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Our company currently has an HP 3500n. We've had it almost a year now and so far I am not very happy with it.
The printer is often used by our company for printing off ad proofs. There are a couple of issues that we seem to be having.
1. Printing the same ad multiple times reveals that the color is not always very consistent. There are subtle changes from print to print. For ad proofs we need very accurate color reproduction. This makes for a lot of headaches for our ad department trying to match a print up with what they see on their screen. If the colors of the exact same ad file vary from print to print, there is no way to accurately calibrate the monitor to be consitent with the print jobs.
2. When printing anything that has large solid blocks of color there seems to be horizontal "streaking" in the block of color. The streaks are about 1inch tall and span the solid block of color. They usually are faint bands of yellow and magenta. They are subtle, but definitely there. It's almost as if the block of color is "bleeding out" into its component colors, rather than creating a nice uniform color. I'm guessing since the bands are horizontal that this has somethig to do with the tonor sticking inconsistently to the rollers that the paper passes over.
With those two things in mind we have been looking into getting a new printer. Our budget is about $1000 and we need a printer capable of printing accurate color and at relatively high speeds (in full color). Inkjet printers are pretty much out of the question due to slower print times, higher cost for ink, and frequent cartridge changes that need to be made. The good thing about the 3500n is that the cartridges last for about 2000-4000 pages (for CMY), depending on the % coverage and about 4000-6000 pages for black. Also, any printer we decide on must have network capability as a number of people in the building will be printing to this printer.
So, for the printer experts out there, what would you suggest as a good alternative for the 3500n?
The printer is often used by our company for printing off ad proofs. There are a couple of issues that we seem to be having.
1. Printing the same ad multiple times reveals that the color is not always very consistent. There are subtle changes from print to print. For ad proofs we need very accurate color reproduction. This makes for a lot of headaches for our ad department trying to match a print up with what they see on their screen. If the colors of the exact same ad file vary from print to print, there is no way to accurately calibrate the monitor to be consitent with the print jobs.
2. When printing anything that has large solid blocks of color there seems to be horizontal "streaking" in the block of color. The streaks are about 1inch tall and span the solid block of color. They usually are faint bands of yellow and magenta. They are subtle, but definitely there. It's almost as if the block of color is "bleeding out" into its component colors, rather than creating a nice uniform color. I'm guessing since the bands are horizontal that this has somethig to do with the tonor sticking inconsistently to the rollers that the paper passes over.
With those two things in mind we have been looking into getting a new printer. Our budget is about $1000 and we need a printer capable of printing accurate color and at relatively high speeds (in full color). Inkjet printers are pretty much out of the question due to slower print times, higher cost for ink, and frequent cartridge changes that need to be made. The good thing about the 3500n is that the cartridges last for about 2000-4000 pages (for CMY), depending on the % coverage and about 4000-6000 pages for black. Also, any printer we decide on must have network capability as a number of people in the building will be printing to this printer.
So, for the printer experts out there, what would you suggest as a good alternative for the 3500n?
