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The Outs ... Move Your Workflow Forward with Large-Format Printers (Cadalyst Labs Review)
1 Apr, 2007 By: Ron LaFonCadalyst Labs surveys the latest wide-format printers from Canon, Hewlett-Packard and iSys.
Being able to print in wide-format output is a must for many disciplines and for many firms, whether in-house or at a service bureau. And if you have tight deadlines or a sizeable volume of work, it's often fastest and most economical to do the work in-house.
I've mentioned before how often I see many original hardcopy drawings and blueprints at CAD firms that have never been transferred to digital formats. These drawings and blueprints have tangible meanings and represent a substantial amount of work, time and money for the firms that generated them. Much of what hasn't been transferred to a digital format could be considered at risk of loss. Although getting these original works into a digital format via wide-format scanners is one part of the solution—and is covered in a separate article in this issue (—the ability to produce high-quality output from these originals is another.
The intent of this particular comparative review is to focus on the general types of printing devices currently available and to describe what factors buyers should consider when purchasing a wide-format printer/plotter. As a result, I performed no hands-on testing for this review.
What to Look For
Deciding that you need a wide-format printing device is, of course, the essential starting point. Once you've determined that both your needs and your budget will sustain such a purchase, you'll need to determine many things when selecting the printer for your particular situation. Cadalyst editors and contributors are often asked to recommend wide-format printer/plotters, but because individual needs vary so widely, it's impossible to make those type of recommendations. We can, however, recommend some factors for users to consider when making purchases.
Determine the maximum print size you'll want to produce and whether the printer/plotter can accommodate single-sheet feeds or rolls of paper—or perhaps multiple rolls. Will the rated output speed of the printer/plotter allow you to produce the quantity of output you need within your time constraints? Does the printer have an integrated paper cutter? What are the options when the output comes out—does it have a bin or an accessory stacker? Ink capacity, cost and use are major considerations as well. What are the approximate printing costs per page? Does the printer/plotter perform batch operations? Does it allow users to recall a given print job and replicate it in the future?
Other factors you'll want to consider are servicing options, support and availability of onsite service (if any is provided and if it is, for how long). If the printer/plotter houses a hard disk (most do these days), what is the capacity—and is it large enough to accommodate the type of work you'll typically be producing? Connectivity is another significant area for consideration. How does the device link to your network or the workstation that will be driving it? Are drivers available for the particular version of the operating system that you use? With the recent introduction of Windows Vista, drivers certainly are going to be a factor if you move to this new operating system. You'll certainly want to ensure that Vista support will be forthcoming, otherwise you risk having an expensive device that is essentially orphaned without support by this latest iteration of Windows. Because some printer/plotters use software beyond basic printer drivers to perform various functions and maintenance, you'll need to take a careful look at what's available for the device you're considering.
These are but a few of the questions and concerns that you'll need to address when you consider purchasing a wide-format printing/plotting device. Your particular needs could add more questions to this basic list. Whatever your choices may be, look at output from the specific model you're interested in before committing to a specific device (if this request is possible). You'll be living with the output on a day-to-day basis for an extended period of time, so you'll want to be reasonably sure that the printer/plotter will produce the output that meets your needs and expectations.
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