#Do U Like your DeskJet?
32 messages in this thread
After watching laser printer prices dropping (but not far enough) the last
few years, I'm thinking of taking the Deskjet plunge. I don't know if
some threads have already been written on the subject of the Amiga's
drivers and the DJ, but I'd like to find out how well the printer works
with the Amiga.
I'm mostly using ProWrite and PPage and hoping to see excellent output.
Any comments about the speed, quality, compatibility, etc. on the Deskjet
would be MUCH appreciated. (BTW, are any special cables required?)
*** jd, using AP from LA, CA!
John,
What version of the operating system will you be using? Under the 2.0 and
later versions of the OS the outline font support will allow you to get
exceptional output. Under the 1.2 and 1.3 versions of the OS high quality
printing would be limited to double the screen density.
With the exception of the A1000 the deskjet works with normal industry
standard cables and gives you a choice of ports, though the parallel port
is much preferred.
Also which model of the DeskJet are you considering. The 500C and 550C both
have special issues regarding drivers primarily associated with the way
color support has been implemented.
Hope this helps.
Randy Brooks
New Horizons Software, Inc.
Randy,
I'm running ADOS 2.04 only (haven't gotten the upgrade at this point). At
this point, I'm mainly considering the b/w 500, not one of the color
models. Is the best b/w DeskJet 500 driver on one of the 2.04 disks?
Thanks for your help…
*** jd, using AP from LA, CA!
John,
See if you can get hold of a driver called SG_HewlettPackard by a Swedish
bloke but can't remember his name. Anyway, it got rid of the A4 paper
printing problem if you use A4 that is. Seemed a better driver than those
available from C= at the time.
If you want this driver let me know and I'll upload it.
Pete from Dorset in Englands West Country – via Whap!
Pete,
Thanks for the offer, but I'm doing practically all my printing on US
Letter…
*** jd, using AP from LA, CA!
John, I just bought the 500C the other day, and have run some tests with
it using the C= "beta test" 500C driver that is in the Data Libraries
here. For what I have done with it, I have been rather impressed by its
output, although I think that the paper I bought for it (Xerox 4200 20lb
copy paper) is not the ideal type to use, but it was 500 sheets for $3!
..<g>
When printing color graphics, the 500C makes black by combining the three
ink colors (magenta, cyan, yellow) and this results in a dark
greenish-grey tone, that is not pure black, but close. Aside from paper
absorption of the ink on the Xerox paper, which results in a small amount
of "smudge" along the fibers of the paper, visible if you look at the page
from a distance of 6" or less, the B&W output of the printer is very
sharp, nearly laser quality. I have not used the correct paper reccomended
yet (a sample of which is included in the box), but I have seen printouts
made with this paper using the 500 / 500C and you would be hard-pressed to
distinguish it from a laser printer. Color performance is surprizingly
good on the cheap paper, but for really vibrant colors (and lack of paper
saturation) it is best to go with the clay-coated paper.
In addition, the "Draft" quality mode of this printer is better than most
dot-matrix printer's "NLQ" modes, so I intend to use the "draft" mode for
most text uses, not to mention the fact that it saves ink.
I think that for the price it is currently selling for (about $499) the
500C is an excellent value. The 550C is nice, but it is over $750, and for
that price, you can get a laser printer, is you can live without the
color. I wanted a general-purpose printer that offered laser-quality text
and graphics, and the 500C adds the bonus of color (the machine CAN do
color and BLACK text on the same page — it will prompt you to change the
cartridge) for a small price. I'm happy I got it.
— Dave
<continued>
Dave,
About a month ago I got a 550C from BizMart. The price was $750 — the
500C was selling for $399. I went with the 550C because of the greenish
blacks given by the 500C (when using the color cart). The reason I didn't
go with a laser is because if I were to get a laser it _must_ have
postscript. The NEC 95 was about twice the price. At $399 for the 500C
or $750 for the 550C I can't think of anything else you could get at 4-5
times the price that would give you better quality output.
-sja
Steve,
$399 for the 500C? Am I reading correctly? The PC rags here in LA have
been listing the printer for $499 and the 500 for $350 as the best prices,
and I thought they were a pretty good indication!
Where are you and BizMart located?
*** jd, using AP from LA, CA!
John,
I'm in Denver — BizMart is a national chain, recently purchased by K-Mart.
They carry clones, Macs, and HP printers.
