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DESKTOP INKJETS that make photoquality pigment prints come along rarely The 13-inch models now on the market have been around for a few years: Canon's Pixma Pro-1 and Pro-10 printers came out in 2013, and Epson's Stylus Photo R2000 is even older. That's just one reason we were glad to see Epson replace its aging Stylus Pro R3000 with the new SureColor P600 ($800, street).
Not by accident did Epson take the SureColor brand name from its line of professional studio production printers and apply it to this model, aimed more at enthusiasts. Our extensive field testing revealed superb print quality for both color and black-and-white images.
Fans of the R3000 will feel right at home with the P600, which lifts many features from its predecessor, including the way it loads media, its ink cartridge size, and the number of inks in the set. The SureColor P600 adds wireless capabilities, outputs much longer prints (up to 129 inches, especially good for canvas panoramas), and boasts greater black ink density and color saturation for noticeably better image quality. A new touchscreen control panel contributes to its ease of use.
A step up from the R2000 (which remains on Epson's roster), the P600 swaps black inks for more effective printing on different media, and its cartridges hold more ink-25.9 versus 17 milliliters. And while it falls below Epson's popular Stylus Pro 3880 17-inch printer in the company's lineup, its print quality and speed may make it the better choice if you don't need the larger size.
Setup and Speed
The SureColor P600 is a welldesigned and elegant-looking machine. About 24 inches wide and 15 inches deep when no trays are extended, it will easily fit on most desks or rolling carts. When open, the rear support feeder adds about 2 inches to the depth, and the two roll-paper attachments, which can be removed and stored when not in use, add about 5 inches. Its boxy shape and light weight of 35 pounds make it easy to move around a home or studio-or bring to events for on-the-spot printing. Setup is similar to other inkjet printers. Charging the inks took about 10 minutes. Installing the printer driver, downloaded from epson.com, was fairly straightforward. Wait until prompted by the...