Printers

My Canon (sorry to use that word on this forum!) i950 is dying and I am thinking of upgrading it - and perhaps moving to A3 in the process - looking at the Epson R1800 (soon to be replaced by the 1900 so I might wait) but I am also tempted by the Canon (oops! again!) models (9000 & 9500) even though they are more expensive.

Any thoughts or experiences anyone?

We are still using the Epson 1290s, which is very satisfactory. When it eventually dies there will be no hesitation in buying Epson again.

most epson 3800's ship with a set of inks. the value of those inks will more than offset the price difference of the printer. (vs the r2400).

the cost of running the printer is less over the life of the printer.

they getcha' on the printer with the pro model, or they getcha' on the inks with the consumer model!

either way go epson!

I´m very satisfied with my recently bought, Epson Stylus Photo 1410.

It can print images until Super B size (13” x19” – 33 x 48.3 cm); also can print images without borders, CD/DVD and many other features. The printing quality is superb. Have an interesting software (also for Win Vista), giving you automatic control over the image quality. The only con I find is the huge printer size (63 x 31.4 x 22.3 cm).

The price here in Argentina is equivalent to U$S 430 (think in Italy may have better prices).


Best regards.
________________
Dirk TROTTEYN.
K10D+ Sigma 18-50 1:2.8 DC Lens.

I had an Epson which I liked very much, after several years' service it died and I bought a Canon, after a year I gave that to a nephew 'cos I didn't like it and I bought another Epson which I like very much.

Not a direct comparison to the printers you're looking at I know, but I think I'll be sticking with Epson from now on...

Thanks for those replies. I'm tempted by the Epson - but according to their spec sheet the A3 printers all require at 2GHz processor with windows XP My 3 yr old laptop has a 1.5GHz centrino in it (along with a proper ATI mobility radeon 9700 graphics module and 1.25GB RAM) therefore I think I have a problem. Anybody using either the 1400 or the 1800 on an older machine?

Otherwise I may have to stick at A4 and go for the R800 - which only asks for 500MHz - or move to Canon. There are also the HP printers of course but they alwys used to be well behind Canon and Epson for print quality.

If I recall correctly a Pentium-M 1.5Ghz Centrino had roughly equivalent performance to a 2Ghz P4 so I think there is every chance your laptop would be ok with those printers. I'd suggest confirming that with Epson however from what I've seen the 2Ghz is a recommended minimum and therefore the printer is likely to work (although possibly quite slowly) with pretty much any processor capable or running Windows XP.

For A3 prints only having 1.25GB of Ram might be more of a performance issue however I'd still expect printing to work fine especially if you're not doing large volume.

I went to purchase that printer from a local store, run by a knowledgeable digital photographer. He was reluctant to sell it to me on the basis that the technology was getting old. He recommended the Photo R265, at which I hesitated, as it was so much cheaper. He said if I wasn't delighted with it to return it. I've still got it and rate it extremely highly. It's 6-colour instead of 8-colour, but otherwise is able to print borderless, CDs etc.

Ray.

the only downside of the cheaper epsons is this:
less options on paper handling. slower print speeds...do to down engineering....there's a chip inside that slows it down....the cartridges are smaller (than the pro printers) and demand changing before the ink truly runs out forcing you to waste and therefore buy more ink. Print quality is the same as the printheads are the same and the respective inks are the same.....you get the idea....

I contacted Epson by email and got a reply in which they just repeated the requirements as stated on the web site (ie 2GHz). So I guess that means an Epson A3 printer is out for me. So it is either Canon or A4. Might look at one of the cheaper models - can't go too far wrong as they cost the same as a set of inks...