What printer should I buy?

This one. (The Epson 3880).

Far, far too many students have wished they'd purchased a 3800 or 3880 the first time. Unlike the cameras in the previous post, I've not purchased one myself — but I trust the POV of dozens of design students who have chimed in and noted that the money you save on a less expensive printer (1400-series, 2000-series) will be lost two-fold in the cost of inks. The 3800-series printers have larger ink cartridges and the price-per-drop is less. Given that ink (and paper) costs will eventually eclipse the cost of the printer, this is noteworthy.

Why Epson? Simply because they work well. They've delivered the best and easiest to use inkjet system (profiles, ink and paper) and have been doing so since I bought my first 1200. Plus, when you have the same printer as your classmates, there's a community to help out should something go haywire (or if you run out of ink at 3AM).

Granted this is also something that you might be able to co-op (share) with your friends and/or classmates as it's not something that will be running 24/7.

However, we'd love to hear more. Students — what have your experiences been when buying and using printers? Leave comments below so that they can be saved in a single, threaded discussion.

(Update for SP16: Epson updated their product line, but the logic still remains... the larger printers = better in the long run. The P800 is the replacement for the 3800/3880...)

Comments

[Carl Lovén]

As for printer I am very happy with my 3800, it is a great machine and does everything to the dot. And as you write, you ”save” ink, to what extent I do not know but I think it is somewhere in-between a few dollars/cents, mainly a marketing gimmick though.

That said, it is a terrible machine for the un-techie person really. I would not call myself any kind of expert but it really took me a while to understand the art of printing, how to use the paper profiles, and how to match my screens with the printer. And the Wi-Fi. Just do not use it simply. A 11x17 print for me can take anywhere between 12-30 minutes depending on size and wifi connection.

All and all I would recommend this printer, but for first semester I think more people should share one together, seeing as I mainly used my cheap Epson XP410 for most work.