A3 Printer [which?]
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- Atkinson
I'm looking for either, a good A3 inkjet, laser or multifunction with scanner.
Although I won't be printing massive amounts, I'll regularly be printing b/w x 1200 A4 sides and a few colour jobs, 100 x A3.
I have a Canon MP780 all in one at the moment for A4 which is good. I need the option of A3 though.
Any experience?
- pang0
We use Epson photo 1400 (A3) and it does state that it does edge to edge printing except it apparently works with PCs but I can assure it does NOT print edge to edge on Macs.
Pros: good quality prints, quite fast
Cons: the inks are TINY and do run out quite quickly (depending on how much you print). And why are there 6 inks, i.e. a "light magenta and a light cyan"?? Why not just C,M,Y,K inks??*Points to remember: check out price of inks when choosing a printer also!
- shitehawke0
We went through a few companies recently looking for a good laser printer, with fiery rip, and most of them are multi function.
The ones we thought worked well were the OKI C9850, though this quality was a wee bit lower than then equivalent canon and I don't think its multifunction.
We also checked out several canons, and the CL 5030 had good image quality, seemed fairly good value to run and was multi function.
We were recommended a few others and quality ranged wildly from the fuzzy to decent to amazing (and price did too).
Your best bet really, if you are going the laser route, is to contact a dealer and ask for print samples. We sent off a sample pdf to oki and canon and got back lots of prints on different stocks from the various types of machines. You're going to see quite quickly which ones are in the running and which will be a waste of money.
In regard to ink-jet, I have an old canon which has started to band a bit, I think it needs to be cleaned and re-adjusted. Its an old i9950, very good quality, takes a good range of papers, all seperate inks (including 4 photo-quality ones) that aren't massively expensive and can print on cd's too (though I've never used it). When I got it I think it was around €700-800, I've no doubt its been upgraded since and might be cheaper.
- Firey rip is important if you want accurate colours, especially matching pantones. And can cost a couple of grand extra.shitehawke
- bobandy0
^ he's right about the firey rip, we've had a xerox in the office for a few months without a rip and although the quality is top, the colour matching is poor though without the rip.
worked on an older xerox doc12 with a rip a few years ago and it was top notch all round, engineers can also calibrate the rip to a specific litho press - proofing sweetness.
- Atkinson0
I think I'll go ink jet. I prefer the print quality, also the price of laser is prohibitive. So, Canon or Epson?
- digdre0
i have the 1400 aswell, nice printer, if you take another model, can't remember which one, you can print 1mm thick paper etc, and linnen etc.. the paper goes straight trough.. no idea if you need that..
but 1400 is nice
- iheartfun0
I was looking at the HP B8550?
- Ghostschool0
I've recently bought the Epson R2880 which has been amazing quality wise for prints on various stocks A3. Can you get an A3 with a scanner? Scanner are pretty cheap so I'd go separate.
Thing is I'd watch the quantities you're aiming 100 A3 colour prints will be very expensive ink wise and time. If going bulk, its maybe cheaper to go to a printer.
- digdre0
better invest in some laser/xerox
- vitamins0
Don't get the HP Officejet Pro L7680. Save yourself the headache. The thing sucks up ink like crazy, and the scanner flakes on me half the time after using it for a year.
- Atkinson0
No, I don't mean at once, printing both sides. Just one then the other will do!
I think the cost of colour photocopy / digital print will be less than A3 inkjet? Also, quality of inkjet for images is much better I think.