USB 2 vs ethernet for Epson 3880

<p>All, I have just purchased an Epson 3880. I have the option of USB 2 vs. Ethernet connection. I would appreciate your thoughts on using the USB vs. Ethernet to connect to my PC. I have a Velocity Micro i7 3.03 GHz with 12 gigs of DDR3 ram. This is a home system for fine art work only with no plans to network the printer. The specs I have seen on the internet indicate that USB 2 is faster but I am interested in what the realities are from those who have experience. Also does one interface allow for a longer cable than the other. Thanks Andy</p>

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<p>I don't believe the 3880 will print any faster with either connection. The ethernet can be connected at a much greater distance that the USB2. Not sure the exact length on USB but I think performace suffers at much past 10 feet. One advantage to the USB is it's a much easier setup than ethernet.</p>

<p>Ethernet would allow you to place the scanner anywhere on your network, many feet/meters from the PC. But that doesn't make it easy to use!</p>

<p>If you're not networking the scanner, and have no plans to allow other PCs to access it, just use USB for a direct connection to the PC that the image scanning/manipulation software is installed on.</p>

<p>Thanks Don, ten feet for USB 2 is long enough to easily accomodate my set up.</p>

<p>I believe the USB connection is probably faster than an ethernet cable, but it doesn't really matter with a printer, which will print at a much slower rate than it will receive data via either cable. The main advantage of the ethernet cable is longer usable cable length, up to 300 feet on a network with Cat5e cable. The longest practical USB cable lenth is about 16 feet.</p>

<p>(Don and Larry beat me to it...)</p>

<p>Any difference in speed of USB v. ethernet would be inconsequential compared to the amount of time a fairly large file will take to print. <br>

You say ethernet, but do you mean wifi (as opposed to a direct ethernet cable connection to your PC)? I use my 3880 via wifi and notice no difference in print speed. It's great.</p>

<p>Thanks Larry, are you by chance the author of the "How To Photograph" book series. Andy</p>

<p>Brian, Thanks. I thought about but failed to mention that am not going to use a wireless set up. I am only going to use direct cable. Andy</p>

<p>Direct connect via ethernet will also require a secondary network card and a crossover cable.</p>

<p>[[i don't believe the 3880 will print any faster with either connection.]]</p>

<p>Indeed. PPM does not depend on the speed of the connection here.</p>

 

<p>I like ethernet on my 3880 because it allows me to print from multiple computers without having to have a host server up and running, and it allows me to monitor the printer's activity/status from other computers on the network. May not be an issue for some folks, but it's nice to be able to pop a laptop onto the houseful WiFi and use the printer from the next room without having to fuss about it.</p>

<p>Speed isn’t the issue really, the bottleneck is the printer itself. I prefer Ethernet because then multiple machines can print to the 3880. With USB, just one. </p>

<p>I use Ethernet, because it allows me printing from my several computers wirelessly. I tried the USB connection too and both are fast enough to feed the printer with data, so that the actual printing is the bottleneck.<br>

If you have only one desktop computer and distance is not an issue, USB will be easier to set up.</p>

<p>Thanks all. I appreciate the advice. The printer is sitting down stairs waiting for me to remove the packing tape and set it up. I am excited about this upgrade over my 13 wide printer and will use the six feet long USB cord that I already own until I have an opportunity to get one that is ten feet long. Again thanks. Andy</p>