Plotter/Vectorworks 12 Compatibility

[Ros]

Hi,

We are a small Architectural firm looking to upgrade to new Mac G5s and older G4s, OS 10.4 (Tiger), Vectorworks 12, and a new plotter, possibly a HP 500 or 800 series.

We have a relatively small output, but desire sharp, quality drawings.

Can anyone advise as to compatibility or problems with this setup.

Thank you,

Ros.

[ionw]

We have had the 800ps 24" for the last five years and it has been a great printer, though color accuracy can be finicky at times, especially with blues.

I know the 800PS is more expensive, but the software RIP is too finicky. Also if you put an old slow computer serving the files, then you get slow prints. If your get a faster computer, you are out about the difference in cost.

HTH,

ion

[louisevr]

Hi, we weren the same boat, and after testing the HP500 and others eventually went for a Canon W8400 - much more pricy but fully networked and serves both OS9 & OSX (Tiger) and G3's, old iMacs, G4's & G'5s alike. The ink also comesin large wells of separate colours, whihc means you can replace each colour as it runs out. So far we are very happy with it.

[Q4U]

Hi

I can not speak of vectorworks experiences as yet. Just to add my 2cents worth. after exhausting trials temptation & head scratching & disapointment from the salsmen & women of major manufacturers 2 years ago. I purchased a HP500 24" C7769B roll feed NON Post Script. I Use a HP Post Script driver available on Hp's US site & colour sink is my icc colour profile Saviour for all Devices. It's Networked via a HP620n net cable(i have heard Wireless is available)& i was still $2500.00Au in front It produces excellent fullcolour semigloss Renderings which the HP agent & firms i send them to can not believe. Admitedly it took time to set it up correctly but don't discount Mac Osx or Hp's capabilities. You will need to set up page orientation as a custom size paper to get long edge first again a 5min job.if i had been aware vectorworks was a 3D cad choice at the time i could have bought vectorworks with the saving.

[ 02-08-2006, 06:40 AM: Message edited by: Q4U ]

[Jeffrey W Ouellette]

Ditto Q4U...

The HP500 is the best bang for your buck. It has a native MacOS X driver now. I've used the 42" in the recent past on a mixed PC/MAC network and found it to be a workhorse. The color capabilities are a little more limited than the 800, but it is hard to tell if your just doing the occassional large rendering. I've printed a set of large digital photographs (24x36) showing off previous projects and the clients were impressed by the quality of the images. Like Q4U says, it will take a little bit of tweaking to get the colors just right, but all systems/printers require some work like that.

[eric.rktek]

We just bought a HP Designjet 130 for our office (Mac OS X.4.4). We have light color output we need it to handle, and it has been working well so far. I posted some comments on the 'Mac Compatible Plotter' thread about it as well. We are using an older iMac to function as a print server for the plotter. The HP rep also recommended the HP postscript driver to help. I think the 130 is going to be less expensive than the 500. It is limited to a 24" wide roll, but that is coming to cover all we need it for. We bought a roll of HP coated paper to print on, and color is very sharp. This plotter really seems more like an overblown desktop printer (with a roll feed and stand) than plotters I have used in the past. Color and line output is sharp on coated paper, and seems consistant with HP inkjet printers producing output at the 720-1440 dpi.