Epson's Stylus Color 850 offers the convenience of using only one set of cartridges ($29.95 each) for standard color and photographic-quality output. What's more, it provided faster throughput on our 20-page text document at 360dpi (4.25ppm) than did the Lexmark 7200 on our WinList. I put the company's reengineered print heads and four-color (CMYK) printing technology to the test by printing our 20-page text document and a photo of a baby. The printer delivered good-quality text and a photo that was extremely clear.
At the 360 dpi default setting, text printed on ink jet paper approached laser quality. At 720dpi, our three-page mixed text and graphics document printed at 0.76ppm with very dark black, while colors were vibrant, accurate and showed no white artifacts from incomplete coverage. However, the Lexmark 7200 did a better job than the Epson with text on inexpensive plain paper.
Printing color graphics and photographs, especially at a resolution of 1440x720dpi, highlighted one strength of the 850. Using a variety of me dia, including plain, ink jet and photographic quality papers, the Epson delivered rich colors, excellent flesh tones and clear delineation of details in photographs, though red was sometimes oversaturated.
Although the Epson offers faster print speeds than the Lexmark and needs only one set of cartridges for color and photo output, it's very noisy during operation. With better plain paper text performance, the less expensive, quieter Lexmark 7200 remains on the WinList.
Product Description:
The Epson Stylus Color 850, with its enhanced Photo Quality imaging technology and fast print speeds helps professionals look their best every day. This versatile, effective color ink jet printer is the solution for all your printing applications, whether you want laser sharp black text for persuasive memos, letter and reports, or Photo Quality color for vibrant graphics in presentations, flyers, transparencies and spreadsheets.Epson's fastest ink jet printer, the Epson Stylus Color 850 builds on the success and technology of the award-winning Epson Stylus Color 800. This Professional Series printer offers faster-than-ever print speeds, a big plus for increased productivity. For amazing output, even on plain paper, Epson's exclusive Micro Piezo ink jet technology now features an even smaller droplet size for the most accurate, precise printing quality. Add Epson's AcuPhoto halftoning, quick drying inks and brilliant 1440 x 720-dpi (dots per inch) resolution and get great communications, every day. Backed by Epson's reliability and service, the Epson Stylus Color 850 supports both Windows and Macintosh. For professionals that want to network their printers, it also offers optional support of Ethernet and LocalTalk networks and Adobe PostScript Level 2 for Windows 95/98 and Mac OS. Fast, versatile, high-impact, convenient - the Epson Stylus Color 850 means high performance business.
Epson Stylus Color 850 Ink Jet Printer (PC/Mac)