheap, as per the Epson 'make money on the ink' business model.

Laser will be faster and cheaper to run, but I believe has less rich colors.

[RyderSK]

I always thought inkjet printer is better for printing than laser....would that be correct?

 

Any inkjet will be vastly superior in print quality of photography to laser.

 

Funny enough, I spend more money on paper than ink. Nothing beats A3+ prints on nice textured photo paper..

[heni30]

A while back I went to check out a small commercial printer and they had an attachment

that was bottles of ink with tubes on the bottom that hooked to these surrogate ink cartridges.

 

 

I'll have to see if I can find the brand again. Color was stunning and price wasn't that bad.

[RyderSK]

I've been hooked on off-brand cartridges for long time, they evolved heck of a lot over past years. I experimented a bit around, but I get like 99.9perc. quality for...15-20perc. of price ? And that's because I buy full ready made cartridges, those adventurous enough to refill their own, can get down to fraction of that again. Last same amount of prints, printer is completely fine (Canon Pixma 6550) for second year without a problem. It's win/win situation for me.

[Dimitris Tolios]

If you don't modify your printer with a CIS or buy 3rd party ink catridges, most prosumer "photo" models will bite you hard with ink costs.

 

Canon 9xxx Pro line and Epson Photo 1400/R1xxx/2xxx lines are all very good in quality. No laser currently can do this kind of color gradients - results are punchy but also muddier with lasers, ontop of really good 11x17 or larger printers/copiers being EXPESIVE. Don't know if $2,000 covers that.

 

Canon has a definite advantage in OEM ink prices (uses less per print, and has cheaper per ml cartridges).

 

If you want to go deeper than $1000, something in the Epson R3xxx line will give you access to bigger cartridges, that end up being almost 1/2 or so the price per ml of the lower-volume-per-month 1xxx/2xxx lines. You need a high enough demand in prints ofc to cover up the initial cost being so high, but with the prices of ink and the # of cartridges a full set requires, that might happen faster than you think.