Wide-Format Printers/Plotters

Hewlett-Packard DesignJet ColorPro CAD

1 Oct, 2000 By: Evan Yares

Inkjet, thermal, and LED plotters reviewed


Hewlett-Packard Co.
Star rating: 5 stars out of 5

All the other plotters in this review are wide format— 36" or more. The ColorPro CAD is different. It is a tabloid-size (up to 13" X 19") 600dpi color inkjet printer that’s designed to work just like the big DesignJets, which, when you think about it, is a very good idea.

The DesignJet ColorPro CAD prints tabloid-size checkplots.

The ColorPro CAD uses Hewlett-Packard’s modular ink delivery system (similar to that used in the top-of-the-line DesignJet 1000 series), with replaceable ink cartridges that hold 69mL for black and 26.5mL for each color. Media is fed from one of two 400-sheet trays or through a single-sheet bypass. The print quality generated by the ColorPro CAD is excellent, not too far from true photo quality. The ColorPro CAD’s throughput is also very good: 15 seconds for a B-size print in econo-fast mode.

The ColorPro CAD uses the same driver software as other DesignJets and produces essentially identical output, including colors, lineweights, and shading. This is helpful if you use it as a check plotter and want to match the output from your big DesignJet.

One interesting bonus with the ColorPro CAD is that it comes with ZEHRaster Plus, a driver that supports the most popular raster file formats, including JPEG, TIF, and CALS. This may not be a critical element for CAD users, but if you deal with scanned images, it’s a nice bonus.

While other tabloid-size color inkjet printers are on the market, most of the really good ones are optimized for prepress and graphics, rather than for CAD. Beyond driver software and DesignJet compatibility, one of the significant advantages of the ColorPro CAD is that it’s faster than any of its competitors. In fact, it’s faster than anything short of a color laser printer. When you consider a laser’s warm-up time, it even beats those. Highly Recommended.


About the Author: Evan Yares


AutoCAD Tips!

Lynn Allen

Autodesk Technical Evangelist Lynn Allen guides you through a different AutoCAD feature in every edition of her popular "Circles and Lines" tutorial series. For even more AutoCAD how-to, check out Lynn's quick tips in the Cadalyst Video Gallery. Subscribe to Cadalyst's Tips & Tricks Tuesdays free e-newsletter and we'll notify you every time a new video tip is available. All exclusively from Cadalyst!
Follow Lynn on Twitter Follow Lynn on Twitter


Latest News from Cadalyst Partners
Feed
Autodesk Gallery Powers of Design Exhibit: 10**15 Cat's Eye Nebula   23 May, 2013

I work out of our office on One Market Street in San Francisco. My standup-desk is right across from our Gallery at One Market. One of our newer...More>>Read more It's Alive in the Lab blog posts>>

Feed
TERA Semicon Drives Its Own Destiny with CAD and PDM   22 May, 2013

When you read the history of TERA Semicon, you can see right away that the company has had a strong vision and direction from Day 1. The South Korean...More>>Read more PTC Creo blog posts>>

Feed
Excel Hyperlinks & Document Management Tricks   22 May, 2013

Do you have to keep track of a lot of different folders and files? Do you wish you peers could open the correct Revit file? Are you tired of having...More>>Read more BIMbuilder blog posts>>

Feed
SolidWorks Simulation Tips: Parameters and Design Studies   22 May, 2013

In my opinion, one of the most underutilized tools in SolidWorks Simulation is the Design Study.  Design studies allow you to easily set up a...More>>Read more SolidWorks Blog posts>>

Feed
Cubify Releases Cubify Draw: Simple, But the Best Free Way to Communicate 3D Printing to Kids?   22 May, 2013

While the majority of us may find happiness in 3D prints based off of complicated geometry, there is still a population out there that would love to...More>>Read more SolidSmack blog posts>>

Poll
What type of input device (besides the keyboard) do you use at your primary CAD workstation?
Standard mouse
Trackball mouse
Programmable mouse
3D navigation device
Pen/tablet
Multiple devices
Submit Vote




Considering Wide Format Printing Solutions?
Four FREE White Papers Available:






Subscribe Cadalyst Newsletters