I have my own home-based freelancing business. I design and print a lot of wedding/shower invitations, business cards, flyers, etc… I currently own a HP Business Inkjet 2800. It isn’t bad. But it isn’t great either as long as I’m printing on matte paper. It takes forever to spool artwork to the printer (even though I’ve added 256mb memory) and if I try to print on glossy paper – forget about it! It takes 2 1/2 minutes to print out one sheet of glossy paper. So to print out 150 sheets of glossy paper, it took me over 6 1/2 hours!!!! THAT is unacceptable!
So, I was wondering if someone could direct me to a good laser or inkjet printer that will work for printing out professional invitations, business cards, flyers, etc.. on both matte, cardstock and glossy paper.
I am willing to switch to laser if it will give me a better print, despite the higher cost of toner. But the laser has to be able to print on cardstock and glossy. Thanks for the help!
www.monkeybusinessdesigngroup.com
Laserjets will definitely be a lot faster, but the color to screen color matchup is not always the best. As the toner cartridge empties, or the fusioner gets dirty the colors will not always match the colors on the screen… so that will require you to print tests before getting a final product.
Inkjets are slower when printing, but offer the best color – screen color matches… however anything you print will cost more on inkjets, and if you don’t use waterproof inks, a little water will smudge your work and ruin it. Something that won’t happen to laserjet printouts.
There are tons of good printers out there today… just browse the web a little, check out tigerdirect.com, newegg.com, cdw.com and compare prices with local retailers in your area for similar products you find attractive… I am sure you will find a good deal that is both productive and cost-effective.
As a graphic artist myself, I love the HP deskjet 9650 wide format for fast outputs up to 12 x 18 full bleed.
I also use this workhorse for my heavy loads. HP Color LaserJet 4700dn with double-sided printing capabilities. This is their newer model and well rated and not expensive to purchase or operate.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/printer/LaserJet/1/storefronts/Q7493A%2523ABA
This printer can be used for high volume printing and for proofs as well. I used to own Epson but they cost too much to run and secondly. HP’s output are just as good if not better and cheaper to operate in the long run which is what you want.
Us designers waste lsots of paper LOL.
Lasers dont usually do well on glossy paper because they have to heat the toner. A laser cant touch an inkjet for photo quality. But for speed and sharpness of text, lasers beat inkjets. That’s why I use several of each depending on the purpose.
For a low-end color laser which does a nice job and takes very little room, I like the Samsung CLP-300. You can find it for about $100 new on ebay. There are five of them among my family members all going strong. So far we have replaced one black toner after more than a year of use. A full set of 4 toners is $50 at http://www.ccs-digital.com
If you need large output and photos, look at the Epson 1400. If 8.5 x 11 is good enough, look at the Workforce 500 which you can get for $69 delivered from
http://www.compsource.com/ttechnote.asp?part_no=C11CA40201&vid=155&src=F
The reason I recommend Epson is they have the best warranty in the industry. For a year, they will fedex a replacement and pick up the old one. If you depend on your printer for business, this is a necessity.
You can get cartridges for Epsons from http://www.ccs-digital.com for under $3 each which hold about double the ink of standard cartridges.
good luck