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Epson C80 for mac and PC, best printer ever?
- Thread starter DavidCL23
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in two words... hell yeah.
I have an Epson C80, and I use it on both my two Mac's and the pc system (custom built my me).
The C80 has many excellent features, amoung them are the individual ink cartridges that have memory chips in them. That allows you to replace one color when it runs out, and not waste anything that is left in the other colors (this is the case when a 4 color printer uses a black cartridge and then a three color cartridge).
If you are going to be using it with wireless networking, you might want to consider the C80WN (interfaces with wireless base stations, not only Apple's).
I have an Epson C80, and I use it on both my two Mac's and the pc system (custom built my me).
The C80 has many excellent features, amoung them are the individual ink cartridges that have memory chips in them. That allows you to replace one color when it runs out, and not waste anything that is left in the other colors (this is the case when a 4 color printer uses a black cartridge and then a three color cartridge).
If you are going to be using it with wireless networking, you might want to consider the C80WN (interfaces with wireless base stations, not only Apple's).
Yeah, I'd have to say stay away from Canon, at least for Mac. I've been unimpressed with their driver support. I think my next printer is going to be an Epson as well. I've seen some of the prints from them, they're amazing. They make you look twice.
To tell you the truth, seperate ink cartridges sound good in theory, but mean **** in real life. There have been studies done that prove that seperate ink cartridges don't really save you anything after all.
The Epson 820 is a better printer because:
1. 6 different color inks. More colors you have, the more you can make. (especially for skintones and gradients)
2. 4 picoliter inkdroplets, and they are variable by the printer. (although I'm not sure about the C80. It might have 4 also.)
3. PIM. Print Image Matching. You'd have to check to see if the C80 comes standard with that. This is a technology that Epson created with most of the digital camera manufacturers that will recreate the colors of snapshots from a digital camera perfectly. It won't estimate the colors like a normal printer would.
4. $150 with a $50 rebate. You'd have to check on the rebate, it might not still be valid.
Definetely go with an Epson over an HP because:
1. Smaller ink droplets (as above) Variable also.
2. Epsons use non-thermal ink, so the print heads never wear out, they only get clogged. (simple cleaning fill fix that.) HP's have the print heads on the cartridges, and they wear out nearing the end of the life of the cartridge. Obviously that will mean not as sharp a picture.
3. Epsons print out true black when printing photos. HP's use all of the colors in the color cartridge to simulate black in a photo which:
a. Wastes ink.
b. ISN'T BLACK!!
4. Epsons come with full ink cartridges, HP's only a half filled starter cartridge.
5. Epsons ink sits better ON TOP of their papers, which is what you want. You dont want the ink to be absorbed like the HP inks.
6. HP is the bully of the printer world. Why would you support them.
I work at CompUSA and get trained on all of this stuff, that's where my knowledge comes from. Plus, I own an Epson 888 and I love it!!
-Pete
P.S. Epson drivers are in the software update of OS 10.1. No need for a disk.
The Epson 820 is a better printer because:
1. 6 different color inks. More colors you have, the more you can make. (especially for skintones and gradients)
2. 4 picoliter inkdroplets, and they are variable by the printer. (although I'm not sure about the C80. It might have 4 also.)
3. PIM. Print Image Matching. You'd have to check to see if the C80 comes standard with that. This is a technology that Epson created with most of the digital camera manufacturers that will recreate the colors of snapshots from a digital camera perfectly. It won't estimate the colors like a normal printer would.
4. $150 with a $50 rebate. You'd have to check on the rebate, it might not still be valid.
Definetely go with an Epson over an HP because:
1. Smaller ink droplets (as above) Variable also.
2. Epsons use non-thermal ink, so the print heads never wear out, they only get clogged. (simple cleaning fill fix that.) HP's have the print heads on the cartridges, and they wear out nearing the end of the life of the cartridge. Obviously that will mean not as sharp a picture.
3. Epsons print out true black when printing photos. HP's use all of the colors in the color cartridge to simulate black in a photo which:
a. Wastes ink.
b. ISN'T BLACK!!
4. Epsons come with full ink cartridges, HP's only a half filled starter cartridge.
5. Epsons ink sits better ON TOP of their papers, which is what you want. You dont want the ink to be absorbed like the HP inks.
6. HP is the bully of the printer world. Why would you support them.
I work at CompUSA and get trained on all of this stuff, that's where my knowledge comes from. Plus, I own an Epson 888 and I love it!!
-Pete
P.S. Epson drivers are in the software update of OS 10.1. No need for a disk.
The ink for the C80 is waterproof (provided the paper doesn't go to mush) and are rated to last approx. 70 years.
Unless you are printing photo's 24/7, I don't think one of the photo printers is an economical solution. I have actually printed photos that I scanned (with an Epson Perfection 2450 Photo scanner) from negatives on my C80 and they rock.
