Mac Wide Format Printers

[Drake]

We are a Mac office looking for a new wide format printer. Our needs are as follows: (2) rolls (D & E size paper), B&W (we do not need color, but will take it), fast printing, OS X compatible, less than $15,000 (preferably way less).

We are looking at some toner based printers (KIP) but the drivers for the mac are pretty weak. The print quality is sharp, though.

We currently use a pair of HP 430 DesignJets and they are much too slow for our needs, plus print quality is not as good as we would like.

I would really appreciate any recommendations. Really!

[Drake]

Looks like this question went over like a lead balloon.

We have opted for a KIP 3000. Two rolls, electro-photography (think Laser), scanning and copying. Does not print in color but does scan in color (send color scans to reprographics house for color prints). We tested some of our beefiest files and they plotted from our Powerbook (OS 10.4) using Vectorworks 11 in about a minute (from the time we pressed 'print' to the time we held the print in our hands). Most files take closer to 30 seconds.

We do not yet have a machine in our office, but I hope to post updates in about 3 or 4 months.

It runs about $16,000...I think.

[Kevin]

Thanks Drake. I look forward to your update.

[Petri]

We currently use a pair of HP 430 DesignJets and they are much too slow for our needs, plus print quality is not as good as we would like.

Workflow-wise, I'd rather go for two or three cheaper and slower printers than one fast one (which may break down). Or maybe one really fast for BW jobs, one or two for colour. Colour is, after all, the future. HPs seem to be nowadays OK - I've almost forgiven them the headaches of the 400-series caused.

Edited November 25, 2006 by Petri

[Drake]

I considered your point about work flow. If the one machine goes down, we lock up. Our backup plan is to print to PDF and send prints to our reprographic service (something we already do with big jobs, as it is actually faster when printing sets of 6 sheets or more...even factoring in delivery time).

We expect color could become standard in the next 4 or 5 years...at which time we will look for a color solution.