Four Things You Need to Know Before Buying a Wide-Format Printer

Before you buy a wide-format printer, or a large-format printer for that matter, there are a few factors that you need to consider before you make your purchase. As you know, these special printers are not inexpensive and they require an entirely different kind of inks, printer mediums and accessories. It is a must that you find the wide-format printer or large-format printer that works for you and your business and is sustainable for you to maintain so that you can get the most out of it in the long run.

So, what do you need to know before buying a wide-format printer or a large-format printer? There are a good number of factors that can come into play when you consider your purchase, but here are at least four things that you need to think about. These four things are your company's needs and working conditions, the kind of ink and media products required to operate the printer, the extra software you may have to have, and the product support available.

Your Company Needs and Working Conditions

Before you make an investment on an expensive and specialized printer like a wide-format printer, you need to know if your company really needs it and if you can manage its operation on a long-term basis. A lot of these printers require a special environment for it to work.

So, if you are going to buy a wide-format printer, you would need to consider if you can provide a space in your premises where you can control environmental factors such as heat, humidity and dust.

Also, you would need to determine who the printouts you will be producing will be for. Will your clients be students and ordinary consumers? Or will they be companies that require a higher degree of quality from the printouts, such as museums, engineering firms and the like?

Special Inks and Media for the Printer

Many large-format printers and wide-format printers use inks and toners with different formulations. Also, while some printers are versatile, there are others that work only with paper, some with cloth, some with vinyl and other such printing media. It is a must for you to know which materials the printer you are thinking of buying work with to see if you can afford them in the long run.

A great way to do research on what inks and printer media you should buy is to attend trade shows. A word of warning, though: Do not always believe what you see in trade shows. Many of the people managing booths in trade shows use tricks and gimmicks to make the products they are marketing look better than they really are.

Additional Software and Accessories

When you buy a wide-format printer or a large-format printer, you may need to buy extra accessories as well as software to make the most out of your printer. Basic printer accessories that you must have would be a laminator and a cutter. A laminator makes your printouts look more gorgeous as well as protects them from scratching and fading. Cutters help you trim the edges of your printouts more neatly.

You will also need a raster image processor or RIP, color management software and probably a spectrophotometer. RIPs make sure that your files will be rendered accurately by the printer. Color management software and spectrophotometers ensure the accuracy of the colors and shading on the printouts.

Available Product Support

It is very, very important that when you buy a wide-format or large-format printer that the dealer or the manufacturer from which you will be buying it offers product support. You will need this product support, one way or another, in the course of your using the printer.

This is the reason why you should be wary of buying your wide-format printers or large-format printers from a cheap source. Many dealers that offer cheap specialized printers do not offer product support. They just deliver the product to you and you will not hear from them again.

Also, before you buy a wide-format printer or a large-format printer, make sure that the dealer or manufacturer you are getting it from has a decent return policy. This is your protection in case the printers are not working as they should.

This Article is written by John C Arkin from PrintCountry the contributor of PrintCountry Articles. More information on the subject is at PrintCountry, and related resources can be found at Printer Inks.

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The Top Nine Brands For Wide-Format Printers - What Are They?

When you are in the market for wide-format printers, whether for business or for personal use, which printer manufacturers should you turn to in order to find the kind of printer that you want? Here are nine of the top companies in the printing industry that produce wide-format printers.

1. Canon. Canon is already one of the leading manufacturers of desktop printers and other similar equipment. For the wide-format printer arena, it offers the imagePROGRAF line of printers, with the 5-color printers for general and technical printing and the 12-color printers for the creation of digital photos and fine art. Sizes vary from 17 inches to 60 inches.

2. Epson. Epson's line of wide-format printers is called the Epson Stylus Pro. These printer models come in compact sizes 17 inches wide, as well as in 64 inches. These printer models are mostly for creating signage and digital photo prints. Epson also has solvent printer models.

3. Hewlett-Packard. HP is a major player in the printer arena with its HP Designjet series of printers. This series has entry models that are priced low enough for printing high-quality photo prints and digital fine art at home, as well as high-end models for commercial and corporate printing needs. Sizes vary from 24 inches to 60 inches.

4. Kodak. Under its subsidiary company, Encad, Inc., Kodak also offers wide-format known in the market as the NovaJet printers. The NovaJet printers have 8-color and 4-black Kodak cartridge systems that promise to print out high quality graphic files on a variety of media, as well as AutoCADD printouts.

5. Mimaki. Mimaki is a Japanese printer manufacturer that truly specializes on wide-format printers. The company's printers are not for entry-level users but are rather for professionals, such as artists and photographers who want to create their own printouts. The Mimaki brand of printers is also known in their versatility in that the models can use almost any kind of printer ink without displaying a lot of problems.

6. Mutoh. Mutoh is another printer manufacturer that fully focuses on providing commercial wide-format. The printers that Mutoh provides can work with different kinds of printer inks such as solvent and water-based ink, as well as with different kinds of printing technologies like direct textile printing, dye sublimation and UV curing.

7. Oce. For high-speed solutions to commercial printing needs, Oce has a number of products available for monochrome and color CADD printing, as well as for monochrome and color graphics and photo printing.

8. Roland. Roland also specializes in various commercial printing solutions. The company has many different lines of wide-format printers for printing signage for use in both indoor and outdoor settings. Printer sizes range from 30 inches to 104 inches and some models have built-in cutters.

9. Yuhan-Kimberly. If you are looking for a wide-format printer for textiles, you may want to give Yuhan-Kimberly a serious thought. This Korea-based printer manufacturer is a leader in textile printing, and its printers can work with textiles for fashion and apparel as well as with interior decorating.

This Article is written by John C Arkin from PrintCountry the contributor of PrintCountry Articles. More information on the subject is at PrintCountry, and related resources can be found at Kodak Cartridge.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.