by Peter Cohen, MacCentral  

Epson America Inc. on Monday introduced the US$549 Stylus Photo R1800, a new color inkjet printer aimed at digital photographers that can print 13-inch wide glossy and matte photos. Paired with Epson's archival paper, those prints can last a century or two, according to the manufacturer. What's more, the R1800 features both USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces.

The R1800 is based on the letter-size format R800 printer. It can produce images 13 inches wide and up to 44 inches long. An 11 x 14-inch print can output in less than two minutes, said Epson. The R1800 uses Epson's UltraChrome Hi-Glass eight-color pigment inks, which add true red and blue to the usual cyan, magenta, yellow and black mix -- what's more, the printer also sports gloss black and matte blank inks, all in an eight-channel head. A gloss optimizer is also on hand, and the printer driver automatically determines which black ink needs to be used based on the paper type selected.

The R1800 outputs 1.5-picoliter ink droplets at resolutions up to 5760 x 1440 optimized dots per inch. Seven borderless photo paper sizes are supported: 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 8.5x11, 11x14, 12x12 and 13x19-inch. You can also use 4, 8.3 and 13-inch wide photographic roll media. The R1800 can also do direct CD and DVD printing when used with inkjet-printable optical media.

Software is included; the Stylus Photo R1800 is compatible with Mac OS X v10.2.4 or higher. Look for the Stylus Photo R1800 to hit store shelves in March. The company's Web site was not updated with information about the new printer as MacCentral posted this article.