Bright colors and tiny dots alone simply don't cut it anymore for high-quality inkjet printing. We're past the point where it just has to look good: It now has to look good and last. Epson's $499 Stylus Photo 1270 does both in spades. It also handles Super B-size print jobs, accommodating media as large as 13 by 19 inches.

With its 4-picoliter drops, the new printing system introduced in the 1270's product line offers the smallest ink droplets on the market, which the printer uses to full advantage by printing at up to 1,440 by 720 dpi. When combined with special Epson media -- Heavyweight Matte Paper and Premium Glossy Photo Paper (a resin-coated stock) -- the new ink formulation has been estimated to last as long as long as 25 and 10 years respectively (see editor's note below). This is significantly longer than the one to five years typical for most currently available desktop inkjets. Keep in mind that the 10- and 25-year figures are only estimates, however, based on tests run by the Wilhelm Imaging Research, and that these tests assume a museum-quality environment. In practice, there is simply no way to know how well these inks will hold up over time for real-world use. If you truly need archival quality, you'll have to switch from dye-based inks to pigment-based inks, such as those used by the $899 Epson Stylus Photo 2000p.

Thankfully, Epson hasn't sacrificed its hallmark industry-leading image-printing quality for longevity. In practice, the small drop size, 6-color photo inks (CMYKcm), and high resolution deliver prints with about the grain you'd expect from an 8-by-10-inch print made from a good ISO 100 35mm film. In both black-and-white and color images, the detail, contrast, and dynamic range lead the desktop-printer pack.

Beyond Performance
The Stylus Photo 1270 also serves up some welcome productivity features. The most important, of course, is speed: During testing, ten 4-by-6-inch images printed edge-to-edge on the glossy roll-feed paper at an average rate of 83 seconds per print. A full letter-sized image took about 4 minutes at a resolution of 720 dpi (regardless of scan resolution), and about twice as long at 1,440 dpi.

Epson's new ink-cartridge system adds some intelligence to the mix as well. You can now exchange cartridges midway through their print cycle without losing information about the amount of ink remaining. The ink cost per page ranges from about 11 cents (20-percent coverage) to 40 cents (80-percent coverage); archival paper cost varies from a low of 23 cents for a single letter-sized Matte page to $2.21 for a sheet of B-size Premium Glossy Photo paper. The roll-feed paper averages about $13.66, and can be used to print panoramas nearly 44 inches long.

Shades of Distinction
Color-matching across various media types and print resolutions proved relatively consistent -- as consistent as could be expected given the different paper surfaces and brightnesses available. The supplied color profiles were satisfactory, but you'll probably want to spring for Monaco EZ Color to get optimal results. (The company currently offers a 50-percent-off deal for Stylus Photo 1270 owners.)

Detecting differences between the printer's 720-dpi and 1,440-dpi output is generally pretty difficult. As with some past Epson models, the printer doesn't react well to switches from the higher resolution to the lower between print jobs. The result can be severe banding that appears in the output of a print job or two. In general the print quality is just better enough than that of the previous model -- the Stylus Photo 1200 -- to irritate those who own the older printer.

For the most part, the printer driver remains unchanged from previous versions. It gives you access to pretty much any setting you might want to adjust, including color spaces and ink mixes, but the switch for 1,440-dpi resolution irritatingly remains buried within the custom settings rather than on the top level with the presets.

Choices, Choices
The Stylus Photo 1270 can be found online for as low as $387. But if you don't need the support for 13-by-19-inch paper -- or don't have the budget for it -- consider the Epson Stylus Photo 870: It puts the same print-system (though with smaller ink cartridges) to work in a letter-sized package. The company also offers a version of the 870 -- the 875dc -- with a card reader that takes CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Sony Memory Stick cards. The 875dc costs about $100 more than the 870.

This printer isn't a great choice for comping: It lacked an Adobe PressReady driver as we worked on this piece, though Adobe will likely follow with a driver soon; it's text quality isn't the best you'll find; and you're better off with the economy of a four-ink printer when comping in any case. If what you're after is a medium-format printer that delivers dazzling images, however, this is the sub-$1,000 printer to buy. Consider the estimated long life of the 1270's inks as a possible bonus you won't quite count on, and you should be thrilled with this printer rather than potentially disappointed.

Editor's Note: Wilhelm Imaging Research is now reporting that Epson 870/1270 output may experience a color shift within a matter of days when printed on Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper, because the paper has an apparent high sensitivity to ozone and other airborne contaminants. Wilhelm recommends letting the glossy paper output dry for 24 hours under a normal piece of paper.

Read more by Lori Grunin.