Printer recommendation for a high school program?

[vinny]

A friend made some prints for me on his ipf 5100 from my files i had set up for lighjet prints. No corrections or profiles added. The quality is pretty good for inkjet. I don't see how so many folks that aren't selling their prints at all or for decent prices can afford to own one though. He spent over $900 with tax for a complete ink set! Does a new printer come with the 130ml cartridges? If so, when it comes time to refill is there any sense in just buying a new printer, taking the cartridges and selling the brand new printer?

[mrladewig]

Yes, I know Epson printers are highly thought of, but our two 1280's were unbelieveably horrid. Epson's customer service was even worse. We're using a very cheap old HP printer now, which works much better, but the ink costs are very high, ($45 for a three-color cartridge that holds a TOTAL of 17ml).

I'll look into the Canon 5100!

Epson classes the 3800 as a professional printer and I've heard the service is better than for the smaller printers. Also the printers themselves have come a LONG way since the 1280. Even my now replaced R1800 is a significant improvement in the 1280.

One feature that you might really want to look for in a classroom setting is a built in print server. This would allow you to set the printer on a router and let all the computers connect to that router. Many print drivers do not offer full functionality across a third party print server. For example, they often will not report ink status. This might have been part of your problem with the 1280. I'm not sure.

I think the 5100 includes an ethernet connection so that it can be used in this way. If the printer has a built in ethernet port, I would assume that both the printer and its driver are designed to offer full functionality across a network.

[mrladewig]

A friend made some prints for me on his ipf 5100 from my files i had set up for lighjet prints. No corrections or profiles added. The quality is pretty good for inkjet. I don't see how so many folks that aren't selling their prints at all or for decent prices can afford to own one though. He spent over $900 with tax for a complete ink set! Does a new printer come with the 130ml cartridges? If so, when it comes time to refill is there any sense in just buying a new printer, taking the cartridges and selling the brand new printer?

The inks for the 5100 are quite expensive, but on par with other printers in the class for price per mL. I know the 5000 came with 90mL or so starter ink carts rather than 130mL. A friend of mine owns the 5000 and said he has just recently replaced the full set. He thought the starters lasted quite well.

Also someone mentioned that the 5100 inks set off to the side rather than on the print head like the epson. The larger epsons mount to the side too. Only the 13" and smaller Epsons have the inks mounted on the printhead.

You can read some notes about these printers at Luminous Landscape. In the case of the Canon 5100/X100 series, they've actually chosen the 24" 6100 to test. They previously tested a 5000. They've also tested the current HP and Epson offerings and I think their notes are more meaningful than what you might read from someplace that just compares specifications.

[Ted Harris]

Mark, if the 17" machines re out of your range then look at the HP B9180. Built like a tank and has relatively lower ink costs compared to the similar Epsons. Also sells for less ... around 600. See my review in View Camera last year.

[Struan Gray]

Devil's advocate: consider a laser printer.

It'll probably cost you more up front, but the consumables costs are much lower, and the extra print speed is useful if you have a whole class trying to print at the same time. The quality can be surprisingly good, albeit not up to inkjet standards.

[Mark Sawyer]

Thanks, guys! I'll definitely check out the VC review, Ted. Sounds like the HP B9180 migh be what we need.

I'll also check out laser printers. We don't need super quality, but something that will be competitive with what the kids see from elsewhere would be nice...

The Epsons had more frustrations than I want to remember...