Epson Artisan 50 Printer: In-Depth Review and User Opinions

The Epson Artisan 50 is an elegant and compact inkjet photo printer targeted at home users wanting to print high quality photos and creative projects. It produces lab-quality prints up to 13" x 19" in size, using Epson's UltraChrome inks for vivid color and sharp detail. This printer is designed to be easy to set up and use in a home office, and includes built-in wireless for connecting to your home network.

In this review, we'll take an in-depth look at the key features and performance of the Epson Artisan 50 printer. We'll examine the print quality, connectivity, cost of operation, and ease of use. We'll summarize the main pros and cons to consider if you're thinking about purchasing this printer. Overall, the Artisan 50 aims to provide exceptional photo printing in a stylish and reasonably priced package for creative home users.

Design

The Epson Artisan 50 has a sleek, modern design with angled edges and a compact footprint. Measuring 16.9 x 12.8 x 7.5 inches and weighing just 15.4 pounds, it takes up minimal space whether sitting on a desk or tucked onto a shelf.

The printer comes in three color options - glacier white, midnight black, and steel gray - to match any home decor. The plastic casing feels sturdy and durable with a matte texture. The top opens vertically to access the ink cartridges inside. Overall the Artisan 50 has a premium, stylish aesthetic despite its reasonable price point.

The relatively small size coupled with the clean, contemporary styling makes the Artisan 50 an attractive option for home offices or anywhere you want a printer without it dominating the space. The solid build quality also gives the sense this is a printer that will last.

Print Quality

The Epson Artisan 50 impresses with its superior photo print quality. It can print borderless photos up to 8.5 x 11 inches at resolutions up to 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi when printing from a computer on Epson premium photo paper. This allows it to produce gallery-quality photos with rich, vibrant colors and sharp detail.

The six individual ink cartridges with Claria ink technology provide excellent color accuracy for both photos and everyday document printing. Reds and blues are particularly striking. The printer can achieve a color gamut close to a professional lab when using Epson premium photo paper.

Print speeds are fairly fast for an inkjet geared for photo printing. When printing ISO standard documents with black text, it can print up to 32 ppm in normal mode or 16 ppm in best photo mode. A 4 x 6 inch photo takes about 20 seconds in best photo mode. Larger photos take longer but are still reasonable, with an 8 x 10 finished in 1 minute 40 seconds. So while not blazing fast, print speeds are more than adequate for home use.

Connectivity

The Epson Artisan 50 offers both wired and wireless connectivity options. It connects via USB 2.0 for wired printing from your computer. For wireless printing, it supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n so you can print from anywhere in your home network.

This printer is compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later operating systems. The setup is quick and easy whether you use a USB cable or Wi-Fi connection. The printer software installs smoothly on both PC and Mac computers. Overall, the Artisan 50 provides flexible connectivity options for multiple devices and operating systems.

Cost of Ink and Paper

The Epson Artisan 50 uses individual ink cartridges for each color, which helps reduce waste and lower cost when replacing ink. The standard cartridges such as the Black 200XL have a page yield of 600 pages for text documents. High capacity options like the Black 200XL High Capacity cartridge can print up to 800 pages per cartridge.

Original Epson cartridges cost around $13 for standard cartridges and $20 for high capacity options, which is fairly affordable. Compatible and remanufactured options can reduce the cost per page even further.

The printer can handle many paper types including plain paper, photo paper, matte paper and more. Using standard 20lb copy paper will be the most budget-friendly choice for everyday printing needs. For highest quality photo printing, Epson specialty paper is recommended, though still quite affordable at around 13 cents per 4x6" print.

Overall, the cost of ink and paper is quite reasonable for an inkjet printer while still providing versatility and high print quality. Choosing high capacity ink cartridges and standard paper helps keep ongoing costs low.

Features

The Epson Artisan 50 comes with a robust set of features for home and office use.

