                                Primera
                             Color  Printer

                             by Tony Curro

    Several months ago I reviewed the HP DeskJet 550C color printer. Now
    I take a look at a new, reasonable price color, Primera, that has
    superior output. Primera has a quality that rivals high-end color
    printers. For the quality of the Primera, you would expect to pay
    $3500.00 and up. Primera carries a list price of $995.00.

    This printer is designed for Windows only. It will NOT work from
    DOS. You must be running Windows, and the Primera drivers for
    Windows. I was amazed at the size of the unit. It is small, and will
    fit into to any location.

    Primera uses the thermal transfer process. I tried it with various
    papers, and found that using thermal paper gave the best quality. It
    is worth the extra money for thermal paper to take advantage of the
    printer. In addition, it will work with Transparency Film. You can
    use special T-shirt transfer paper to print an image, and then iron
    it on a shirt.

    The resolution and quality far surpasses the DJ. However, it does
    come at a price.  The ribbon needed for the Primera is more costly
    than the DJ. I had seen an article that mentioned Primera per page
    output was less. Primera has two color ribbons available, a 3-color
    and 4-color. Both have a list price $45.00. The 3-color will do 115
    pages, while the 4-color does 80 pages. They do make a monochrome
    (black) only ribbon for $39.95 that will do 400 pages. A black
    cartridge for the HP DeskJet runs under $30.00, and will do 2,000
    pages. Primera is faster, and has better quality output. If you take
    that into consideration, then Primera would be the better choice.

    Overall I was pleased with this printer. I was tempted to purchase
    one. However, printing my magazine, which can run 15-16 pages or
    more each month, and the need to print 7 or more copies a month,
    would be too costly for me. I would be spending $100 or more per
    month in ribbons. Besides all that, I still would recommend Primera
    for those who do want Postscript color quality at a fraction of the
    cost.


                          Product Information

                                Primera
                             Color Printer

                          List Price -- $995.

                               Fargo Mfg.
                          7076 Shady Oak Road
                         Eden Prairie, MN 55344
                              612-941-9470
                           612-941-5423 (FAX)
