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The HP DesignJets are workhorses - I'd say you'd do very well with a new one. I also believe the 60-inch DesignJet from MSU Printing Services might still be available for purchase through Surplus Store - it's not the newest unit ever but it was in good condition when I last worked with it and it comes with a whole boatload of paper and UV ink. ---- Jack Kramer Computer Systems Specialist University Relations, Michigan State University w: 517-884-1231 / c: 248-635-4955 > From: Gary Schrock <[log in to unmask]> > Reply-To: Gary Schrock <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2010 12:36:00 -0400 > To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: [MSUNAG] large format printer (plotter) recommendations? > > Ok, our old DesignJet 1050c printer has finally reached the end (after a > temperamental last year or two), so we're looking at replacing this. > Anyone have any thoughts on what a decent large format printer is these > days? > > We're certainly not a large volume printer, I'd say we print between 100 > and 200 posters a year, and I'd say at least 95% of what we're printing > is posters for conferences that our faculty and grad students are > attending. These posters tend to be largely text based, with some line > or bar graphs on them. Sometimes they have some photos (and when they > do, we need a fairly decent reproduction of those). We've had enough > requests for something a little wider than 36" such that we'd like to > get at least a 42" printer (and quite frankly, anything wider than that > is probably out of our budget). > > We do know about the services offered by the library for printing these, > but we're still interested in keeping this in house (and the library > looks like they can only do up to 36", which while for most things is > ok, it's still something we'd like to be able to go above > periodically). Our last printer lasted us somewhere between 6 and 10 > years (long enough that we honestly can't remember exactly when it was > purchased), so over time I think we do enough printing to justify having > it in-house. (And of course, over the years it's something that our > users have gotten used to having available.) > > At this point, I've been kind of leaning towards the 44 inch models of > either the HP T770 or T1200 printers, but I'm wondering if anyone has > any thoughts on either these models, or other models that I should > consider. I'd say the upper limit of what we're really looking to pay > would be about $10k. Our secretarial staff does most of the printing > (and changing paper, ink, etc), so something that's reasonably easy to > work with is a plus too (the old 1050c that we had was fine, so as long > as it wasn't worse than something like that). > > Any thoughts? > > Thanks, > Gary