Printer Reviews and Advice

Printer Review and Advice Relocation

This blog has moved domains to Printer Reviews and Advice.

Epson Stylus Pro 4000 Diary Review - Digital Outback Photo

Digital Outback user diary review of the Epson Stylus Pro 4000 and writes - 'So why the 4000? In short because it is a production beast when it comes to making prints up to 16“ wide (when adding a 0.5” border on each side). The 4000 is fast (the fastest Epson Ultrachrome printer so far), it can use both roll paper and sheet paper and it does feature a paper tray. This feature enables me to fill up the paper tray, load the spooler and let it print all night long if I feel like it. This is something the 9600 definitely cannot do. If you print on sheet paper with the 9600, each sheet must be fed one at a time. This is a very time-consuming endeavor to say the least.' Read more about the Epson Stylus Pro 4000 US Readers Buy the “Epson Stylus Pro 4000 Inkjet Printer” UK Readers Buy the “Epson Stylus Pro 4000 Inkjet Printer”

Fuji Xerox Phaser 3115 Laser Printer

'Fuji Xerox Printers (FXP) will introduce the affordable Phaser 3115 black & white laser printer at the upcoming Commart Exhibition at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre between November 4-7. Ideal for use in the home and small office, the Phaser 3115 will be available during the four-day event for the special price of 2,700 baht, including a full three-year warranty. The Phaser 3115 features a 66 MHz processor that delivers a printing speed of 14 pages per minute, and a standard 2 MB of memory. Its starter toner cartridge has a 3,000 page capacity – up to two times the capacity of competitors in the same class – with a printing quality of 600 x 600 dpi, and a first page out time (FPOT) of only 12 seconds. Its special qualifications include the ability to create watermarks on documents, building overlay (or scaling), and minimising size of multiple documents to print on a single page, and capacity to print out multiple sections of poster-sized documents.'

Read more at Business Day Newspaper - Fuji Xerox Phaser 3115

Finding the Best Photo Printer

'I've been trying out some of the latest models of color ink-jet photo printers from Canon, Epson and HP. Each is designed to make high-quality photo prints, up to 8 1/2" x 11", as well as black and white documents, making these ideal for general use in the home or small office. All have the same list price of $199 and work with both PCs and Macs.

I looked at the Canon PIXMA iP5000, the HP 8150, and the Epson Stylus Photo R320. According to the manufacturers, each of these printers makes the best color prints of any of their models in this price range.

For my testing I printed a variety of images of people and landscapes at the best image quality setting, then printed typical Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on plain paper. For each printer I used that printer company's own best quality photo paper for all of the photo prints.'

Read more at Finding the Best Photo Printer

Brother QL-500 PC Label Printer

'The first thing you need to know about the Brother QL-500 PC Label Printer is that it's not just another label printer. The second thing is that, compared with most label printers, the differences are almost all in the QL-500's favor.

The QL-500 is a little larger than the norm, with a footprint of 5.7 by 7.7 inches instead of the typical 4 by 6 inches you'll find in models from Avery, Dymo, and Seiko Instruments. That larger size is a small price to pay for all the extras you get, starting with the ability to print on labels up to 2.4 inches—while only having to spend about $100 for the printer.

Brother sells an unusually wide variety of labels, ranging from file-folder labels to continuous rolls. Seven precut sizes include address, shipping, and even optical-disc labels with a hole in the center. A built-in manual paper cutter lets you easily cut continuous roll labels to size. (The $130 QL-550 adds an automatic cutter.) Street prices for the rolls are $10 to $20. For the medium-size address labels, that works out to 2.7 cents per label.'

Canon eyes 30% of printer market

'CANON Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd aims to capture 30% of the Malaysian laser printer all-in-one solution market next year with the launch of its new laser printers, imageCLASS MF5650 and MF5630.

Its senior marketing manager of system and solution division Jeremy Lee said Canon saw a huge untapped market for the all-in-one solution printer which would enable it to achieve the number one position in Malaysia.

