Epson WorkForce Professional WF-C8190 A3 Colour Printer With PCL/PostScript Overview

The Epson WorkForce Professional WF-C8190 ($799.99) is a wide-format printer that may strengthen as much as super-tabloid (13-by-19-inch) media. It is an replace to the WorkForce Professional WF-8090, however boasts an all-new classier design, a friendlier regulate panel, and much-improved print high quality. It additionally has an affordable value, low operating prices, and excessive responsibility cycle, making it our best choice for midrange wide-format printers.

Taming the Large-Layout Beast

A printer that churns out pages greater than two times as huge as typical letter-size media calls for a vital dedication in counter best area. At 22.5 through 24.1 through 29.7 inches (HWD) and weighing 77.8 kilos, the WF-C8190’s length and girth requires a robust, devoted area to roost. At an inch or two smaller in all instructions (but weighing 33.8 kilos extra) the HP PageWide Professional 750dw ($2,299.99 at Tiger Direct)(Opens in a brand new window) may be a beast, whilst Epson’s extra consumer-grade Epson WorkForce WF-7210 Large-Layout is a number of inches shorter than the WF-C8190 and weighs 35 kilos much less.

Out-of-the-box, the WF-C8190’s paper-input capability is a meager 330 sheets, break up between a 250-sheet primary paper drawer and an 80-sheet multipurpose tray that extends up from the rear of the chassis. If that isn’t sufficient paper (or enter assets), you’ll be able to amplify it as much as 1,830 sheets from 5 assets, with as much as 3 500-sheet add-on drawers (a steep $425 every). Epson additionally gives a mix cupboard/printer stand for $250.

The rear tray helps paper sizes starting from 3.5 through 5 inches as much as 13 through 19 inches, and banners as much as 13 inches huge through 45 inches lengthy. The principle 250-sheet paper drawer and the 3 500-sheet add-ons strengthen media from 3.5 through 5 inches as much as 11 through 17 inches. All that possible capability is a darned just right factor, too; with the WF-C8190’s 75,000-page most per month responsibility cycle (7,000 pages really helpful), you and your workforce participants shall be so busy conserving that 250-sheet paper drawer complete that you would be able to now not get any paintings finished.

Due essentially to its excessive value, huge paper capability, and speedy print velocity, the HP 750dw seems to be a a lot more tough and strong printer than the WF-C8190, and from the ones 3 views, it’s. The default paper enter capability is 650 sheets, expandable to 4,650 sheets (with two 2,000-sheet trays), and it lists for just about thrice greater than the WorkForce Professional style. However this reputedly overpowering brute-strength, for probably the most section, stops right here. The HP 750dw printer, as an example, comes with the similar most per month responsibility cycle because the WF-C8190 (although the really helpful quantity is greater than two times as a lot).

The WF-C8190 does get in a couple of licks of its personal, although, together with the power to print super-tabloid-size pages. That length makes nice indicators and posters, as an example.

Epson’s WF-7210 ($529.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) is, alternatively, a special animal. Its paper capability of 250 sheets is legit, however it is not expandable, and its per month responsibility cycle is nearly 75 % less than the WF-C8190’s. You will not get just about the similar quantity out of it, and its operating prices, should you plan to print various hundred pages per thirty days, are a significant worry.

Additionally it is necessary to notice that, as indicated within the printer’s title, the WF-C8190 emulates Adobe PostScript and HP PCL (Printer Command Language) web page description languages (PDLs). Those, particularly PostScript, build up compatibility with a number of graphic design and desktop publishing packages and environments, and each PDLs are most popular for prepress packages. Those PDLs build up the WF-C8190’s bag of methods—similar to, say, printing prepress composites—but when you do not know what those PDLs do, you most likely do not want them.

In spite of everything, you’ll be able to arrange all this from the WF-C8190’s regulate panel, which is composed of a couple of dozen navigation and serve as buttons, and a couple of standing LEDs—all anchored through a 2.4-inch non-touch colour graphics show. As with maximum enterprise printers, you’ll be able to additionally make adjustments, set safety choices, observe consumables, and extra from the WF-C8190’s inbuilt internet server through merely typing the printer’s IP cope with into your browser. You’ll additionally use the regulate panel for putting in place and connecting to quite a lot of cloud and social media websites.

Connecting and Securing the WF-C8190

Excluding for its USB 3.0 port, a connection kind you seldom see on a printer (USB 2.0 is the norm), connectivity is elementary. Same old connections encompass Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and connecting to a unmarried PC by means of USB. All however that remaining one, the devoted USB connection, permit the printer get admission to to the web, which in flip allows you to use the Epson Attach function for printing from cloud and social media websites. Wi-Fi Direct is a peer-to-peer networking protocol that permits you to attach your cell gadgets without delay to the printer with out them or it being on a neighborhood space community (LAN). You will not in finding, on the other hand, a USB port for printing from USB reminiscence sticks.

Along with the usual networking safety protocols that include maximum network-ready printers, the WF-C8190 allows you to protected print jobs with PINs to stay them clear of prying eyes. A person regulate get admission to function allows you to outline who can use the printer and what options they may be able to get admission to. Restricting sure customers to printing handiest in monochrome, as an example, may just prevent considerably on ink prices.

Speedy Sufficient

Prime-volume printers want to be speedy. Epson charges the WF-C8190 at 25 pages in step with minute (ppm), which is, for this magnificence of device, about the place speedy starts. The HP 750dw, as an example, is rated at 35ppm, and there are a number of printers to be had, similar to HP’s Colour LaserJet Endeavor M653x ($2,149.99 at HP)(Opens in a brand new window) , with a lot upper rankings.