Steve,
Thanks. I don't see any listings in Southern CA, I wonder if BizMart does
mailorder?
*** jd, using AP from LA, CA!
One thing – for just about every aspect of your computer's operation, it's
important to get the upgrade. Everything seems faster to me…..Nancy
Nancy,
I assume you're talking about the ADOS 2.1 upgrade. You feel it makes
everything run faster? What kind of machine are you running on, and what
operations are most noticeably faster?
*** jd, using AP from LA, CA!
John,
I bought the 550C locally for $699 (it's dropped to $675 recently) and
love it, even though my 500C driver still makes blacks by combining all
three colors. I'm still waiting for a better PD driver to appear, but
isn't stopping me from really enjoying this printer!
Karl
John,
The 2.0 driver will work fine for the BW DeskJet.
Randy Brooks
New Horizons Software, Inc.
I own a deskjet 500 printer that I am very happy with. You have to decide
what you want out of a printer to decide if it is the right one for YOUR
needs – which may be different than mine.
I already had a fairly quick dot matrix for high volume draft documents
and program listings, etc. I wanted another printer for good quality low
volume output volume but could not justify the costs of a laser printer
(both initial and the costs of consumables) for my needs.
(Actually according to a printer review I read when I was look for a new
printer, the cost per page is a bit higher for the DeskJet than for a
laser printer. Since I only produce low volumes of output I figured the
cost savings between a laser printer and the deskjet would buy a LOT of
ink cartridges!) For informational purposes, I'd suggest checking out the
printer review issues of PC Magazine at your local library.
The choice of paper used is the most important factor in how good the
output will look. No matter what paper I use, if you look REAL close you
can see some minor bleeding of the ink into the paper. Now I am being
ULTRA picky here, but I want my resume to be perfect! For everything
except resumes I am very satisfied with my DJ 500.
Note that you are not supposed to use laser printer labels in the deskjet.
It does feed business-sized envelopes but note that it has a minimum 1/2
inch left margin. This is OK if you are using pre-printed stationary that
already has a return address but not so OK if you want to print your own
return address. Personally I just live with the annoying 1/2" of
whitespace. A laser printer can typically feed envelopes length wise so
this is not an issue for them.
I don't make much use of the built-in fonts, preferring the excellent soft
fonts that come with Final Copy. The printer is very quiet when in
operation which is nice. It is not a fast printer but in my case I have a
dot matrix for fast output.
I recall that I paid close to $400 for my DJ500 several years ago. Today
<continued>
however, I would give serious consideration to saving longer and
purchasing a low-end laser printer.
Good Luck!
-J
One of the replys to your message about the DeskJet said you are not
supposed to use laser printer labels. I was not aware of that. I often use
Avery Laser Printer Labels 5160 (a sheet with 30 1" by 2 5/8" labels). In
fact it says right on the cover of the box "Runs in HP DeskJet too!"
Don …via AutoPilot
John;
Jay's comments on your question are very good. I'll only add that I also
have a DeskJet 500C and am quite pleased with it's performance. I also
use an HP-4M laser printer and have used several other laser printers. I
have actually mixed up pages from one of the other laser printers with
output from the DeskJet and had trouble determining which was which. This
happened to me while I was still scoffing at those that said that you
could not get laser quality from anything but a laser printer.
Paper is absolutely vital! You can always tell if you examine the papers
with a magnifying glass but I don't know too many people that read using
one. The DeskJet, in my case, was intended to serve two needs. Both of
which it does admirably; Provide some color printing capability and
provide portability. One does not want to ship a laser printer around, it
real messy. The color printing serves my needs (color graphics) but I am
not too impressed with the color capability as far as pictures and the
like.
-bill
Bill,
Thanks to you (and Jay) for your responses. A couple of friends have
suggested going for color with the 500C/550C, although I'm not much of a
graphics person.
I thought the 550C added a black jet, assuming this wasn't on the 500C,
and that the 500C wasn't as good with black. Is this true? It doesn't
sound like you have complaints about b/w output.
I could probably get a laser for the cost of the 550C (over $700) so I
don't think I'll be that interested in the newest model if that is
required.
*** jd, using AP from LA, CA!
John,
Just my quick penny worth. The DJ550C has 2 carts, 1 colour and 1
black..proper black. The old 500C made up black with the 3 primary colurs
but it wasn't very good, more like a very very dark greenish/grey.
