Advantages: Prints are massive and very high quality Disadvantages: Big initial outlay - unlikely to be useful for the average home user.
In the past when we have needed large format prints e.g. for health promotion campaign posters we have either done them by hand or outsourced them. Doing them by hand might sound like the cheapest option and its okay for one-offs but anything more than that has real costs in terms of ?man? hours. Outsourcing also has expensive costs and is only worth doing when you want a lot as this brings the cost per sheet down.
Due to budget restraints we have had to think much more carefully about how we spend our money and how we can also generate more income. This is the main reason we started to cost oversized printers. These have always tended to be expensive as they were aimed mainly at the commercial market but are now much more reasonable. We decided to buy the HPDesignJet 130, A1 Inkjet Printer mainly due to its price but also because ...
Advantages: Prints upto A1 size, looks ok Disadvantages: Eats coloured ink cartridges
The HPdesignJet printer, was purchase from the dreaded PC world complete with stand.
**Looks**
It's about 1500mm wide, so it's not suitable for a standard PC desk.
It has a 50mm x 40mm display with three easy to push buttons.
It has an ocean blue strip on the lid and the receiver tray is the same colour.
The large lid lifts to show the internal parts, all printing stops if this is lifted - good safety feature.
To the right hand side is where the cartridges are held.
The stand is an optional extra but well worth it as it takes up a lot of room. This is matt dark grey, with a foldable paper catcher. The catcher is ideal for large A1 prints when leaving the room. (This is because if the prints fall the paper becomes creased, no good for issuing to others)
***Cartridges***
This printer takes an array of cartridges ...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
With some printers and plotters you have a bit of a nightmare installing drivers and trying to make them work. Using the HP driver site is a doddle and the plotter is up and running in no time at all.
Using the correct driver, printing is instant and you can have a mono A1 plan printed in under a minute.
Printing graphics and photos is slightly different. I'd recommend using an application such as PosterJet RIP which will spool directly to the plotter and make printing much easier than using the normal print dialogue - where sometimes the plotter will hang with large graphics files.
The plotter has a small screen with buttons and a menu to browse through - all the usual options you would expect to see are there including print queue etc. You can cancel prints and move prints around in the queue which is very useful.
Consumables ...
Software and devices that carry the Works with Windows Vista logo have been tested for baseline compatibility with PC's running.
Consumables Included
1 x ink cartridge ( black ) - 69 ml
3 x ink cartridge ( colour ) - 69 ml, 3 x ink cartridge ( colour ) - 69 ml
1 x ink cartridge ( black ) - 69 ml
Compliant Standards
CE, FCC Class B certified, CSA, VCCI, BSMI, GOST, CCIB, DOC-B, NOM, PCBC, Plug and Play
Pricing Type
Remarketed
Included Accessories
Cutter, spindle
Mounting Kit
Included
Power
Power Device
Power supply - integrated, Power supply - internal
Voltage Required
AC 110/220 V ± 10%, AC 100/240 V ± 10%, AC 120/230 V
Frequency Required
50/60 Hz
Power Consumption Operational
150 Watt
Compliant Standards
EPA Energy Star
Software / system requirements
Software Included
Drivers & Utilities, Drivers & Utilities, ZEHRaster Plus, ZEHRaster Plus
OS Required
Apple MacOS 8.1 or later, Microsoft Windows 2000 / NT4.0, UNIX, Apple MacOS 8.1 or later, Microsoft Windows 2000 / NT4.0
Peripheral / Interface Devices
CD-ROM, USB port, parallel port
Manufacturer warranty
Service & Support
1 year warranty
Service & Support Details
Limited warranty - parts and labour - 1 year - on-site, Limited warranty - 1 year
Environmental parameters
Min Operating Temperature
15 °C, 5 °C
Max Operating Temperature
40 °C, 35 °C
Humidity Range Operating
15 - 80%, 20 - 80%
Sound Emission
52 dBA, 65 dB
Max Altitude Operating
3 km
Sound Emission (Operating)
65 dBA
Manufacturer's product description
Busy workgroups want large-format prints fast - and HP DesignJet 800 Series printers deliver clear, crisp images with rich, true colors and uncompromising image quality - print after print. HP DesignJet 800 Series printers are network-ready, and contain a "virtual computer" inside, which boosts productivity by doing all of the file processing work - freeing up the computer quickly. Architectural firms, engineering departments and other technical groups rely on the HP DesignJet 800 printer for fast, accurate illustrations, precise line drawings, and high-resolution renderings.