“According to the International Data Corp research, the market size for this segment would be 5,000 to 6,000 units by end of this year and targeted to grow to 10,000 units next year.

“With the launch of the new printers, we hope to achieve the target. Currently, we have 300 units of the iCMF5650 and iCMF5630 in the market nationwide,” he said at a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. '

Printer Blog Updates

Just a quick note to let readers know that we're in the process of updating and moving Printer blog. You can still access it at the same page but it can also be found over at here on the Breaking News Blog Network.

You can follow the latest printer news on our new RSS feed.

Thanks for your patience with the move.

Lexmark Loss Good for Consumers

'On Tuesday, a federal appeals court said printer maker Lexmark cannot prevent Static Control Components from manufacturing printer toner cartridges that operate with its printers. Lexmark had sued the competitor, arguing that Static Control had no right under the DMCA to circumvent electronics that prevented Lexmark printers from using anything other than Lexmark cartridges. '

8 New Inkjet Printers Compared

Tom's Hardware Guide review of 8 of the newest Inkjet printers on the market to help you make the comparison.

'Every year at this time, the four major manufacturers of inkjet printers introduce new printer lines. We compare all the new products and show you what to really expect from them - and most importantly, what they'll cost you.'

They review the:

•     Canon Pixma IP2000
•     Canon Pixma IP4000
•     Canon Pixma IP5000
•     Epson Stylus C66 Photo Edition
•     Epson Stylus Photo R300
•     HP Photosmart 7450
•     HP Photosmart 8150
•     Lexmark Z816

'The conclusion is the same as usual. When it comes to inkjet printers, models with separate color cartridges are more attractive in every respect: they're more economical to use, and also offer the best print quality. Epson's Stylus Photo R300 leads the pack in the area of quality, followed very closely by the Canon Pixma iP4000 and iP5000. While the Photosmart 8150 offers very good qualitative results, the cost of its cartridges make it a much less attractive choice.'

Read more at 8 New Inkjet Printers Put to the Test - Introduction

Samsung CLP-550

The Tech Zone reviews the Samsung CLP-550 and writes - 'The Samsung CLP-550 overall is a great entry into the sub-$1000 colour laser printer market. Though not editor's choice worthy, it does give you a balance of cost and features that should be acceptable to most in the target audience. For text output in both monochrome and colour, the CLP-550 does indeed shine. Colour matching is quite good, and the output is sharp as is to be expected on a laser printer. The large selection of features that you would only find on higher priced printers - the built-in duplexer, and LCD display - add to the package.'

Get more information and reviews on the Samsung CLP-550

Easy Online Digital Prints

'One of the big benefits of owning a digital camera is supposed to be that you can print out your own photos. But many digital camera owners don't have the patience or a good enough printer. Consumer Reports tested Web sites that will print your photos for you.

People who use digital cameras take lots of pictures. But less than a quarter of those digital images ever get printed.

If you find printing pictures too much of a hassle, Consumer Reports can help. It tested six online sites that'll do the job for you. They're Shutterfly, Snapfish, EZ Prints, as well as Searsphotos, Ofoto and Kodak Picture Center.

"Printing is very easy. All you have to do is basically select the photos you want. You simply select the quantity and the size. On this particular site, sizes range from four-by-six to near poster-size, twenty-by-thirty," said Mike Gikus of Consumer Reports.

The prints are mailed back to you in a few days.'

X-Micro Combo Bluetooth Printer Adapter

'The X-Micro Combo Bluetooth Printer Adapter is one of X-Micro's most recent additions to the wireless technology product line. The adapter can allow users to connect wirelessly to printers from multiple Bluetooth enabled devices. While using the new Combo Printer Adapter, users can seamlessly print from laptop computers, handhelds, and other Bluetooth devices. This added functionality can enable users to increase productivity significantly with printing functions.'

