Apple announced their “AirPrint” wireless printing that will accompany Apple’s iOS 4.2 will be out in November, but why wait until then? Epson and Thinxtream have collaborated their new mobile printing application, PrintJinni for the Apple iPod Touch, Apple iPhone and Apple iPad.

“PrintJinni for Epson enhances the printing experience for mobile device users by delivering superior performance where it counts, whether at home, in the office, or on the road,” said Gregg Brunnick, group product manager, Consumer Ink Jets, Epson America, Inc. “With the benefit to print to any Wi-Fi-enabled Epson all-in-one, this convenient app keeps iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users from being tied to one printer. PrintJinni for Epson offers the ultimate mobile printing freedom and superior print quality inherent in Epson’s all-in-one solutions.”

PrintJinni for Epson does support Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 documents, as well as Adobe PDF, JPEG from e-mail attachments. Via an easy setup, PrintJinni supports Microsoft Exchange, Apple MobileMe, Google Gmail and other IMAP based e-mail accounts. And since I’m an Epson printer owner – WorkForce 600/610 – this app will allow for printing to the Epson line of Wi-Fi enabled printers and all-in-ones wirelessly without the need or use of a computer and will work alongside the aforementioned AirPrint functionality coming later this year.

Best part? It’s out right now and not later in the year. Even better? Presently the price is only $6.99 via the Apple iTunes Store, but only for a limited time only then it’s back up to $9.99 and does include a free one-year subscription to the PrintJinni Cloud Services.

[ Links: Epson PrintJinni Press Release, PrintJinni for Epson ]

There’s something about me and printers. Same thing with fax machines. I need them, I use them… they just don’t like me. They run out of ink at the wrong time, they don’t work like I think they should, sometimes I think they steal the change from my pocket. Don’t quote me on that last part, but let’s just say that a printer has to be very special for me to use it, let alone like it.

The last printer that won me over was the Epson WorkForce 600, which now has been replaced by the Epson WorkForce 610. And in that review, I took my time, installed the drivers, saw how much ink I’d use over a couple of months… and found myself actually depending on the WorkForce 600 to the point that I considered it a part of the family and not furniture. But despite the impressive quality of the WorkForce 600, I found myself needing the ability to sometimes print bigger than 8.5 inches by 11 inches.

Enter the Epson WorkForce 1100.

Thanks to the kind folks at Epson, they sent along a WorkForce 1100 and granted me a long amount of time to test their printer.

For the WorkForce 1100 review, I upped the ante and even updated my machines from Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 as well as tested on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard to 10.6 Snow Leopard and went through over 300 pages of prints, tested different types of papers and really put the printer through its paces. And guess what? Epson has produced another printer that I actually like. From the drivers that actually tell you exact percentages of how much ink is left in the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black inkjet cartridges – which oddly enough, requires two black ink cartridges at all times, but the rest are single cartridges and tend to last very long. How long? I’m 3 months deep into this long-term review process and I’ve yet to replace my cartridges – they’re cruising at 62% full. Yep… I can tell you the exact percentage via the Epson drivers.

Note: Mac owners using 10.6.x, it’s best to download the newest drivers from Epson.com instead of using the CD-ROM that’s packaged alongside the Epson WorkForce 1100.

Since the WorkForce 1100 does not utilize ethernet or wi-fi connections, but via Windows Vista and Windows 7, it’s about three clicks worth of time to set up printer sharing within a workgroup or domain and using the attached computer as the print server. I attached the Epson WorkForce 1100 to a Windows Vista Business edition machine that’s connected to my network workgroup via wi-fi only, and proceeded to add the printer to a Windows 7 Ultimate edition machine in another room without incident. I then went to my Mac OS X 10.6.2 machine and found the printer via the machine that acted like a print server IP address. Again, about three mouseclicks worth of time. A total cinch to set up.

Now, with setup aside, what about the print quality? Epson boasts some impressive numbers on the widescreen format Epson WorkForce 1100:

Laser quality up to 2x faster
Large prints up to 13″ x 19″
Maximum 30 ppm black/17 ppm color
Laser quality 13 ppm/5.5 ppm

Yep, you read that right… 13 inches by 19 inches of bad boy printing ability up to 5760 by 1440 dpi. Let’s just say that my son will have some awesome new posters on his wall that I actually either have designed or approve at a moments notice – the larger prints also print quite fast too. Enough to satisfy an impatient 8 year old waiting on a print to come out. That’s fast enough for me.

Warm up time on the WorkForce 1100 is a bit long, but once it’s ready, you’ll be printing 8.5 inch by 11 inch print up to 30 pages per minute, or a page per two seconds. I was able to maintain that speed on paragraph and normal designed pages, but heavy art and/or layouts in Adobe InDesign that use clipping paths around photo objects and I was printing about 20 pages or so per minute. Not bad, but not spitting them out like a normal Microsoft Word document.

Now, the best part of Epson WorkForce 1100 has to be how fast it slips into “sleep mode”. Once you finish printing, it’s back to its slumber, saving you precious money from your energy bill per month. It’s already 70% less energy hungry than a laser printer, but it goes to standby which uses considerably less energy than while in use.

