Wow, I ve just popped in here.

[Music Image]

Hey all, thanks for the tips and general input. For now, other duties call, but I'll be back a bit later to ask some questions that I need to consider.
I'll take another careful look at the forums and try to post in the appropriate area, as this maybe going off topic a bit.

Music Image.

 

[Nifty]

I'll take another careful look at the forums and try to post in the appropriate area, as this maybe going off topic a bit.

Ha... it's never stopped us before! Keep in touch.

 

[rjr3684]

Having been an Epson bigot I can speak volums about the plusses and minus of Canon versus Epson. The bottom line for me was costs. I was printing almost every day using OEM cartridges from Epson and it was costing me a fortune. In addition I was waiting upto 20 minutes for a single 13x19" print to print on my Epson at a cost of perhaps $3-4 per sheet. I then discovered Neil's web site and started considering Canon. After much research I bought my first Canon the I960, I was actually blown away the first time I printed on it. I could now print 5 or 6 8x10 in the time it use to take me to print one on my Epson. That motivated me to buy the I9100 so I could get 13x19 prints. Again I was blown away how fast it was. I then encountered a problem with one of the 3rd party inks (which is another post). This caused me to return the I9100 (I got a full refund). I then bought the I9900 and I believe that this is the pinnacle of the home photo printers. Needless to say I have become a Canon bigot and so I sold my epson printer and my nikon camera and bought a Canon 20d. From my view point and price point it is the perfect fit for the consumer who wants everything and he wants it now. The engineering on these products is amazing and it shows up everytime I use Canon equipment. My bigotry is definitely coming though in this posts....so be it!!!!

 

[Nifty]

rjr3684, did you already write your other post on your experience with the I9100 and the third party inks? If yes, where is it... if no, then GET TO IT MAN!!!

 

[Music Image]

OK guys, finally Im back. Sorry it took a while. Since this thread is "well matured" I might as well carry on here.

First, heres a list of my requirements and perceived usage...
- MUST be Mac and PC compatible.
- I will probably print quite a bit more text (PC and Mac) and music scores (Mac) but will still want to do some photo printing, though probably not a lot.. My husband is quite interested in photography though not on a grand scale as such. Also, I envisage times when the printer will be put aside and not used, and this could be for weeks at a time, OTOH I see there will times when my printer will be very busy. So rather than a consistant usage I see it more an "on and off again" scenario. Ive thought about going the laser way, and I feel that is not quite the right way to go. Id still like the option of printing pickies that are of good quality but doesnt need to be absolutely top high-end quality.
- Im a bit of a tweaker at heart and though I know next to nothing about the innards of printers, its not beyond me to give things a try. Until I actually look, I wont know whether Im going to be a refiller or what.

A couple of questions
1/ NETWORKING Rather than network my Mac (Jaguar 10.2.6) and PC (XP Pro)I would prefer to just have the printer directly hooked up to the Mac when needed and the PC when needed. Tell me what your ideas are on this. Is this a clumsy way to look at it, or what. Im not very experienced with networking, and a while ago I did get my Mac and PC to network, through ethernet, but it wasnt easy, and I neally pulled my hair out doing so. BTW, this was one way conversation, the PC pulling a simple text file from the Mac. As for printers and networking, I have NO experience whatsoever.
2/ USAGE How long should you leave a printer unused, (both using B/W and colour) before there are any side effects like clogging, and if so,... Id be curious as to how shops handle this when they have stock sitting on their shelves for a while.


This is what Ive come up with after looking at various recommendations and reviews on the net.
- Looking for a mid range model, I'm leaning more towards the IP4000 as I really cant justify the need for the IP5000. The IP4000 has a lot of good reviews and is well reviewed on the Tomshardware link I followed from these Forums. Any IP4000 owners here got some comments, good or bad, Id like to hear them. I'll probably order one tomorrow, unless someone can challenge me to the point where I'll reconsider.

Footnote: Isnt this soooooo ironic, Im forever trying to fight against my "paper war" and Ive vowed and declared many a time to have a decent cleanout. Now Im about to make it worse !!!!! One consolation though is, theres just something about tucking yourself up and reading something in hard print rather than looking at a screen. Especially for manuals and the like. Many people say this, and so a printer is justified after-all.

Thanks all for your input so far, Im looking forward to any further ideas/advice.
Cheers MusicImage

 

[Nifty]

MusicImage, I wouldn't toss out the idea of a laser printer just yet. It sounds like text and b/w printing (music) will be top priority and you just can't beat the longevity, speed, and total cost of ownership of a laser. The other advantage is a laser printer can sit for months unused with no noticeable effects to the toner.

Regarding non-networking solutions: I don't know how a Mac connects to a printer, but you can get the A/B type manual switches pretty cheap. The only downside is you manually have to switch when you are changing which computer you are printing from. Here is the one I was using for a very long time when I had a parallel scanner and my LaserJet 4 printers setup:

 

[Music Image]

Thanks Nifty for your response. I was going to order the IP4000 on Monday, but since Im in for a hectic week or 2, I've decided to put it off for a week or so. Meanwhile I'll dig into the laser side again and see what my husband says about how important the photo printing side is to him.

Music Image.

 

[ocular]

There is no doubt that inkjets do not like long periods of non use. But printing a test page on a weekly basis may be enough. I have certainly left my Canon 4 cartridge systems printers idle for 3 weeks at a time with no ill effect to date.

I am certainly very much a black text user. This being 99% of the my 4 x MP 730 & 1 x IP3000 machines work. Though I have gone down the track of continuous feed systems for two of the high volume black machines to minimise cost and the need for intervention. However for the occassional colour photo for kids projects/flyers etc it is great to have that ability to hand. I wouldn't under estimate the photo quality of the 4 cartridge inkjets ( no dye black) compared to the 5 cartridge machines (IP4000).

 

[Nifty]

I wouldn't under estimate the photo quality of the 4 cartridge inkjets ( no dye black) compared to the 5 cartridge machines (IP4000).

I agree, I had an i560 (4 cartridge) and now have the i860 (5 cartridge) and I don't really notice the difference... of course I'm no purist like many on the forum.

I also think that an ip4000 would do you fine. Even though I've got two laser printers in my office, I use my i860 for 95% of all my text printing because it's my default printer, cheap to operate (since I refill) and doesn't need to warm up. I just wanted to make sure that you are aware of all the options available to you which is why I suggested the laser.

 

[fotofreek]

An additional note - if you use good aftermarket ink carts or refill, your ink costs will be so low that you won't mind doing a test print once or twice a week to keep things flowing. Actually Neil Slade, on his web site suggests a full color print a day, but everyone isn't going to do that and a little less frequent printing seems to work.