Plotter suggestions

[Anonymous]

I am looking for feedback for a goog plotter. I have been looking at the HP DesignJet 430 (ARCH E size paper 36") roll-fed and wanted to know if anyone had a better suggestion for plotting both ArchiCAD and AutoCAD. Most of the prints are to be black and white, so the option for color isnt necessary. The firm which I work at has been using a HP DesignJet 230 for the last 14 years, sheet fed, and its about time to replace it.

[Petros Ioannou]

We use an HP Designjet 500 with an HPGL 2 card 36 ''. The quality is good we are not satisfied with the speed of it.

[Anonymous]

I should have mentioned earlier, since all most all of the printing we do is black and white lien drawings, speed is more important then resolution.

[Stephen Dolbee]

Before deciding on the 430, verify what the options will cost. I believe the 500 comes std. with roll feed/cutter and much more memory. I don't think the 430 does. Sometimes it pays to move up to the next model-sometimes not. I think both models are rated at 90 seconds per 24"X36" sheet-draft mode. We also plot only in black and white and find "draft mode" to be fine.

Steve

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot for your suggestion, we are getting a quote from HP for the HP DesignJet 500 (24") plotter. They said that we need the HPGL2 card to print from ArchiCAD and AutoCAD, is this true?, other then adding more memory how useful is it?

[Anonymous]

If you use any Macs avoid the HP DJ500. It is not trully Mac compatable, despite HP claims. See my previous post on this subject.

[Petros Ioannou]

John wrote:
If you use any Macs avoid the HP DJ500. It is not trully Mac compatable, despite HP claims. See my previous post on this subject.

Yes I had the same problem with a HP DJ50 ps 2 years ago. No support for MAC.