So You Want to Buy a Printer!

We seen a few folks asking for advice about which printer to buy. Many times we turn around and starting asking the OP a number of questions related to what they will be doing with it. Below is a list of questions that will help members spend their money!!

1. Will you be printing B&W ?
2. Will you be printing Colour only?
3. What is the largest size you want to print e.g., 8x10, 11x14, 16x20 etc.?
4. On average, how many prints will you make in a week?
5. What is your budget range?
6. What is a higher priority quality or speed?
7. Do you want a network addressable printer?
8. When do you need the printer?
9. Is factory refurbished OK?
10. Do you care about brand name?


Folks, please post additional questions you feel will help us help others. If we are good maybe it will become a sticky!

11. Do you want it to be able to hold a roll of paper, or is sheet-only fine?
12. How much space do you have to dedicate to it?
13. Do you need firewire support or is USB sufficient?
14. Do you want something with a built-in card reader?
15. Do you need it to print to CD/DVDs?

Will you be moving it around? (i.e. event printer)

Okay, this forum was very helpful with tripod recommendations, please help me decide on a printer! I've answered all the questions as set forth by the OP:

1. Will you be printing B&W ? YES
2. Will you be printing Colour only? NO
3. What is the largest size you want to print e.g., 8x10, 11x14, 16x20 etc.? LARGEST - 16x20, BUT MOSTLY 8x10
4. On average, how many prints will you make in a week? 2-3 AT MOST FOR NOW; PROBABLY MORE AS I HOPE TO SELL SOME PRINTS IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
5. What is your budget range? $400-$600 US
6. What is a higher priority quality or speed? QUALITY
7. Do you want a network addressable printer? NO
8. When do you need the printer? BETWEEN NOW (5/2007) AND END OF YEAR
9. Is factory refurbished OK? PREFER NEW
10. Do you care about brand name? NOT REALLY
11. Do you want it to be able to hold a roll of paper, or is sheet-only fine? SHEET-ONLY IS OK
12. How much space do you have to dedicate to it? TOP SHELF OF COMPUTER DESK
13. Do you need firewire support or is USB sufficient? PREFER FIREWIRE IF IT IS FASTER WITHOUT SACRIFICING QUALITY
14. Do you want something with a built-in card reader? NO
15. Do you need it to print to CD/DVDs? NO
16. Will you be moving it around? NO

Thanks for looking!

Howdy, the list of questions is really for you to use to sift through the specs.
However, looking at your budget the Epson R1800 or Canon Pixma 9000. If you really want 16x20 then you need to step up to Epson 3800 which is about double your limit.

Add to ?'s running costs i.e paper and ink usuage, and ink management if printer used less

I personally have a R800 epsom, and over years several medium printers for printing photos, and never really been happy, sure had some great prints, but then not use it for a month, and you waste so much time and ink etc. getting it set up again

but alas I am again looking for another printer, seen some of the prints from HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo, and they blew me away, for £400-00 it is cheap comared to some of the others years back. (though I know this has no roll paper attatchment something I would miss)
But again the same ?'s nag me, I know it will not be used sometimes for a few weeks, and the cost of inks and paper (especially fine arts) is still border line compared to online printing.
And if u mess up with a few prints etc, it becomes quite irratating.

I would be a lot happier if I could find a good supplier of HP inks and HP paper that was a good discounted price, and could buy more in bulk.
I have not looked at any other printers, maybe there are some now that meet my needs.

My prime concerns in this order

1/ Print quality in all types of media including B&W up to A3 +
2/ Print costs (as long as low wastage, and as cheap or cheaper on line for anything over 8x10)
3/ After that it is not as important, sure things like network be nice, and speed, prefer new,

Epson R1800 or R3800, or Canon Pixma 9000 and Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo. these the the ones that seem to come up, opinions one which is the best????

Also for cost of ink jet printers these days to have a printer that you want to print high end photos for it to have to print loads of CDs you better off getting a cheapo one on the side

WayneW71 wrote in post #3241832
Okay, this forum was very helpful with tripod recommendations, please help me decide on a printer! I've answered all the questions as set forth by the OP:

1. Will you be printing B&W ? YES
2. Will you be printing Colour only? NO
3. What is the largest size you want to print e.g., 8x10, 11x14, 16x20 etc.? LARGEST - 16x20, BUT MOSTLY 8x10
4. On average, how many prints will you make in a week? 2-3 AT MOST FOR NOW; PROBABLY MORE AS I HOPE TO SELL SOME PRINTS IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
5. What is your budget range? $400-$600 US
6. What is a higher priority quality or speed? QUALITY
7. Do you want a network addressable printer? NO
8. When do you need the printer? BETWEEN NOW (5/2007) AND END OF YEAR
9. Is factory refurbished OK? PREFER NEW
10. Do you care about brand name? NOT REALLY
11. Do you want it to be able to hold a roll of paper, or is sheet-only fine? SHEET-ONLY IS OK
12. How much space do you have to dedicate to it? TOP SHELF OF COMPUTER DESK
13. Do you need firewire support or is USB sufficient? PREFER FIREWIRE IF IT IS FASTER WITHOUT SACRIFICING QUALITY
14. Do you want something with a built-in card reader? NO
15. Do you need it to print to CD/DVDs? NO
16. Will you be moving it around? NO

Thanks for looking!

If you need 16x20 you need a large format printer like the Epson 4000 (the R2400 will only go to 19"x13"). However with a 400-600 budget you'll not get that.

Look at an A4 Epson R800 as that will provide your 8x10 requiremnts. put larger prints out to a lab.

I probably will end up sending out to a lab for large format prints. I'll have to do some research and comparison on the ones mentioned. Thanks for the input!