Epson Artisan 800

Quite possibly the perfect multifunction printer


THE EPSON ARTISAN 800 is as near a perfect all-in-one as you are likely to find. The Artisan 800's features read like a wishlist: legal-size color printing and copying, six-color photo printing 4,800dot-per-inch (dpi) color scanning and color faxing. It can print from a PC connected via USB, Ethernet, or Wi-Fi-
or without a PC, horn an attached PictBridge camera, memory card, USB drive,or Bluetooth interface.

The touch screen and the adjacent keys (lit with pleasing amber LEDs) make choosing a function and navigating through options easy. You can edit photos via the onscreen menus.

Setup is straightforward. For wireless setup you will need to connect to your Wi-Fi router temporarily with the included Ethernet cable. If your router is inaccessible, you can get the MFP on your network by connecting to a PC that is connected to your wireless network; just be sure your computer is set to obtain an IP address automatically.

Epson claims the Artisan 800 can hit 38 pages per minute (ppm) in draft mode. We didn't see that throughput on our tests (using nor mal quality settings), but performance was still impressive for an inkjet. The printer produced out 10-page Microsoft Word document in 1 minute and 20 seconds, and our 1-page color PDF file took just 15 sec onds. Photo-output speed was also impressive: The Artisan 800 produced 4x6 images in Best Photo mode from an installed memory card in 25 seconds. Expect to see color copies in 18 seconds and black-and-white copies in 12 seconds.

Output quality is also strong. Text printed on plain inkjet paper was well-formed, with no sign of breakup, though it didn't have quite the darkness of laser-printed text. Color graphics printed on plain paper using the Text and Photo mode showed no banding in solid areas, though separation between gradient fill levels was nonexistent above 75 percent. Copies were clean and accurate, though more washed out than the originals.

The Artisan 800 lives up to its name when it comes to photo output. Colors were rich and accurate, and the printer reproduced details that would be lost on a lesser printer. And Epson claims the photos will last 200 years before fading if they are stored in a photo album.

The Artisan 800 isn't cheap, but Epson includes enough ink to justify the price. You can get faster print speeds and sharper text from a $300 personal color laser printer, but you'll give up photo quality and the Artisan 800's bevy of features.
—Jamie Bsales

Computer Shopper January 2009