Read more at Hardware Pacers - Reviews, Previews and Articles on latest Hardware and Technology

Canon Pixma i9900

Shutterbug reviewed the Canon Pixma i9900 and writes - 'My conclusion is that Canon has achieved a new level of photo ink jet performance with the new i9900 model. It prints finer images with greater color fidelity, particularly when reproducing natural greens and skin tones. This significantly improved image print performance is achieved with no loss of the fast print speed enjoyed with the previous i9100, and without any apparent loss in economy in ink cost per print. In addition, the $499 list price is competitive for a top of the line dye-type 13� wide photo ink jet.
'

Epson Stylus Photo R320

Presentation master reviews the Epson Stylus Photo R320 and writes:

'In the Virata household, we have three printers, all Epsons. Why so many printers? Well, because the cost of ink is so high, two printers are dedicated to printing text documents and other items that don't need the quality of a photo inkjet printer. We reserve our photo printer for printing photos. How does the R320 perform? For a street price of $199, the Epson R320 does not disappoint. It outputs very vivid and lively colors and lays down the ink very crisply and cleanly. It produces very high quality prints. A nice touch to the printer is the slot for loading 4 x 6 and 3 x 5-inch photographic paper. No guesswork needed as to what side of the printer you need to place your smaller photo paper. It comes with a one year warranty and offers a variety of ways to get your digital camera images into the printer for printing. And, you can print on CD/DVD media, which is absolutely the most fun I've had with an inkjet printer, that is, if you can have fun with one.'

Get more information and reviews on the Epson Stylus Photo R320

Sony UP-DR150 Printer

Sony Press Release

SONY DIGITAL PHOTO PRINTER PICKS UP THE PACE

UP-DR150 Sets New Speed and Quality Standard for Event Photos, Digital Kiosks

CHICAGO, Oct. 21, 2004 (PMA Fall Conference Booth # 717) - Sony Electronics today enhanced its line of digital photofinishing products with the introduction of the UP-DR150 digital photo printer, a dye sublimation printer that is now the fastest in its class of professional photo printers.

Designed to deliver quality prints and rapid turnaround in retail, studio, in-field event and kiosk applications, the UP-DR150 also offers high-volume roll printing, durable print heads, and a simple front-access design to minimize maintenance.

]]> "We continue to accelerate the expansion of the digital photofinishing market and its technologies with the introduction of the UP-DR150," said Jay Dellostretto, vice president for digital photofinishing in Sony Electronics' Broadcast and Business Solutions Company. "Retailers and photographers can effortlessly deliver the prints their customers want faster and better than ever, making retail digital photofinishing an even more compelling offering."

The UP-DR150 takes Sony's fourth-generation dye sublimation print technology to new levels. The high-speed printing comes from combining the newly developed adaptive thermal print head with a high-speed USB 2.0 interface. This trims print times for 4-inch x 6-inch images down to about 8 seconds, and delivers a 5-inch x 7-inch prints in about 15 seconds, and 6-inch x 8-inch prints in approximately 20 seconds. Aside from speed, the new thermal print head is designed to be durable enough to meet the demands of industrial use, reliably turning out print after print, day after day.

According to Dellostretto, careful consideration to the UP-DR150's design came from assessing and understanding real-life use. The high-volume roll capacity means that this workhorse can deliver 550 4-inch x 6-inch prints without reloading (335 5-inch x 7-inch prints). When it is time to replenish paper and ribbon, the auto-loading mechanism makes it simple to re-load. The front-loading layout makes the most of precious countertop space fitting into narrow spots without surrendering service access, and side-mounted interface connections are recessed to make this a drop-in installation.

"Print By Sony" Quality
The UP-DR150's thermal print head delivers a high quality print that exceeds expectations for digital imaging, producing crisp, vibrant prints with lifelike, continuous tones. Skin tones reproduced with the UP-DR150 approach the natural warmth that is the hallmark of quality film prints. A choice of three print finishes - glossy, texture and matte - produces photo-like print quality. Four different print packs are available: 3 ½-inch x 5-inch, 4-inch x 6-inch, 5-inch x 7-inch and 6-inch x 8-inch.

The Sony UP-DR150 digital photo roll printer will be available in December at a suggested retail price of $2,595.