Sounding like I found another printer I like yet?

As a person that made the transition from a full-blown office worker to a small office/home office (SOHO) worker in the last year or so for the most part – I still have to travel for some clients – I found myself able to print large format prints, labels, impressive looking color images that would look just as good as a print as it does in Adobe Photoshop. I can print quickly, from any machine – I’ve walked in, powered up my laptop, joined my network and started printing in under 5 minutes – and in 3 months I’ve not had one paper jam. I do like how the WorkForce 600/610 do have ethernet and wi-fi capabilities, the large format printing capability and overall size of the WorkForce 1100 means that you will invariably find a place for it that’s not in the way and it’s going to stay there. So with that, I can overlook the lack of ethernet/wi-fi connectivity because it’s mated with a computer that I’ll be using and nearby usually for designs and prints. And if not, I can do as I’ve stated above and set up printer sharing in just a few moments.

Ok, ok… I really like the Epson WorkForce 1100. There, I said it.

The bad? Printers follow the modern day razor and razor blades analogy. For under $200 you can get the Epson WorkForce 1100, but within a year, you will have to purchase the black cartridges – which requires two of them – and the cyan, magenta and yellow cartridges. But Epson has made that part quite friendly since their printer drivers are real efficient. And to be honest, I truly recommend buying only Epson Durabrite brand cartridges if you want to keep up with accurate amounts of prints per cycle, how much ink is left in each cartridge, et al. That’s a nitpick that’s a necessary evil though. The printer cartridges do last quite a while though.

I’d recommend the Epson WorkForce 1100 to those folks that have found themselves needing large print formats. I’ve also print 4 x 5 photos, I’ve print many legal (8.5 inch by 14 inch) documents and switched up to the larger 13 inch by 19 inch and the WorkForce 1100 didn’t have a problem keeping up. By the way, the print in the picture is from Michel Keck’s awesome artwork [ view here ] – go buy some of his art. She’s awesome.

I know, I know. Two printers in two years that I’ve somehow began to like. Who knows… maybe my dislike for printers might be going away thanks to Epson – they’re helping forget my prior HP printer that was pure demonic. Due to the impressive print speed, quality and honestly, the drivers, the WorkForce 1100 is another quality Epson product, easily a 5 out of 5 (Highly Recommended for SOHO)

Update: Office Depot has a coupon that reduces the Epson WorkForce 1100 down from $200 to $130 via this coupon or $149 via the Epson website. Thought I’d pass along the savings!

[ Links: Epson, Epson 1100 Product Page, Epson 600 RTL Recommendation, Epson 310 AIO Announcement ]

Epson already produces a printer that made me overcome my absolute hate of anything printer related. My love for my Epson WorkForce 600 hasn’t waned at all.

Enter the Epson WorkForce 310.

Epson introduced the WorkForce 310 all-in-one ink jet printer ($129.99 estimated street price) for small businesses, delivering print speeds 2xs faster than competitive models and high quality output. The WorkForce 310 is equipped with a built-in Ethernet port for multi-user sharing, and can print wirelessly with a router. It also offers high-capacity inks (about 50% more prints per cartridge), uses 70% less energy than a laser printer is ENERGY STAR® qualified.

The Epson WorkForce 310 ($129.99 estimated street price) is currently available for “pre-order” for a limited time through Amazon.com, BestBuy.com and Fry’s Electronics. The WorkForce 310 will be available in June through major computer, office and electronic superstores, a variety of retail stores nationwide, mail order, PC manufacturers, the Internet, and Epson’s retail site, www.epsonstore.com.

Priced comfortably and an energy-saver too… nice.

But seriously. I want what that woman in that picture is having.

Thanks to the kind folks over at Epson, I’ve had this printer for a while, and given my normal dislike for printers, the Epson WorkForce 600 had a lot to prove. As a home office worker, if anything could stop my rampant visits to Kinko’s would be a welcome change. Nothing against Kinko’s… but the coffee there isn’t top notch. I like my own coffee maker at my home office much better.

So how good is the Epson WorkForce 600? I won’t be drinking any more Kinko’s coffee. Let’s start there.

As an all-in-one, historically they tend to get some things right, some things very wrong, or just forget what “all” really means. My old HP PSC 750 did copies, was a decent printer – as long as I didn’t print from Adobe Photoshop – and was quite sturdy. The scanner… eh. It scanned. Sometimes. And it was always tethered to the main machine. Oh… and it was huge. A lapbuster.

Now the Epson WorkForce 600 isn’t exactly a small little guy, but it’s not as heavy, therefore not as move-unfriendly as the PSC 750. It supports a few other things that the prior “all-in-one” I had also seemed to have forgotten; namely fax. Oh, and after you’ve installed the drivers on the main machine, set up takes only a few painless moments, you can use it’s built-in wifi connectivity too. Yes. I can place this thing where my aquarium used to be.

