epson cl900, minolta 2300w, 2350

G

gethin

Hi,
Tyring to decide between these 3.
Anyone have any experience of any of them.
I want a laser for colour brochures, proofing etc, although would like
the option to get near photo quality. Epsecially interested if anyone
has seen comparison of the output of the two minoltas. I've seen
epson output: seemed pretty good - subtle colours were well produced,
but there was some banding on solid colour.

thnx
Getho
 
P

Peter

Tyring to decide between these 3.
Anyone have any experience of any of them.
I want a laser for colour brochures, proofing etc, although would like
the option to get near photo quality. Epsecially interested if anyone
has seen comparison of the output of the two minoltas. I've seen
epson output: seemed pretty good - subtle colours were well produced,
but there was some banding on solid colour.

If you're in the UK pick up a copy of this months "Personal Computer World"
March 2004 edition.

It has a review of budget colour lasers, models tested are:
Epson C900, HP 1500L, 2300w, Lexmark C720, Oki C5100n and Tally T8006E.

Briefly the conclusions of the article are:
Epson C900 - produces the best output but expensive to run (Highly
Commended)
Oki C5100n - fast with low running costs (Highly Commended)
Minolta 2300w - good quality output with good running costs (Editors
choice)

Peter
www.printerbase.co.uk
 
T

Timothy Lee

Peter said:
If you're in the UK pick up a copy of this months "Personal Computer World"
March 2004 edition.

It has a review of budget colour lasers, models tested are:
Epson C900, HP 1500L, 2300w, Lexmark C720, Oki C5100n and Tally T8006E.

Briefly the conclusions of the article are:
Epson C900 - produces the best output but expensive to run (Highly
Commended)
Oki C5100n - fast with low running costs (Highly Commended)
Minolta 2300w - good quality output with good running costs (Editors
choice)

I would add to that the Xerox Phaser 8200 (being replaced by an 8400) we
have just replaced a Minolta 2200 with one, much better output due to
the solid ink technology in it. I think the Epson and Minoltas are
basically the same machines (or same print engines)
 
L

Les Sullivan

Timothy Lee said:
I would add to that the Xerox Phaser 8200 (being replaced by an 8400) we
have just replaced a Minolta 2200 with one, much better output due to
the solid ink technology in it. I think the Epson and Minoltas are
basically the same machines (or same print engines)

Thanks for the info Timothy.
I was looking at buying a Xerox 8400 but am concerned about having to
keep it switched on all the time as I have read that if you don't
print enough copies each day to ensure reasonable ink useage, the ink
changes colour slightly as it deteriorates because of the heat needed
to keep it liquid.
Presumably you have quite a high throughput so this is not a problem
in your case. What do you think of the quality of photographs printed
on it? Does the quality of paper used make much difference?
Your comments greatly appreciated.
Les
 
T

Timothy Lee

Les said:
Thanks for the info Timothy.
I was looking at buying a Xerox 8400 but am concerned about having to
keep it switched on all the time as I have read that if you don't
print enough copies each day to ensure reasonable ink useage, the ink
changes colour slightly as it deteriorates because of the heat needed
to keep it liquid.
Presumably you have quite a high throughput so this is not a problem
in your case. What do you think of the quality of photographs printed
on it? Does the quality of paper used make much difference?
Your comments greatly appreciated.
Les

My usage tends to be about 2-3000 pages per month, so I can't really
comment about colour changes from low usage, but if you don't have the
usage to justify the price, might it be worth looking at a higher end
inkjet? If you contact a reseller you can get yourself a sample output.
The Xerox manages fairly glossy output even on cheap copier paper,
certainly the Minolta managed clear output but it didn't have the gloss
that the wax process provides. Looking at your email address you are
probably in the UK, so you could contact someone like printware
(www.printware.co.uk) who supplied ours, or lnl (www.lnl.co.uk) both of
whom I am sure could provide sample printouts.

Printware, unsurprisingly, tried to persuade me to pay extra for the
fancy version of the 8200 which has a max of 1200 dpi rather than 1000
dpi, and they printed out my sample document at both settings, but they
did have the grace to admit they couldn't really tell the difference.

One thing to notice with the waxy output from the Xerox is it doesn't
like being laminated (the heat melts the ink again), but I have just
about overcome that by inserting a second sheet in the laminating pouch,
surrounding the laminate in two sheets of paper inside a carrier and
then setting the laminator to its minimum hot laminating temperature.

Laminating output was my solution to getting glossy output from the
Minolta.

Obviously we print out rather a lot of photographs - not many with
people in mind you! Certainly they look fine to me. I would say printing
on Data Copy 90gm2 paper compares favourably with inkjet output on the
chemically treated papers that smell - the matte ones, if you know what
I mean.

There are glossy papers available for lasers, but with the conventional
ones, like the Minolta the toner is deposited on top of the paper so the
glossiness is lost where the actual image is, but with the wax process
that retains a sheen. Hence the laminating of the Minolta output.

I suppose you should look at the quantity of printing you are going to
be doing to decide what route is best for you. If you are concerned
about not using it enough I suspect it might be worth looking at some of
the Canon inkjets that lots of people round here seem to rave about.
 
G

gethin

Hi Peter, and thanks to everyone else for the replies. I think it'll
have to be the epson - its 20% more epxensive to run than the minolta
for colour - 4,500 pages will see me through half a year probably - I
can live with that! - its cheaper for black and its by far the
cheapest to buy. Sounds good!

Thanks

Gethin
 

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