Reccomendations for a printer (1 Viewer)

[CaseyL]

I just built a new computer, and I'm looking for recommendations for a good printer. Here's my needs:

1) I'm a digital artist, so I use the printer to kick out prints of my work, so I need something that accuratly represents colors

2) Same thing for photos, but not as picky

3) I'd prefer a color laser to a inkjet/bubblejet, but I'm not opposed to the latter, if it's good and efficient.

4) Probably won't be my primary printer initially, but could eventually go there.

5) I can't spend a million bucks. I need to keep it reasonable.

 

[DaveF]

Lasers are great for low-cost per-print use, and for general office-type graphics. I hadn't thought they were suitable for photographic type work. What sort of quality do you need for your color graphic and photo prints?

For an all-purpose inkjet printer, I recommend the Canon Pixma MP600. I bought one recently and I'm really impressed with it as a whole. The main features, photo and general purpose printing are fast and produce good quality. All the reviews state the MP600 produce good quality photos, though not quite as good as the same-class Epsons. But for me, they're very good. Text and general graphics look very sharp; reviews generally place it well above Epsons for this. It has a scanner, and can serve as both a computer-scanner and single-unit photocopier. This functionality is easy to use and works fine for business-type scans. I've not yet tested it for comparison against my wife's dedicated scanner.

But it's also a well-designed unit, with various secondary features that come together to create a printer that makes my life easier. The rear paper feeder, front paper catch, and LCD control screen all fold up, so the printer can be left on but protected against dust drifting inside it. But it also has a second cassette paper tray underneath; print to it using the paper tray and the paper catch kicks open automatically. When I'm done, I close it up again.

The print controls and large LCD screen make it the best

 

[CaseyL]

Nice. The Epsons do rate pretty high. I've been looking at those. The Epson R380 looks pretty good to me as well as the R800. I use a Canon MP-F50 at work, and while the quality is pretty good for an older printer, I absolutly hate it. It has terrible software that you cannot remove from the desktop and it bothers the hell out of me. It creates more problems. Do the newer canon printers have the same type of constant monitoring software?

 

[DaveF]

Both Epsons and Canons have the ink-monitoring software, to my knowledge. But on both my Mac and Windows machine the Canon doesn't have any un-removable software that I've noticed.

If you want top-quality photo printing for your money, Epson seems the way to go right now. The Epson Rx580 is very nice and on sale close to $100 sometimes.

If you want an all-around printer/scanner/copier, I'm convinced the Canon MP600 can't be beat.

If you really need a workhorse, and cheap per-page text printing, laser is the winner. But I don't know if that's a good solution if you want to print high-quality artwork.

 

[CaseyL]

thanks for the advice