I want to buy a Professional Printer for books

[ajacksonlsc]

Where do I go for information on professional type printers? I possibly want to print my own 300 page book which has over 100 full color images.

QUESTION: Where can I go to get - no BS- expert advice on which printer to buy? I know the results I want but am ignorant regarding the equipment. The specs on these new high end printers (the $1,500 to $5,000 range) are bewildering. I want a heavy duty printer (not an All In One) that:

#1 Prints very high quality hi resolution color images & black and white text
#2 Can duplex
#3 Can switch from thick high quality paper to thick high quality glossy paper automatically
#3 Be 100% consistent with regards to color, resolution, sharpness, and tint..The images must never change - not lighter, darker, or change to more or less yellower, redder, bluer, etc, etc, as the printer runs
#4 Has a huge onboard memory so I can print 400 pages with many high resolution color images………with no sweat
#5 Not breaks down every 50th sheet
#6 Paper supply of over 500 sheets +
#7 Be able to crank out 10 books per day without a sweat

Want does 1200 by 1200 mean? Is this better than 1200 dpi by 600 dpi?

How do I determine the sharpness and quality of color?

How do I determine that the color on the screen of my PC is exactly what will come out on the printed page. Can I calibrate the screen on my PC and the printer so they are identical?

What is the difference between a $500 Laser Printer and a $3,000 Laser Printer?

Does the printer have its own software for loading, paper type, resolution, sharpness, calibration, margins, speed, options, etc?

Do all printers work with Windows VISTA 64 bit and WINDOWS 7 64 bit?

Thank you
Andy Jackson

[cs_steve]

It sounds like you want the books to come out professional quality -- if that is the case, I would strongly recommend you not publish it yourself. You should look into one of the "on-demand" publishing services on the Web -- one of my friends recently used one of these with a book he wrote, and had good success. The good thing about "on-demand printing" is that you can order small quantities of books at a time. I've seen several web sites which are fairly easy to use (you basically just choose a book template from their Web site and then email them your manuscript) and not too expensive; they'll give you a "per book" price that goes lower depending on quantity. The prices seem cheaper than I could do myself, and certainly the results will be more professional.

There are just so many issues with trying to print "professional-quality" books from home : it's not just a matter of buying a good printer -- you need publishing software, you have to worry about book-binding equipment, monitor-to-printer calibration equipment and software, and then sourcing and paying for paper/binding materials/toner/maintenance parts for the printer.

Most people don't print enough to make it practical to publish themselves.

[ajacksonlsc]

Thank you.

This is good advice.