I examined the WF-C8190 over Ethernet from our usual Intel Core i5 PC operating Home windows 10 Skilled. Notice additionally that the speeds reported right here had been bought from printing letter-size pages, now not wide-format media. Tabloid pages, which can be precisely two times letter-size, will have to, with more or less the similar share of protection, take about two times as lengthy to print, and super-tabloid somewhat longer.

The WF-C8190 revealed the primary a part of my take a look at routine, a 12-page monochrome Microsoft Phrase textual content file, at 27.3ppm, surpassing its score handily. In the meantime, the LaserJet 750dw revealed the similar file 8.2ppm quicker, and the WF-7210 controlled a meager 15ppm.

See How We Take a look at Printers

Once I mixed the consequences from printing a number of colourful PDF, Excel, and PowerPoint paperwork containing embedded charts, graphs, quite a lot of different enterprise graphics, and footage with the consequences from printing the 12-page textual content file, the WF-C8190’s rating plummeted to fifteen.1ppm. That can sound gradual, however only a few of the machines we have now examined during the last couple years (because of the complexity of our take a look at file’s layouts and content material) have scored this excessive.

The LaserJet 750dw, at 1.1ppm quicker, on the other hand, is one among them. However, given its value and velocity score, I would be expecting extra of a velocity distinction between those two wide-format printers. The WF-7210, alternatively, controlled about part of the WF-C8190’s appearing.

Shifting directly to the following take a look at, I revealed two colourful and detailed 4-by-6-inch snapshots a number of occasions and averaged the consequences. The WF-C8190 averaged 19 seconds, or about 6 seconds quicker than the WF-7210 and 11 seconds slower than the 750dw. Lower than 30 seconds is the norm for many business-centered inkjet printers.

PrecisionCore Print High quality

All of Epson’s WorkForce and WorkForce Professional fashions use the corporate’s PrecisionCore printheads, which it additionally makes use of in its several-thousand-dollar, 100ppm-plus huge endeavor and printing press machines. One of the crucial key options of PrecisionCore is, but even so being somewhat quicker than conventional printheads, that the print chips comprise a miles upper collection of smaller and tightly concentrated ink nozzles, leading to a extra exact distribution of ink.

I did not in finding a lot to dislike in regards to the WF-C8190’s print high quality. Textual content seems to be just about laser-quality; graphics output is freed from streaking and different ink distribution flaws that steadily display up in darkish fills and backgrounds. Gradients did not comprise obtrusive stepping from one colour to the following

Despite the fact that they are now not photograph printers, the WorkForce printers I have examined through the years, particularly because the deployment of PrecisionCore, churn out more-than-respectable, vibrantly coloured and detailed pictures. The WF-C8190 will have to be greater than good enough for many enterprise packages, on the other hand, in contrast to its WF-8090 predecessor, which, with its skill to print without borderlines footage and file pages as much as letter-size, has a definite merit over HP 750dw, Epson has sadly dropped without borderlines output from the WF-C8190’s reprotra. Images, and plenty of enterprise brochures, flyers, and so forth, glance a lot more subtle with without borderlines completing.

HP’s PageWide fashions and all laser printers use printhead era merely incapable of without borderlines output, however inkjet era isn’t. Each and every bordered web page should comprise white (or the paper colour) margins of simply lower than a quarter-inch on all 4 facets of the web page. Right here, the sub-$200 WF-7210 and maximum different Epson wide-format machines get the remaining snort. They strengthen without borderlines pages as much as 13 through 19 inches, although printing without borderlines super-tabloid footage (or any large footage, for that subject), given those consumer-grade‘s per-page ink price, sucks up numerous ink.

Smart Operating Prices

Whilst you use the perfect capability ink cartridges (11,500 black and eight,000 colour web page yields), the WF-C8190’s operating prices are 1.6 cents for monochrome pages and six.7 cents for colour. To be very aggressive, I would really like that black price in step with web page (CPP) to be somewhat decrease, most likely even lower than a penny, however those numbers are applicable. The HP 750dw’s CPPs are, at 1.1 cents in step with black web page and 5.6 cents for colour, considerably decrease, although. (That is not a wonder, being {that a} upper acquire value steadily equates to a decrease CPP.) In the event you print 1000’s of pages every month, that 0.5 black and nil.9 cent colour per-page distinction will, through the years, actually upload as much as masses, even 1000’s of bucks.

Given the large value deficit between those two machines, it’s going to take some time to make up that distinction and get started saving cash on ink. In the meantime, the Epson WF-7210’s operating prices are 3.2 cents for monochrome pages and 11.4 cents for colour.

The prices quoted listed here are for printing letter-size pages. Simply as tabloid-size pages take about two times so long as letter-size pages to print, they will have to additionally (assuming a an identical share of protection) price about two times as a lot to print. Tremendous-tabloid pages, which comprise 2 further inches of floor space in each instructions, will have to price somewhat extra.

A Little Much less Bang for a Lot Fewer Greenbacks

General, I discovered little to bitch about with the Epson WF-C8190. It does an enormous share of the HP 750dw’s responsibility for lots cheaper price. It prints the bigger, super-tabloid-size pages, however, alas, cannot arrange without borderlines completing. Output could be much more spectacular, although, had been it integrated, particularly without borderlines wide-format pages. The humble Epson WF-7210 offers you without borderlines pages the entire manner as much as super-tabloid-size, which is relatively sexy, however, frankly, in case your print quantity is excessive sufficient to imagine the WF-C8190, the little low-volume consumer-grade WF-7210 mustn’t also be to your brief listing. I vote that Epson carry without borderlines again to this in a different way excellent A3 device. Taking into account its affordable value, wider media alternatives, low operating prices, and just right print high quality, although, the WF-C8190 has earned the Editors’ Selection slot for midrange wide-format printers.