Let me start off by saying I've been a PC user for all my life, and it's not until recently that I've seen the light. I'm getting the superdrive iMac in August. One thing that I'm really unsure about is the printers. Are they compatable with PC printer ports? Does apple make them or are they made by other companies? How much do they cost? Which model should I get for regular printing (nothing fancy)? Thanks - John
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mac printers
- Thread starter coolocity
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The same manufacturers make them for both, I have an Epson Photo 1270, it does large format etc etc. But just about any Epson will do you well for photos and text. All I can say about the connectivity is that jsut make sure the printer (all new ones do) has a USB output, if it has USB, it'll work with your mac. I can't verse you in which particular printer you should get, all I recommend is Epson, mine has been very good over the past three years.
Here check this site:
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/...gineID=iadcegleimldbfdmcfjgckidnf.0&oid=-8165
I think the Stylus C60 is in your range, my friend has that one, his only complaint is that it's a bit loud.
Cheers.
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/...gineID=iadcegleimldbfdmcfjgckidnf.0&oid=-8165
I think the Stylus C60 is in your range, my friend has that one, his only complaint is that it's a bit loud.
Cheers.
but once you have an iMac you have all the nice applications that come free with it.
One of them is iPhoto that makes life soooooo easy if you do digital photography.
So that may inspire you to buy a digital camera...if you don't have one already...and then a Epson Stylus Photo printer would be even better
One of them is iPhoto that makes life soooooo easy if you do digital photography.
So that may inspire you to buy a digital camera...if you don't have one already...and then a Epson Stylus Photo printer would be even better
I have used a numerous amount of Epson printers growing up, from the Epson 700, to the 740i, to the Photo 750, to the 880 and the 1270. I think that they are excellent printers. And with the price drops from a while ago the Cxx printers completely rock. But right now I will be using the 880.
I saw on a MacAddict magazine that you can find the drivers for the Cxx series of the Epson website. I am not sure if OS X 10.1.x supports the Cxx series, but the drivers should be there in case you need them.
Rock on Epson!
I saw on a MacAddict magazine that you can find the drivers for the Cxx series of the Epson website. I am not sure if OS X 10.1.x supports the Cxx series, but the drivers should be there in case you need them.
Rock on Epson!
Originally posted by King Cobra
I have used a numerous amount of Epson printers growing up, from the Epson 700, to the 740i, to the Photo 750, to the 880 and the 1270. I think that they are excellent printers. And with the price drops from a while ago the Cxx printers completely rock. But right now I will be using the 880.
I saw on a MacAddict magazine that you can find the drivers for the Cxx series of the Epson website. I am not sure if OS X 10.1.x supports the Cxx series, but the drivers should be there in case you need them.
Rock on Epson!
I HAVE the Epson C80 printer at home (modified it to be the C80N model) and can tell you first hand that Epson HAS OS X drivers for the printer that work perfectly. You can even 'tweak' the color settings before sending the page(s) to print. The ONE thing that I wish the drivers had, is reverse order printing (printing the last page first). That would be a big help for when I need to print out several pages and want to read the stuff without needing to reshuffle them into the proper order.
With the (now) C80N, I can print from BOTH my Mac and game peecee (send at the same time if I want to), since it is on my home network. IF you have any intensions of ever wanting to print from more then one system to the same printer, I say go with at least the C80. You can get the Epson external print server later (plugs into the parallel port on the printer) and network it then.
Just about any printer with an USB port can be used by a Mac (provided the printer maker offers drivers). So you do NOT need to get a Mac specific printer, just one with drivers available.
Epson is the printer that I recommend the most to people. Between their excellent support people, and quality product (stuff made in the past few years at least) they cannot be beat (for the money). Lexmark printers are inferior by comparison (longer print times and all around crap), and I have seen more then a few dead HP inkjet printers in my day.
I have a HP970Cxi and it prints at good quality and all but refilling the cartridges are a nightmare and the computer keeps telling you the ink is empty every time you print eventhough the cartrdge is full. Plus they don't print as good quality as other printers on plain paper. At school alot of the old HP deskwriters have died while the old epsons keep working as hard as ever. So from what all the others have said and what I have experienced the Epson would be the choice.
Changing the ink in the Epson printers is a snap. The new ones (like the C80) even have little chips on each ink cartridge. That allows each cartridge to know how much ink is inside of it, so you can pull it from the printer (say, if your black is low, and you have a book to print), set it aside and then put it back in and see the exact level in each.
Print quality on regular paper is pretty good, it's even better on the plain paper that is made for ink jet printers (I use Hammermill paper). Print out on the photo paper and you get results on par with photographs.
I too have the Epson C80 (and OS X driver) which I bought upon the advice of some of the guys around here. It's great - good quality for my office letters and spreadsheets etc and great for photos/vid stills and good outputs from Quark Xpress and Photoshop.
It's pretty fast too although the 'spooling' part of the operation can be a little time consuming.
I had an HP Officejet G85 multi-function machine where the drivers were not very Mac-friendly.
That's my printer advice. Hope it helps.
It's pretty fast too although the 'spooling' part of the operation can be a little time consuming.
I had an HP Officejet G85 multi-function machine where the drivers were not very Mac-friendly.
That's my printer advice. Hope it helps.
Stormyguy, it's good to see that you are [also] happy with your Epson printer. One of the very nice things about the C80, is that you can add the external print server later, and network it. I did that, and can print from any computer that is on my home network (either Mac or pc).
By far, it is easier to connect to the printer from a Mac, but you can do it from the pc as well (setup can be a biatch on the pc).
Are you running the latest OS X drivers for the C80?? I am, and they work great.
By far, it is easier to connect to the printer from a Mac, but you can do it from the pc as well (setup can be a biatch on the pc).
Are you running the latest OS X drivers for the C80?? I am, and they work great.
I use a Lexmark Z53 for general use and it works fine. No problems at all in almost a year since I got it.Lexmark is high-quality, and pretty fast. Also, it uses usb 12.0 mbit interface, which is faster than PC serial and other printer port connections of the sort. I think Lexmark released a new printer called Z63?? or something like that. It is supposed to do everything better and faster. Also, Lexmark has a copy/scan/print combo available. I'm not sure if it has color printing. So I would go with Lexmark.