Talking about my missing aquarium – long story there – Epson uses the Dura-Bright Ink in individual cartridges. So if magenta runs out, you replace just magenta… not a combination of magenta/cyan/yellow, like my old HP PSC 750 forced me to. And the Epson Dura-Bright Ink is also water proof. Yes… water proof. Now if only I had the constant threat of my aquarium dumping water on my images… still though. The fact that the ink will quickly dry on matte, gloss, or special paper quickly and not run is something I never knew I missed until I got that feature.

The only con so far – and I’m finding this really a nitpick – is the fact that it has a very shiny black finish. It’s the same type of finish that’s on the fingerprint and dust magnet Sony Playstation 3. It looks great when clean, but now since I can place this thing where I wish, it means more use, thus more fingerprints and dust.

The print quality is a ton better than my prior printer. In fact, in a few cases, I’d almost call this near laser-quality. I saw some banding on some colors, but nowhere near the amount I had gotten used to. But legibility is tops. And I mean to the point I’ll not be ashamed of any prints that I take with me to meetings from home.

With a fax cache of 180 pages, it also feeds my need to use a fax machine. It has built-in double-sided printing. There’s a full-color 2.5 inch LCD that swivels out for better viewing to go along with the internal memory card reader so I can pop in my compact flash, SDHC card, from my camera and it reads from there without any issues. And I can print without even firing up the computer.

So let’s recap. The Epson WorkForce 600 is a darn good: printer, fax, copier. It connects to my network via ethernet, wi-fi, or connected to a computer via USB and shared that way. And it can copy up to 100 pages once I just set it and go. It has double-sided printing and an automatic feeder that can handle up to 30 pages. The ink cartridges are high capacity, water-proof and after a month of using this printer, the quality hasn’t dropped at all and I’ve gone through a full ream of high-quality ink-jet paper.

And most importantly, it will keep me from drinking that yucky coffee at Kinkos.

Yes. I like a printer. There, I said it. And your home office warrior in your life will also like it too – 4.5 out of 5 (“A Must Buy”).

For more information about the WorkForce 600 please click here.

Right now, at Epson and Amazon both have this normally (list price) $200.00 – $280.00 printer for the low price of $149.99. Jump on it. Epson’s instant $50.00 off special is located here and Amazon’s special price – you have to add it to your cart to see the price – is located here.

[ Amazon ] [ Epson ] [ Epson WorkForce 600 ]

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Prior RTL* Last Second Shopper Gift Guide Options:

• #6 – Oral-B Triumph 9900 with SmartGuide
• #7 – Mint DS 220 iPod Dock and Wireless Receiver
• #8 – Microsoft Blue Track Explorer Mouse
• #9 – KOR ONE Water Hydration Vessel
• #10 – Nike Zoom Potro PrizeFlight Premium
• #11 – Tank Theory Dungeons Belt Buckle
• #12 – Vaja Case iVolution Case for the Apple iPhone3G

Epson America Inc. today announced three new sub-$100 ink jet all-in-ones designed to satisfy the printing, scanning, copying, and faxing needs of any busy household. Joining the popular Epson Stylus® NX400, the new Epson Stylus NX300, NX200 and NX100 offer an ideal combination of easy-to-use features, outstanding performance, and creative tools coupled with brilliant results on plain, photo or specialty papers with Epson’s reliable, all-pigment DURABrite® Ultra inks for prints that dry instantly, are smudge and water resistant, and are highlighter-friendly.

“The entry-level Epson Stylus NX series is designed to meet basic printing needs of busy and creative households, especially those looking for products loaded with features to print, scan, copy, and even fax, and that are easy on the wallet,” said Kristi Lanzit Fox, product manager, Consumer Ink Jets, Epson. “All of the products in the Epson Stylus NX series offer more impressive features, superior quality and performance, and an overall better value compared to any of the competitive products at the same price points, including fast print speeds, high quality scanners, and a larger LCD on the Epson NX400.”

The 4-in-1 Epson Stylus NX300 is Epson’s first ever sub-$100 all-in-one with fax and an Auto Document Feeder (ADF), making it an ideal productivity machine for the home. Its fast black draft print speeds and 30-page ADF help consumers easily copy stacks of pages automatically, saving time and increasing efficiency. The Epson NX300’s high-speed faxing includes convenient features, such as individual and 60-number group speed-dial lists, automatic redial, auto answer, and up to 100 pages of fax memory. Additionally, the Epson NX300 includes ABBYY FineReader® OCR software, allowing users to quickly convert printed documents into editable text.

The Epson Stylus NX100 and NX200 all-in-ones deliver crisp documents, vibrant photos, and useful scan and copy capabilities for a wide variety of everyday printing, scanning and copying needs at exceptionally reasonable prices. The Epson NX100 prints up to 26 ppm for black text documents, while the Epson NX200 produces even faster black and color documents at up to 32 ppm. In addition, the Epson NX200 adds card slots and PictBridge compatibility for PC-Free photo printing.

Read more about this new line of printers from the Epson All-In-One Printer website.