The seperate ink is good if you are doing projects where you are using more of one color, such as heavy red or such.
The only thing that the Epson printers don't ship with is an USB cable. You will need to get one long enough for your needs when you get the printer. I suggest figuring out exactly where the printer will be sitting and get a cable at least one or two feet longer then you think you need. That way, you will have a little slack, instead of a lot of tension.
Epson has made some rather significant advances in their technology over the past couple of years. One that I really like, is that there are cleaning heads/parts built into the ink cartridges. That allows them to clean themselves whenever needed. Their utilities and software is way up there, and you can even adjust the way it prints if it isn't 100%.
Before the C80, I had one of the Epson 880 printers. I gave that to mom to use, but my sister 'borrowed' it to use for her xmas cards. I had given my sister a lexmark printer (z32 that came with an iMac), which she said was a lot slower then the Epson. I believe that a full 8-1/2x11 page printed in under a minute or so on the Epson. The exact same image took over 5 minutes to print on the lexmark. The quality of the Epson was also better then the lexmark. At least now I know who will get my C80 when Epson comes out with a hotter printer that I will just 'have' to have.
Unless you are printing photo's 24/7, I don't think one of the photo printers is an economical solution. I have actually printed photos that I scanned (with an Epson Perfection 2450 Photo scanner) from negatives on my C80 and they rock.
The seperate ink is good if you are doing projects where you are using more of one color, such as heavy red or such.
The only thing that the Epson printers don't ship with is an USB cable. You will need to get one long enough for your needs when you get the printer. I suggest figuring out exactly where the printer will be sitting and get a cable at least one or two feet longer then you think you need. That way, you will have a little slack, instead of a lot of tension.
Epson has made some rather significant advances in their technology over the past couple of years. One that I really like, is that there are cleaning heads/parts built into the ink cartridges. That allows them to clean themselves whenever needed. Their utilities and software is way up there, and you can even adjust the way it prints if it isn't 100%.
Before the C80, I had one of the Epson 880 printers. I gave that to mom to use, but my sister 'borrowed' it to use for her xmas cards. I had given my sister a lexmark printer (z32 that came with an iMac), which she said was a lot slower then the Epson. I believe that a full 8-1/2x11 page printed in under a minute or so on the Epson. The exact same image took over 5 minutes to print on the lexmark. The quality of the Epson was also better then the lexmark. At least now I know who will get my C80 when Epson comes out with a hotter printer that I will just 'have' to have.
Wrong, my HP 940c has a black and a color cartridge.
1)My HP is quiter then your Epson.
2)Epson doesn't support their older printers with X, which is why I dumped my Stylus Photo 700 to get the HP 940c.
3)My 940c worked with OS X out the box, at the time most Epson drivers weren't avaible for top end printers.
4)My HP prints just as well as any Epson (in price range)
5)Why support support Epson when they aren't supporting Mac users and OS X (yes they have drivers but not nearly enough to cover their line, still waiting for my scanner driver)
So Epson is no longer the king of the hill. After buying the 940c, I often have to check the printer to make sure it's printing, because it is so quiet. Epson is the Harley Davidson of the printer world, loud obnoxiuos beasts.
Buy an HP 940c and forget about Epson like I have ( along with my unsupposted $300 Stylus Photo 300)
epson printer
I have been reading this website for many, many months, but registered now for the first time to express my anger with Epson.
Last summer I bought an Epson Color Stylus 850Ne to hook up to my home network. Once I had the printer I learned that there is no OSX support, but the printer was not returnable (refurb).
Epson has NOT produced a driver for this and MANY other printers for OSX.
When I talked to Epson customer support (again) a few days ago to find out when the driver might be coming, I was told "I'm sure we're working on it" by a guy that I had to repeat everything 3-4 times to when he was taking the obnoxiously extensive info (Name, address, serial number of printer, date of purchase, and some more things I don't remember) the reps are required to collect before addressing the reason you are actually calling.
I was eventually transferred to a Mac specialist, who said it was not a big deal, and recommended that I just print from the cl***ic environment. duh. Advice from the gifted!
In brief: Epson is disappointing to deal with!
Now I feel better; nothing like some good venting.
I have been reading this website for many, many months, but registered now for the first time to express my anger with Epson.
Last summer I bought an Epson Color Stylus 850Ne to hook up to my home network. Once I had the printer I learned that there is no OSX support, but the printer was not returnable (refurb).
Epson has NOT produced a driver for this and MANY other printers for OSX.
When I talked to Epson customer support (again) a few days ago to find out when the driver might be coming, I was told "I'm sure we're working on it" by a guy that I had to repeat everything 3-4 times to when he was taking the obnoxiously extensive info (Name, address, serial number of printer, date of purchase, and some more things I don't remember) the reps are required to collect before addressing the reason you are actually calling.