It may well be a good idea to get a laser printer if you really don't want
or need the colour. I had a 500C but soon sold it and bought a Ricoh LP100
laser. Very good indeed, 2mb ram as std and about 6ppm. Cost me 699pounds
so expect it would cost you a lot less.
Pete from Dorset in Englands West Country – via Whap!
John;
The 500 uses a different cart. for Black only operation and this cart. is
just fine. The problem occurs when trying to do Black in a color drawing,
then the Black is somewhat brown.
-bill
Bill,
Thanks for making that distinction for the 500C. I'm not planning to
spend any more than $500 on my next printer (leaving out the 550C and most
lasers), and since *most* of my printing would be black, it seemed like an
unnecessary expense to use up 3 jets trying to print most of my printing.
Knowing the jets can be switched to use black when everything on a page
makes more sense (for my purposes), and is probably how I would use it
most of the time.
*** jd, using AP from LA, CA!
John:
If you're mostly interested in printing black, then you should really
think about just getting a plain (black only) DJ500, as they're MUCH
cheaper than any of the color models. I've seen them selling as low as
$299.00 at some of the larger warehouse type stores around here.
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
John;
I think I was clear on that, but not being positive…. The 550 has both
black and color carts mounted at the same time. Thus is does not try to
print black by mixing colors, a vast improvement when printing a color
image that needs black.
The 500 takes either cart but will not ask for the black cart when
printing in color. For my own use, I just design whatever it is that I am
printing so that the color work does not use much black and will not look
bad (now that's an opinion for ya) if the black is not quite black.
I switch drivers to do black only printing (and the printer will then ask
to have the color cart replaced if it is still in the machine).
As I said before, I use an HP-4M for the vast majority of my work but do
not have any problem with running a little job through the DeskJet. It
really is a very nice printer and particularly so for black and white
stuff if you choose your paper with care. Indeed, I really have had
trouble determining which was which a couple of times. It was actually
necessary to get a magnifying glass to determine whether a particular page
was printed on the DeskJet or a laser (not the HP-4M of course but another
300 dpi laser).
It is my opinion that if you need to do high quality work, don't need real
high throughput and either your originals do not need to be particularly
durable or you can copy the originals on a very good quality copier then
the DeskJet 500 will be an excellent choice.
-bill
Bill: Which paper do you find gives the best quality output on the
DeskJet?
— Dave
Dave;
I use Hammermill Laser Plus and more recently Weyerhauser First Choice
Item 1177. These are both excellent papers for laser printers also.
-bill
The Deskjet works well with the Amiga. I have used one since they first
came out. It works great with ProPage. I expect it works fine with
ProWrite as long as it utilizes outline fonts. I have actually worn out my
Deskjet as I have used it every day for the three-four years it has been
available. This is not to say it is fragile. It has printed umpteen
cartridges without a hitch until lately. It is out for repair right now
but I expect it will be back in action (in another office) for a few more
seasons. I did replace it with a LJ4M.
It is not very fast for DTP output but the quality is good. For regular
text printing it is pretty quick at 240cps for a very nice draft mode. I'm
not sorry I bought it and it was around $800 (!!!) when I got it.
Goin' AP6
…..Mark Sterling6
Mark,
Thanks to you and the others for all of your help. Could you take a guess
how long it takes to print a single page at 300 dpi from PPage? (I once
borrowed an LJ IIP and PPage took about 10-15 mins on my unaccelerated
machine, but the results were great!).
*** jd, using AP from LA, CA!
I would guess the limiting factor on an unaccellerated machine to be the
machine and not the printer. On a faster machine it is definitely the
printer and the Deskjet is certainly slower than the LJ IIP. I would
usually get a full page letter from PPage, my A2500/020 and the DJ in
about 5 minutes.
Goin' AP6
…..Mark Sterling6
John,
Print times should be comparable for the DeskJet and the LaserJet since the
amount of processing in either event is the same and the data transmitted
to the printers is comparable (if not identical) blank space on the page
will decrease print times accordingly.
Randy Brooks
New Horizons Software, Inc.
I have had a deskjet for about 6 months and it works quite well. I use it
with PPage as a preview printer, then save to PostScript for high quality
printing I understand that WB 2.1 has a beter printer driver than 2.04
which i am using. 300 dpi mode is SLOW with a 7 mHz 68010.
dBrown