Colour / Photo printers?
 

Help wanted please:

(1) Which is the best budget/medium priced photo quality printer? (The Epson Stylus 760 has been recommended.)

(2) Is there a disadvantage in terms of speed, quality or running costs of photo type printers compared with ordinary printers? (99% of my printing is black/white word-processing, the photo side would be occasional use.)

This info is "general" and may not be totally up to date, as I haven't made any recent purchases for either myself or the company, however;

The Epsons have always had a good rating in terms of picture quality (higher "theoretical" resolution - but I really don't believe they can get a single dot as small as 1/1400th inch!) but most printers look pretty good (Epson, HP) and our office uses all HPs.

I have a Deskjet 1100 (lets me print largish schematics on A3 (17"x11") paper, and we have a couple of regular A4 Hp printers. The Boss recently got the "all-in-one" with scanner, printer and colour copier combined, which I always suggest as an excellent machine for versatility if that is required.

Best of all, the HPs all have a 3-year warrantee. Used heavily, the service centre will see you a few times during that period (we had a couple of the "all-in-ones" in an associate copy centre, used as colour copiers - continuously, which is why we had two!! - which were each serviced free about once a year due to totally over-using them) If you really use them for "SOHO" purposes, they should last for ages.

Colour photos? - as long as you find a good paper (don't try to print on the glossy side with some of them - that's the non-absorbant side - I've done it and it makes a mess!) you should get pretty acceptable results; as long as you don't expect "studio 35mm quality" from them!

Oh yes, for interest, I bought one of the first "baby HP lasers" (HP2P) some 11 years ago, and it has finally decided it needds to go to HP's service centre - after being used at home and occasionally as a backup to the office network printer!

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---- "Per Ardua ad Mixas" ----
(Through hardship to the bars)

I have the Epson 750, the predecessor of the model you mentioned. I had previously used HP laser printers at work.
I have found the Epson to be an excellent machine. Very easy to use, you can also link it directly to a scanner. The colour and black inks are in separate containers, and you just select which to use when printing. I use black most of the time too. I've had no tech problems yet (touch wood).
There are loads of different types of paper available including full on photo finish paper, in gloss, which gives a brilliant print. If you set the printer up for the best quality print, use your full colour, choose the proper paper, you can get a print that is virtually the same as a photo. I reckoned it was a hell of a lot cheaper than getting photos reprinted in a photo shop, and it is. You obviously need a good scanner though.
Epson customer service can send you a brochure. They have a little booklet which shows actual reproductions of photos on different papers so you can see the quality. Its amazing, and certainly got me sold on the machine!
The 760 is an upgraded version.
The 750 is fine for speed on black print, a full colour photo based on quality rather than speed takes a while (I can't remember now, its not that long, a few minutes) but its worth it.

Have a look at the pcadvisor top injet printers here http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/h...ers/topten.cfm

I have the Epson 760 and of all the printers Ive had or seen their printouts, when it comes printing photograghs on photo paper the 760 is the Dogs B@llocks. I cannot praise this printer enough, seeing is believing, go to your local computer shop and ask for a demo.

Happy Printing

Wiggly

Strange, I'd never touch another Epson again in my life. My 740 is about 2 years old, and the number of problems it has been giving me recently is stupid. It has basically just given up on everything. It is noisy, the print quality (even when it did work) is nothing like the quality from the Canon BJC4100 (a printer 2 years older and without the resolution capability of the Epson) and the software is just plain annoying.

The next printer I get will be a laser- OK, the initial cost is higher and the cartridges are £50 a time, but unless you want colour printing you just cannot beat laser printers.