I was eventually transferred to a Mac specialist, who said it was not a big deal, and recommended that I just print from the cl***ic environment. duh. Advice from the gifted!
In brief: Epson is disappointing to deal with!
Now I feel better; nothing like some good venting.
I think that a lot of the anger on drivers is a bit misdirected, though understandable. True, Epson has been delinquent in delivering drivers, though most are available now, but note that Apple was late delivering a solid OSX. Wouldn't I love to get a driver for my Umax 6450 scanner as well!
When you speak of loyalty, Epson was there early with the only iMac compatible usb printer and scanner. Hp was very late to that party. Epson has also been and is still very supportive of graphics artists and photographers, especially during a period when Hp really only produced injet printers for business.
As for your scanner, if you get desperate, try vuescan. It's about $40 and significantly better than almost anything out there.
I have both an Epson 1280, which I have equipped with a Continuous Ink System from nomorecarts.com($225), running in cl***ic and OSX and a 3000 that only runs in cl***ic. I gave my old HP 855 away.
The 1280 is a benchmark printer, A2 (B) format, fast, quiet and prosucing very spectacular prints. Ink from inksupply.com is $144 for 1 pint of each color.
The 3000 is noisy, slower and of lesser print quality, but not by much. It also is probably the oldest printer on the market (its at least 5 years old), but between it and the 1520, are the only A2 (C) size printers available.
Quality will be very much the same from the HP, but continuous inking systems are problematic for the HP due to the more limited life of the integrated cartridge printhead, (though I would quess tens of refills would be no problem).
All in all, get anything except the low end stuff and you will be happy.
When you speak of loyalty, Epson was there early with the only iMac compatible usb printer and scanner. Hp was very late to that party. Epson has also been and is still very supportive of graphics artists and photographers, especially during a period when Hp really only produced injet printers for business.
As for your scanner, if you get desperate, try vuescan. It's about $40 and significantly better than almost anything out there.
I have both an Epson 1280, which I have equipped with a Continuous Ink System from nomorecarts.com($225), running in cl***ic and OSX and a 3000 that only runs in cl***ic. I gave my old HP 855 away.
The 1280 is a benchmark printer, A2 (B) format, fast, quiet and prosucing very spectacular prints. Ink from inksupply.com is $144 for 1 pint of each color.
The 3000 is noisy, slower and of lesser print quality, but not by much. It also is probably the oldest printer on the market (its at least 5 years old), but between it and the 1520, are the only A2 (C) size printers available.
Quality will be very much the same from the HP, but continuous inking systems are problematic for the HP due to the more limited life of the integrated cartridge printhead, (though I would quess tens of refills would be no problem).
All in all, get anything except the low end stuff and you will be happy.
Epson and HP in JP
Epson tech-support is wonderful here in Japan, and I have no problems with my Epson printer or scanner.... model numbers in Japan are different from the US so I cant tell u what I have...
HP is good... on normal paper. When you print out pictures and such on Photo Quality paper, the result has at most half the quality of the same picture printed on my Epson....
But I do have to admit that the HP printers are quieter...
Scanner drivers for Epson are easier to use than HP ones.... so...
hmm.... EPSON ANYONE?
irmongoose
Epson tech-support is wonderful here in Japan, and I have no problems with my Epson printer or scanner.... model numbers in Japan are different from the US so I cant tell u what I have...
HP is good... on normal paper. When you print out pictures and such on Photo Quality paper, the result has at most half the quality of the same picture printed on my Epson....
But I do have to admit that the HP printers are quieter...
Scanner drivers for Epson are easier to use than HP ones.... so...
hmm.... EPSON ANYONE?
irmongoose
No I'm not wrong. You misread what I was saying. The HP's use the entire color cartridge when printing color photos with black in them instead of using the black cartridge for the black parts of the color photo. The HPs only use the black cartridge when printing B/W documents, or text documents with completely seperate color areas. For photos, using the color cartridge for black sucks. There are HP though that don't use a black cartridge at all!! (the real cheap ones (632 or something like that) and the p100 PHOTO PRINTER!)
The 820 is not a strictly photo printer, and therefore would probably be the best bet.
-Pete
Re: epson printer
I don't know who you were calling, but that doesn't even come close to what I have experienced with Epson support. I have called them on more then one occasion and have always received excellent support/information. Even information not readily available to the rest of the market, just because I expressed an interest.
Epson support, and pre-sales information lines are the best I have come across.
I don't know who you were calling, but that doesn't even come close to what I have experienced with Epson support. I have called them on more then one occasion and have always received excellent support/information. Even information not readily available to the rest of the market, just because I expressed an interest.
Epson support, and pre-sales information lines are the best I have come across.