The main differences between these two printers are:
The ink types and the ink color sets.
Briefly, the 1400 uses Claria dye colorant based inks. They are said to
be more durable than previous dye inks, more scratch and abrasion
resistant, and having much longer fade resistance than previous dye
inks. Tests seem to bear that out.
The R1900 uses pigment inks which have a high level of gloss resins in
them, making them great for high gloss color images. While they are
best for color, the Black and White output is OK. They do poorer with
flat/matte surfaced prints and require some more specific paper types
than the Claria dye inks do. The glossy prints are stunning and have
very good light fading characteristics (they won't fade appreciably for
a long time).
However, the color range or gamut is an interesting issue. The 1400
uses dye inks which tend to be brighter and able to portray a broader
color range by using just the basic 6 color set (CcMmYK). In order to
accomplish the same thing in the pigment inks, Epson uses a different
ink set in the R1900 (Cyan Magenta Yellow Red Orange K glossy, K matte
and Gloss coating) a total of eight cartridges.They cost a bit less
(List is about $13.50 for the Ultrachrome glossy versus $19 for the
Claria.) I don't know about yield (which is less costly per square food
of printing). In general, in terms of ink consumption, less cartridges
is better, however,the light dilute inks used in the Claira set will
probably be used at double the rate of the darker cartridge colors.
Both printers produce great prints overall. I can't recall if the 1400
has a roll paper feeder or not.
Left to my own decision, I would probably go for the 1400. It saves
$200 on acquisition cost, which can go for ink or a CIS system plus ink.
You are more likely to find a 3rd party ink that is less costly and
truer to the Epson color set with the 1400 than the 1900, because of the
unusual color set the 1900 uses. The 1400 seems to have a better track
record in term of not head clogging as easily. The inks allow easy
printing on both glossy and matte papers and no gloss coating is needed
on the glossy paper because the ink penetrates the paper surface and
goes beneath it. The ink dots I believe a slightly smaller with the
1400 than the 1900.
The main cost differential besides the initial cost is the lighter inks
used in the 1400 which will get used up much faster.
Finally, I will through one more monkey wrench into the discussion,
Epson has a new printer called the Workforce 1100 that prints the same
dimensions. It uses a four color pigment ink system. Good old CMYK
using Durabrite Ultra pigment inks. It will not produce as high a
quality print as the 1400 or 1900, it costs the same as the 1400 ($199,
but may be discounted somewhere)is quite fast. The inks are very
durable and fade resistant and you can get high capacity ink cartridges
from Epson for it. It is more designed as an office printer, but the
color prints are still impressive. It uses less ink because it uses
small dots and the white paper background to make lighter colors.
There are also 3rd party equivalent inks for the Durabrite Ultra
pigmented inks out there.
Art
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