Must have GIZMOS: Must Have GIZMOS editors’ review: Epson WorkForce 1100 Wide-format Printer

I was so excited to unpack and set this printer up! I work from home as a digital scrapbook designer and printing documents for quality check is very important. Having a printer in my home office to do this is something I have wanted for quite a while. These quality control prints need to be printed at 12 x 12 inches and the Epson Workforce 1100 does that and so much more.

Reviewed By: Donna Brown
Reviewed On: 10/21/2009 - 11/7/2009

Right out of the box I noticed this printer is solid and well made. The footprint is 24.3" x 12.7" with a height of 8.5 inches. With the paper trays in the closed position is is very compact and takes up less desk space than you would expect. (It is smaller than a large format laser printer. This is a large printer though and is understandably larger than a typical inkjet printer) The set up was easy using the disk and instructions provided in the box. Installing the printer cartridges took only a few minutes and was super simple. I love how the Workforce 1100 uses a 4 ink cartridge system & has dual black cartridges for lasting performance. Most of the pages I print are primarily shades of one dominate color. What a money saver to only replace the ink color I deplete. Best of all, with DURABrite Ultra Ink, only one set of cartridges is necessary to print top quality documents or photos. There’s no need to spend additional money on optional photo inks. And, high–capacity cartridges are available to accommodate high–volume printing needs.

After the simple setup, I starting putting it through the paces.... The first thing I printed was a 12x12 scrapbook photo page with 2 additional 6x6 inch prints on Epson 13 x 19 premium presentation paper matte to take advantage of the large format and use every inch of paper possible! All printed beautifully in the photo mode with no pixels dropped or splotches. I was amazed at the quality! I was not expecting such clear images and incredibility vibrant colors. There was no bleeding, streaking or horizontal lines. Next, I printed a dozen 6x6 inch images (On the same large format paper - 6 images to a single page) I used the best photo mode for these prints. The prints are crisp with amazing shadow and highlight detail. The average user would be very happy with the photo mode because it delivers the best balance of quality and speed. However, for digi scrappers, the best photo mode prints in a high resolution print mode for professional looking photographic prints all in the comfort of your home! Exclusively from Epson, advanced MicroPiezo print head technology, ensures sharp, accurate ink placement, while optimizing print speeds. With "smart" nozzles, this powerful technology delivers droplets in as many as 5 sizes, some as small as 3 picoliters. The large format photo prints from the Workforce 1100 are nothing short of amazing for a printer than claims to be a small business printer, and not a photo printer!

While the large format color printing was the reason I wanted the Workforce 1100, I was amazed at the SPEED of this printer in black and white!! Our daughter had a display to design for her science fair project and we printed her board headers and they flew out of the printer at an amazing speed! The Workforce 1100 prints in the text mode at laser quality print speeds of 13 ppm black and 5.5 ppm color. She also printed a large format graph for the center of her board. (Using the 11 x 14 paper size) The result was a beautiful, eye- catching full color graph.

So far I have been using the Workforce 1100 for about 3 weeks. I have printed a multitude of large format digital photos, school projects and web documents. It's handled everything I have used it for beautifully. I love the ability to not only print 2 sided images BUT to be able to print them in a large format as well. The Workforce 1100 also prints on index cards! The versatility and ability of such a variety size of printing makes the Workforce 1100 an exceptional value. The Workforce 1100 is the perfect printer for my home business at an affordable price. (est. street price of $199) I would highly recommend the Workforce 1100 to anyone with a small business who needs to print in a wide format. Teachers and small schools would also be well served to purchase this printer for their large format printing needs.

What's good:

One printer for impressive brochures & everyday projects- From 13" x 19" to index card size - the Workforce 1100 handles it all!
Lightening fast printing speeds (With maximum speeds of 30 ppm black and 17 ppm color, plus laser quality speeds of 13 ppm black and 5.5 ppm color)
Convenient, two–sided printing, so you’ll save 50% of your paper supply
Dual Black ink cartridges (print more and change cartridges less often)
The ENERGY STAR^® qualified WorkForce 1100 uses up to 70% less power than a laser printer
Advanced MicroPiezo print head technology

What's bad:

Lacks network connectivity - and for a printer aimed at the small business market this is disappointing

What's the bottom line:

The Epson Workforce 1100 is an extremely versatile printer for small business & home offices. It print high quality images in a variety of sizes - from wide format printing of 13 x 19 inches to 3x5 inch index cards. This printer will meet all your needs quickly at amazing laser quality speeds at an inkjet printer price.

Specifications:

Printing Technology

4-color (CMYK) drop-on-demand MicroPiezo® ink jet technology

Ink Palette

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black

Ink Cartridge Configuration

5 individual ink cartridges (2 Black)

Ink Type

DURABrite® Ultra pigment ink
(smudge, fade and water resistant, highlighter friendly)

Light Resistance / Print Longevity

Up to 105 years¹

Minimum Ink Droplet Size

5 droplet sizes as small as 3 picoliters

Maximum Resolution (dots per inch)

5760 x 1440 optimized dpi

Maximum Print Speed

Black
30 ppm²
Color
17 ppm²

Laser Quality Print Speed

Black
13 ppm²
Color
5.5 ppm²

Maximum Paper Size

13" x 44"

Paper Sizes

3.5" x 5", 4" x 7.11" (16:9 wide), 4.1" x 5.8" (A6), 4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", 11" x 14", 4.1" x 5.8" (A6), 5.5" x 8.5" (Half Letter), A4, 8.5" x 11" (Letter), 8.5" x 14" (Legal), 11" x 14", 11.7" x 16.5" (A3), 13" x 19" (Super B), 11" x 17" (A3+, US B), User definable (5" to 44" in length, 3.5" to 13" in width)

Borderless Photo Sizes

3.5" x 5", 4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", 8.5" x 11" (Letter), 8.5" x 14" (Legal), 11" x 17" (Ledger), 13" x 19" (Super B)

Paper Types

Supports plain paper, Epson Bright White Paper, Photo Paper Glossy, Premium Photo Paper Glossy, Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy, Premium Photo Paper Semi-gloss, Presentation Paper Matte, Premium Presentation Paper Matte, Premium Presentation Paper Matte Double-sided, Ultra Premium Presentation Paper and Matte Scrapbook Photo Paper (letter)

Envelope Types

No. 10, DL, C6; plain paper, bond paper, air mail

Input Paper Capacity

100 sheets/10 envelopes

Recommended Ink Cartridges

68 High-Capacity Black (2 required)
68 High-Capacity Cyan
68 High-Capacity Magenta
68 High-Capacity Yellow See Note ³

Additional Ink Choices

69 Standard-Capacity Black (2 required)
68 Standard-Capacity Cyan
68 Standard-Capacity Magenta
68 Standard-Capacity Yellow

Ink Yield Information

Click for information regarding cartridge yields

Weight and Dimensions (W x D x H)

Printing: 24.3" x 31.4" x 16.4"
Storage: 24.3" x 12.7" x 8.5"
Weight: 26.3 lb

Connectivity

Hi-Speed USB 2.0

Operating Systems

Windows 7®, Windows Vista®, Windows XP, Windows XP Professional x64, Windows 2000
Mac OS® X 10.3.9, 10.4.11, 10.5.x and 10.6.x
For the latest information on Snow Leopard, please visit www.epson.com/support/snowleopard

Software Included