Photo printers?

[Scott Prive]

Hey Paul,

Third-party ink packages save you from being locked in to any vendor's ink. However there is some risk when changing ink brands that something will "gum up". Printhead cleaning carts are supposed to cure this. 

Actually, many inkjets will plain gum up on you if you don't use them frequently. And high resolutions require extremely smooth and dense paper (like photo paper) or they'll just saturate.

I don't trust any claims of "borderless" printing. Get a demo, or find a reviewer you *trust*: borderless printing has got to smudge or shift the paper, since the borders are how the paper is gripped and pulled through...

Epson printers in my experience do not hold up under abuse. Not sure how well HP does, but I'm on my third Epson ink-jet in 6 years.

-Scott


> -----Original Message-----
> From: pll at lanminds.com [mailto:pll at lanminds.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 4:53 PM
> To: gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org
> Subject: Re: Photo printers? 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I seem to have narrowed my search for a printer down to 2:
> 
> 	hp photosmart 7150
> 	EPSON Stylus Photo 1280 - C393011
> 
> Now, the problem I'm having is making a decision.  This should 
> probably be a no brainer, but, I'm a *very* skeptical shopper, and 
> paranoid!
> 
> The HP is cheap, at $149 (list), whereas the Epson is expensive, at 
> $499 (list).  They both fit all my qualifications:
> 
> 	- supported under Linux (both are reported to work "perfectly"
> 	  at LinuxPrinting.org)
> 	- decent quality
> 	- print at least an 8x10 image (both portait/landscape)
> 	- handle color as well as b/w.
> 	- print on both normal paper as well as that 
> 	  photo-quality glossy stuff
> 	- be a reasonable price ($500?)
> 
> However, it appears that the HP printer is really the best deal.  
> It's resolution is much higher (4800x1200 vs. Epson's 2880x720).  The 
> HP can also handle a Duplexor, which I don't believe the Epson can 
> (not stated either way).
> 
> The main thing I see going for the Epson is:
> 
> 	- I'm not locked into really expensive HP cartridges
> 	- It claims:
> 
> 		6-color (CcMmYK) Micro Piezo ink jet technology,
> 		borderless printing 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 8 x 10,
> 		11 x 14, 13 x 19, and letter support
> 
> 	  whereas the HP only claims 4x6 and letter, but nothing about
> 	  borderless.
> 
> 	- It's fast: 
> 		4" x 6" Photo:	  54 secs.
> 		8" x 10" Photo:   1 min. 50 secs.
> 		Black text memo:  9 ppm
> 
> 	  The HP claims only 10ppm, nothing about photo speed.
> 
> Even if I jump up to the HP 7359, it's only a $199(list), and you get 
> a 17ppm printer with more memory.(hmmm, I wonder if I can get a 7150 
> and up the memory for less than the $199????)
> 
> 
> Any opionions?
> 
> Thanks
> -- 
> 
> Seeya,
> Paul
> --
> Key fingerprint = 1660 FECC 5D21 D286 F853  E808 BB07 9239 53F1 28EE
> 
> 	It may look like I'm just sitting here doing nothing,
>    but I'm really actively waiting for all my problems to go away.
> 
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> 
> 
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