Expert: Bobbert - 1/27/2011

Question
QUESTION: i recently bought a epson px720wd which was a mistake i think, yes it's an improvement on my old hp office jet, but seems to gobble up the ink (6 inks) for the advantage of superb photo prints- the hp ink (2 cartridges, blk and tricolour) was far more economical and i'm not really a photo enthusiast.

i want to sell the epson and thought of getting a pixma mg6150, to use for documents mainly, but some photos to. it has 6 inks too, a black for documents (the gray is for b and w photos).

i like to print out newspaper cutttings directly or ones first scanned and saved on my mac notebook, and other stored web and bandw docs. do newspapes/ magazines count as documents or photos? would i be making the same mistake? and how do i get the best print quality on black and white docs and on newspaper/ magazine print docs (scanned or otherwise) which contain text and photos?

i'm a home user and the pixma may combine photo quality (does that advantage transfer to the varied text printing?) with document quality, ie combine seperate functions; or split the functions between a new hp office jet for everyday cheap printing and something else for quality? can you recommend brands/ models?

yours, philip jones

philip"

ANSWER: Epson printers are not known for their economy, they're known for producing excellent photo prints regardless of price. My best suggestion for general office use (what you've described), would be the new HP Office Jet Pro series of printers and MFCs, they'll cost substantially less than any of the photo printers you're looking at (in terms of operation, and potentially in terms of initial purchase) and will be far better suited to your needs. I would probably keep the Epson for the occasional photo, as it will do a much better job than most other printers available.

-bob


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thankyou bob for your reply
the pixma mg6150 interests me because its seems to combine photos and documents-
its 6 inks include black for docs and photos and a grey.
since i like to print and scan newspaper/ magazine and book articles:
could you say something about the pixma compared with the epson/ officejet pro suggestion you made?
would the pixma be as expensive ink- wise- since for documents it has a dedicated black and grey ink?
is a two printer solution quite common?
thankyou again, bob
philip jones, grimsby uk

Answer
The Pixma will cost more in general, simply as a result of its inking configuration - the multi-ink systems have very little (if any) advantage over the more traditional systems, its simply a difference in design. I wouldn't base considerations solely on that factor. The photo quality from the OfficeJet solutions isn't bad, and I'm doubting if for most purposes you can tell the difference in terms of print quality (unless you're doing DCC or other commercial production, I wouldn't worry).

-bob