As a novice beginning the printing journey, what is the difference between these two applications, apart from the fact that Qimage is a lot less expensive. I am using a Mac.
Hi Frank,
I've been using Qimage (now Ultimate) since its early days (my first license was purchased in June 2001). It was already good then, and it has gotten better on a regular basis with frequent upgrades with lots of useful new features and quality enhancements. The developer, Mike Chaney, is very accessible in case a valid issue is reported, or for adding user suggestions if they make sense to Mike (he sometimes needs a bit of convincing, but he is a reasonable guy). Qimage is a Windows application, but apparently runs fine on a Mac under Parallels/Virtual PC or similar.
PrinTao is from a much more recent date, and it looks like they had a good look at Qimage. However, they took a different User Interface approach by setting lots of things automatically based on a high level choice of e.g. paper and printer brand, whereas Qimage gives full control over everything one can adjust.
So the difference in operation, by mostly using presets or by allowing total control, is ease of use versus power usage.
Quality wise, Qimage uses a number of unique inventions like superior interpolation algorithms, and halofree (output) sharpening that automatically adapts to output size, e.g. in case one prints multiple dimensions on the same sheet. Under the hood it uses a lot of (advanced) techniques to improve print quality.
I do not know how many of those quality improvements PrintTao has copied, if any, because they are not user selectable. PrinTao's benefit is that it's easier for Mac OS X users, but the drawback is that one has to wait for new printers to get supported, whereas Qimage supports any printer. That is also reflected in the upgrade pricing, so not only is Qimage less expensive to start with, it ís also cheaper to upgrade (one can even postpone license renewals, until one wishes to restart with the fully up to date version of that moment, for the normal upgrade fee).
Qimage also uses an image library with search functions, and it also has a decent Raw converter, so one can print directly from Raw if needed. Qimage also has hot folders to which images can be uploaded for (batch) printing at a different location, and it has printhead unclog function that can address a single color, thus saving ink. Just to name a few.
Cheers,
Bart