• Copy, Scan, and Fax Capabilities: The Artisan 50 allows you to make color copies directly from the printer and scan documents to save digitally or email. It also has built-in fax functionality to send and receive faxes without a separate fax machine. These features make it an all-in-one printer suitable for any home office.

• Auto Duplex Printing: The auto duplex printing feature allows you to easily print on both sides of the paper, saving paper and cutting down on waste. Just load the paper and the printer will automatically print on both sides without having to manually flip the pages.

• LCD Display: The 2.5 inch LCD display on the Artisan 50 allows you to preview photos before printing and access the printer's menu and settings easily. The display makes it straightforward to choose the right print mode, paper type, quality setting and more for your specific printing needs.

Ease of Use

The Artisan 50 is designed to be very easy to set up and use. The initial setup process is straightforward, with clear instructions in the user manual. Simply remove the protective materials, load the ink cartridges, install the software, and run the print head alignment. The whole process takes about 10 minutes.

Once set up, the Artisan 50 is very easy to maintain. The ink cartridges are accessible from the front and easy to replace. The printer software alerts you when ink is running low. Cleaning and aligning the print head can be done right from the printer software as needed to maintain excellent print quality.

The included printer driver software has an intuitive interface that makes printing very simple. You can easily select print settings like paper type, quality, layout, double-sided printing, and more right from the driver. The software also gives you access to utility functions like head cleaning and nozzle checks. Overall, the Artisan 50 provides a seamless printing experience for home users.

Pros

Epson's Artisan 50 has several key advantages that make it a top choice for home printing needs:

• Print Quality: The Artisan 50 produces sharp, vivid prints with excellent color accuracy. It uses Claria ink that delivers lab-quality photos and laser-sharp text documents. Images have superb detail and documents are crisp.

• Wireless Connectivity: The printer has built-in Wi-Fi for cable-free printing from smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Setting up the wireless connection is quick and hassle-free. You can print from anywhere in the home.

• Compact Size: Despite its printing prowess, the Artisan 50 has a surprisingly small footprint. It measures just 17.4 x 13.7 x 7.4 inches, making it easy to fit on a desk or shelf, even in tight spaces. The sleek, low-profile design has modern aesthetics.

Cons

• The Epson Artisan 50 is more expensive than comparable printers. Many comparable printers sell for under $100, while the Artisan 50 retails for around $130. The higher cost can be hard to justify for casual users who just need basic printing capabilities.

• Ink cartridges are pricey and don't last very long. Users report the ink runs out quickly, sometimes after printing fewer than 200 pages. Replacement ink cartridges cost around $13 each from Epson, which can really add up over time. This makes it a poor choice for high volume printing.

• Print speed is quite slow compared to other similarly priced printers. According to reviews, the Artisan 50 only prints at approximately 5 pages per minute for black text and slightly slower for color prints. Many sub-$100 printers print twice as fast, so this can feel glacially slow. The slow print speed makes it a frustrating option for printing longer documents.

Conclusion

The Epson Artisan 50 is a compact and stylish inkjet printer that delivers impressive photo printing quality in a small form factor. It is easy to set up, and features a 2.5 inch LCD screen for previewing images before printing.

Overall, the Artisan 50 produces vibrant and detailed prints at resolutions up to 5760 x 1440 dpi when using Epson's Claria Hi-Definition ink. The six individual ink cartridges allow you to only replace the color that runs out. Connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB and memory card slots provide versatility.

For home users looking for a premium photo printer that doesn't take up much space, the Epson Artisan 50 is an excellent choice. It delivers professional quality photo printing in a stylish and compact design. The main drawbacks are high ink costs over time, and lack of an automatic document feeder for copying and scanning multiple pages. But for photos, cards, CDs and specialty media, the Artisan 50 produces stunning results worthy of displaying and framing.

In summary, the Epson Artisan 50 is highly recommended for anyone who wants to print borderless, gallery-quality photos at home, without sacrificing style or desk space. It is a top-tier photo printer in a small package.