online printing - 300dpi / colour profiles / snapmad

As our printer is in for 'repair', probably terminal we are looking at online printing rather than replacing it. One reason being that we don't use it that much, just one large print every 1-2 months when we get a special photo we want to hang on the wall.

But, that's also a barier for online printing as the most recommended companies have quite high P&P charges, so for example whilst dcsl charge for a 10x8 is good once P&P of 3.25 is added it would work out at over £4 a print.

So, was attracted to ad for Snapmad whose P&P is only 99p. I was put off because they don't have a profile you can download and they print at 300dpi. I thought that 300 dpi sounded bad for enlargement as my old 'All In One' printer can do 600 dpi. But looking at other companies (inc. dcsl) it seems standard.

I am clearly missing something so if someone can educate me that would be appreciated?

Also the question of profile - I understood you needed to match this to get correct colour reproduction? But the next cheapest for P&P Snapfish don't have this either and I know many people here are happy with them.

We have one photo we have taken of a sunset where the mauves in the sky fit our decor really well so are considering a large canvas print of that. Snapmad are really good value for those, but if the colours were off the whole point of it would be lost.

Is having a profile we can download and match essential for accurate colour reproduction?

In case it matters we have Elements 9, PaintShop Pro X, Fastone but have not 'calibrated' our monitor and I think as calibration tools cost £60+ would not wish to do so just for this purpose.

Thanks for any advice or if anyone has used Snapmad their comments.

By co-incidence the question about 300 dpi has been answered in another thread.

Can anyone enlighten me on my remaining question:

Is having a profile we can download and match essential for accurate colour reproduction?

Not essential for accuracy - you might, after all, get lucky - but damned useful for predictability. Having a profile doesn't automatically get you the colours you want, but it does, with the help of a soft-proofing application like Photoshop, help you know what to expect. You can then adjust the image for best results, if need be. You can also select the rendering intent that works best for your image - this is a crucial, and much overlooked, aspect of printing.

But - and it's a big but - there's absolutely no point in soft-proofing on an uncalibrated display.

Thanks Arto