summary: great rebates available for Epson 3800 and 4880 = Pro price same as standard until 12/31/08
I just recently purchased the 3800 Pro after some hard searching and comparing. My reasons for the Pro had to do with the rebate taking the price down to that of the standard. I do not yet know how to use the RIP but it came out to no additional cost after the rebate. I also did quite a bit of searching and talking to folks trying to determine if the reason for the rebates was a forthcoming version release across the board of new printers from Epson. The answer seems to be a unanimous "no." Interesting note: I was very tempted to buy the 4880 since after rebates with the available purchase prices the difference between the net cost of the 3800 and the 4880 including shipping was only $110.oo - Given my infrequent personal use of the printer I couldn't see moving to a machine that prefers rolls of paper, even though the operating costs look much better for the 4880 than the 3800. Additionally it's like another 40lbs of hardware and real estate in my den closet is already cramped with the storage, the fax, laser printer, scanner and the old HP photo color.
I'm extremely happy with the performance of the 3800. just incedible results and knowing they'll last at least as long as I live is a relief since the fading of the dye inks on photos I'd printed from my HP7550 came as a surprise to me. I found that my technical knowledge of printing was lagging the depth I have elsewhere in technology.
One area I didn't consider when researching printers was the life of the ink in the transport system between the cartridges and the print head and whether I should be worrying about clogging of it as little as I print. I'm new, maybe the answer is in another forum here.
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