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 ...
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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 ...
1 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45
1 x Hi-Speed USB
Miscellaneous
Included Accessories
Spindle, stand
Cables Included
1 x USB cable
Consumables Included
1 x ink cartridge ( light cyan ) - 69 ml
1 x ink cartridge ( light magenta ) - 69 ml
1 x ink cartridge ( light grey ) - 69 ml
1 x ink cartridge ( photo black ) - 69 ml
1 x ink cartridge ( cyan ) - 69 ml
1 x ink cartridge ( magenta ) - 69 ml
1 x ink cartridge ( yellow ) - 69 ml
1 x ink cartridge ( matte black ) - 69 ml
Media Included
Roll of media
Works with Windows Vista
Software and devices that carry the Works with Windows Vista logo have been tested for baseline compatibility with PC's running.
Compliant Standards
CSA, VCCI, BSMI, GOST, BSMI CNS 13438 Class B, CCC, DOC, PSB, MIC, MOC, FCC, IEC 60950-1, EN 60950-1
Power
Power Device
Power supply - internal
Voltage Required
AC 120/230 V
Frequency Required
50/60 Hz
Power Consumption Operational
200 Watt
Power Consumption Stand by / Sleep
43 Watt
Software / system requirements
OS Required
Apple MacOS X 10.2, Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP, Apple MacOS X 10.3, Apple MacOS X 10.4 or later
System Requirements Details
MacOS X 10.2 - PowerPC G4 - RAM 1 GB - HD 2 GB
MacOS X 10.3 - PowerPC G4 - RAM 1 GB - HD 2 GB
MacOS X 10.4 or later - PowerPC G4 - RAM 1 GB - HD 2 GB
Windows 2000/XP - Pentium 4 - 3 GHz - RAM 1 GB - HD 2 GB
Environmental standards
EPA Energy Star Compliant
Yes
Manufacturer warranty
Service & Support
1 year warranty
Service & Support Details
Limited warranty - parts and labour - 1 year - on-site - response time: next business day
Environmental parameters
Min Operating Temperature
5 °C
Max Operating Temperature
40 °C
Humidity Range Operating
20 - 80%
Sound Emission (Idle)
29 dBA
Sound Emission (Operating)
44 dBA
Manufacturer's product description
HP's large format, 8-ink DesignJet Z2100 with HP Vivera pigment inks delivers prints with color accuracy and consistency you can only get with the first-ever embedded spectrophotometer. ICC profiles are easy; and automatic calibrations ensure accurate, consistent prints every time you print. Rely on HP for vivid color and black-and-white prints and the easy, reliable printing experience you demand.
