Recommend a home printer for a graphic designer?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hi folks, I need a new printer, and I need your help.

I’m self-employed and juggle my work between freelancing for agencies and private client work I do from home. Obviously when I’m at an agency I have access to all manner of whizz bang printing devices, but at home, I currently have nothing better than a low cost Epsom Inkjet (A4).

Now, I can’t really afford it, but then I can’t really afford to keep using bureaus either, so I’m thinking it’s time to invest in something a bit better. My needs are:

_Prints A4 and A3 (doesn’t need to print to the edge)
_Printing only (I don’t fax and already have a scanner)
_Quality is important, speed is not
_Must be able to handle complex graphic files (postscript fonts/photography/large areas of flat colour)
_Not too large (I have limited space in my home office)
_Ability to print on a range of paper weights would be an advantage, but not essential
_High DPI

Can anybody help? I have no clue about relatively low cost printers. Not even sure how much I should spend, but it ideally needs to be under 500USD

2

If you look at eBay, you should be able to pick up a decent A1 or A0 plotter very cheaply.

3

I have a color Laserjet for stuff up to legal size, and a wide-carriage Officejet for up to 13"x19". You could probably pick up both for around $500-600. The supplies are really where the cost comes in, though. I am always looking for deals on those.

4

Definately won’t fit that in my small home office!

5

You’d be surprised: while a flatbed plotter is most definitely not a home device, something like this A1 colour plotter can sit on top of - or underneath - a shelf.

6

You see, now you’ve got me salivating a bit. That might just be a brilliant idea. Then I can keep my crappy A4 for printing out invoices and stuff.

Problem is though, I quite often do A3 presentations in a portfolio format - I could do these all on screen, but clients still love having something physical, and it would be a right pain to have to trim out 30 A3 pages off an A1 plotter…

7

Okay, ignore my stupid last comment - it says you can load cut sheets. Problem solved. I’d assumed it would just print on a roll.:smack:

8

Are you sure it’s not my hot bod? :smiley:

9

For a normal printer, I like Canons. I’ve got a Canon ip3500, which I believe is not longer manufactured. The ink isn’t exorbitant, it will print to the edge (I believe), and you have the option of printing from the front or the back, which increases your choices where to put it. It also folds up into a nice little box (I was using it as a monitor stand for a while). It seems to be very reliable and so far doesn’t need cleaning often. The color is good.

You should be able to try it out in the store, I believe.

10

Well, I didn’t like to say…:wink: