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The last printer that won me over was the Epson WorkForce 600, which now has been replaced by the Epson WorkForce 610.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 ]

HP announced the launch of its eco-friendly ‘HP Designjet L25500 Printer’ in Korea market, which is designed for ease-of-use and available in 42- and 60-inch models. Especially the HP Designjet L25500 Printer utilizes HP’s Latex Printing Technologies to deliver unrivaled versatility for a wide range of large format applications. Offering print service providers with print durability comparable to eco-solvent inks, the HP Designjet L25500 enables users to significantly reduce the impact of printing on the environment, and increase customer value.

The new HP printer is the ideal solution for small and medium digital print and sign shops, as well as copy shops and photo labs.

Link to the original article…

Hey, looks like LightScribe has come out with an even cooler way to label your disks.

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling today announced the launch of the LightScribe Design Center, a free resource available on www.lightscribe.com offering more than 400 CD/DVD labeling designs with themes such as weddings, music, gifts, travel, photography and business. Anyone owning a LightScribe-enabled computer or external CD or DVD burner can visit the LightScribe Design Center, explore free designs by theme and immediately create visually striking full disc designs – complete with personalized photos and text.

In addition to offering hundreds of designs free of charge, the LightScribe Design Center has the following CD/DVD labeling resources:

Photo Labeling Center: Customer can combine digital photos with text to create personalized and one-of-a-kind disc designs.

Disc Sleeve Designer: With this easy to use tool, customers create vibrant customized designs for jewel cases and disc sleeves by choosing a background, dragging art, adding text, and printing.

Creative Extras: Customers can design labels with themes that include creative extras like matching mailers and custom cards. Users can create printable mailers in minutes.

Find out more over at LightScribe’s website.

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.

Thanks to the kind folks at Dymo, they sent along a Dymo DiscPainter for review. I decided to take my time, get to know the printer, compare it to my other disc labeling hardware like my internal LightScribe drive in PC, Avery Ink Jet disc labels, and of course my all-time favorite disc labeling “tool”… my trusty Sharpie permanent marker that I’ve been using for years.

After over a week of rigorously using the Dymo DiscPainter… I have a new favorite.

Enter the Dymo DiscPainter. It’s no bigger than a small shoebox; with a higher back part that conceals ink cartridge. In fact, I’ll have to admit it sorta looks like a mixture of the Atari Jaguar CD and a toilet stool.

Ok, bad jokes aside. Inside the box, you’ll find the typical things… USB connector, power supply, software, a few blank printable CD-R’s, a Dymo ink jet cartridge and a “Quick Start” pamphlet. I started this install originally in Vista then moved over to my aging Mac. Both systems installed in a relatively quick time, prompted me to register on the first start up of the software; I was up and running from disc install to print in less than 10 minutes.

Things could have gone a tad bit faster if I had realized that I had to add the printer to list of installed printers on the machine before trying to print a disc. That small part should be common sense; however it is a very small omission from the instructions that might confuse a few if they don’t logically think things through.

So manually flip open the bottom part of the printer, the part with the clear acrylic window, and pop in a printable CD face up, data side down and then open up the Discus application in order to start the printing process. The application, on both Vista and Mac looks surprisingly the same.

Open up the application (here’s the fullsized image from above), choose a template or create your own from your own images: jpg, png, bmp, among a few others. In this example, I used a 1600 pixels by 1200 pixels at 72dpi Photoshop document that I had created a while back for a calendar image, exported out to *.png.

The Discus for Dymo application also includes the ability to add filenames via iTunes, (Mac) Toast, Dragon Burn or even adding/synchronizing via tab delimited files. On Vista, it picked up my iTunes application, and offered to import filenames from iTunes or a tab delimited file to allow printing of those aforementioned filenames on the face of the CD.

In goes a blank white, printable CD-R and the process is surprisingly fast. If you’re a LightScribe user, you know that once you up the quality to high, and just use text and perhaps a high-contrast image, it can take upwardly to 18 minutes just to “print” using LightScribe and that’s not including burning the disc. By average, a picture via the Dymo DiscPainter at the best quality took about 3 minutes, tops. Seriously… 3 minutes. And it’s totally dry, huggable touchable once you take it out.

So… remember that trusty ol’ Sharpie permanent pen that you probably are still using like I used to?

Perfect each time too. Much unlike the messy Avery labels that require that applicator that haphazardly presses a disc down onto a label that sometimes might leave unsightly bubbles under the label – no matter how hard you press down, you still might get a bubble or two. And in a slot loaded drive, that’s something that might get stuck on entry or ejection. And the labels sometimes separate from the disc even while laying around… creating a sticky, nasty mess. Needless to say, printing directly onto a disc alleviates the fear of label separation.

The cons? There’s always a few.

The printer capacity is only one disc at a time. There is no stack loading, no way to just print and forget about it. If you’re used to burning discs in your internal drives, this is not any different. Another minus would be the fact that you’re likely going to be buying more cartridges very soon, and they’re not normally in your Walmart or the such. But the cartridges are at your favorite online places like Amazon and B&H Photo, as well as the Dymo website among others.

The fact that the drive is not internal could be seen as a negative as well. And it will add another USB and plug-in to the wall socket as well. So if you’re a geek like me – printer, VoIP phone, printer, iPhone and charger, external USB hard drives (three of them), and a charger for my OQO 01+… not including the charger for the rechargeable batteries for my mouse… no wonder my electric bill stays high! – you get the point. Just keep that in mind if you have a cluttered desk already.

All in all, the Dymo DiscPainter is worth every penny for a printer only. There’s no optical burner; however this is a full-color printer mind you. No longer do I have to try to read my horrible writing (see image above) and my discs are nice and labeled.

Despite the one at a time method attached to the Dymo DiscPainter, it’s a recommended buy if you’re a disc backing up fool like I am. Perhaps for once I can locate a disc by sight alone now. And with the software abilities to add filenames from other 3rd party applications like iTunes and other applications, that level of integration makes even my rigorous backup routine fun, colorful and easy to sort out at a later date. Check out the Dymo website for more information.

Recommended.