Printer recommendations for Dorico

Dorico
1

I know this is a little off-topic but can someone suggest a printer for printing off A3 scores…I’ve only ever owned A4 printers.
Thanks
Al

2

In our office we have a Xerox Phaser 7100, which works beautifully with Dorico. At home I have an HP LaserJet 8150DN, which you can’t buy new any more, but I’m sure you can find a reconditioned one from various printer suppliers. This too works beautifully with Dorico.

3

I have an HP LaserJet 5200 — this printer is no longer manufactured, but you can easily find them used online. It can print all the way up to 12"x18", which is larger than A3.

The only issue is that it doesn’t do automatic duplex at sizes that large, so you have to do it manually, and for some reason when I try to do manual duplex in Dorico, the pages print out of order. An easy workaround is to just export the score to PDF and then print — this works fine and is easy. (If someone has figured out how to do this correctly directly from Dorico, please let me know!)

4

I’d be curious to know if anyone has tried Dorico with an inkjet printer capable of printing 11 x 17 paper? (I can’t afford a laser printer of that size.)

I’d go A3, but that’s almost completely unavailable in the US, where I live.

Thanks.

5

You can find an HP LaserJet 5200 for around $350 USD — can you get 11x17 inkjet printers for much less than that? I would worry that the output of an inkjet printer would not be sharp enough, that the ink would potentially run if the paper got wet.

The per-page cost will also be substantially higher with an ink-jet printer, so if you’re going to print more than a few pages, you may end up saving money with a laser printer.

6

You’re absolutely right, Julian. At that sort of price I definitely would go laser. The cost per page would be much lower and the quality much better. I had no idea I could get a laser capable of 11x17 at that sort of price. I’ll definitely follow your advice.

7

Thanks guys for the recommendations. In the end I bought a Brother ink-jet. I’ve had a superb Canon laser (mono) LBP3000 for about 5 years but it will only do A4. The one I’ve ended up buying is this one:

https://www.brother.co.uk/printers/inkjet-printers/mfc-j6930dw

It weighs 28Kg so I’m expecting it to be heavy duty. I got it for £200 which I thought was a decent price. I’ve found though, with printers, only time will tell…