Hi Everyone,
I've looked through the blog posts on this, but I wanted to get some feedback and advice. We have many Macs and Windows 7/Windows 8 machines printing to Epson 4880 printers. The Epson Stylus Pro 4880 and 4900 printers are the printers of choice for our art school, so that's what we have. Printing from the Macs, through Uniprint, has always been a challenge. We are getting ready to replace our printers, probably with 4900s. We are looking to find a better way to service our Mac users. Here are the questions:
- Should we consider at a RIP server? Epson recommends EFI, and I've seen Onyx, too.
- If so, which one would you recommend?
- Are there any disadvantages to this?
- We have read that when using a RIP driver, one loses control of the Epson specific settings. Does this include paper type (Photo Paper, etc.) and ink type (matte, photo)? We have some printers that use matte ink, and some with photo.
Thanks!
Gene
Gene,
Both EFI and Onyx are good choices. A good PPD/driver for the RIP should not leave you with fewer device control features as does the manufacturer's driver, usually though they are called by different names or managed under different buttons. In some cases, you may lose drying time (but not often) and some "status" stuff at the client level (that's what the RIP management tool is for, so a lot of that gets offloaded from the client).
I can't think of any distinct disadvantages. I've been in environments with mid- to high-end poster printers in the past (from in-house print shops to service bureaus) and they've all used RIPs to get the job done. It just makes it easier to manage (workflow, workload, and color management).
Regards,
Scott