Paper grades? Best for an ink jet?

[Desslok]

Anyone here familar with the different paper grades and which is best for an ink jet?

Thanks

 

[Angrymarshmello]

What do you mean paper grades? Like weight/brightness?

You have your basic, crap 20lb/84 brightness copy paper. Cheapest stuff you can buy, runs $2-$3 a ream, $20 a case. It's flimsy, thin, and transparent. Sucks for color, and it's extremely dull.

Next up is multipurpose, usually 20lb/90 brightness. Meant to go in copiers/faxes/ink jets, same thin flimsy paper, just slightly brighter for more vibrant text/colors. A little better than copy paper but not by much.

Normal ink jet paper is usually 24lb/90+ brightness. Paper thickness is definetly thicker, feels a lot better in your hand and depending on the brand, the surface may be smoother. Colors don't bleed at all from my experience. Plain text looks a lot better, pictures/color stuff looks fantastic.

Premium ink jet papyer is usually 24lb/97+ brightness. The brightest I've seen is 110+, made by Kodak, runs about $8.99 a ream. After about 97 or so the difference in brightness is rather hard to differentiate. I'm currently using 97 (Georgia Pacific) and everyone who sees the stuff I print out on it (just an old Deskjet 812c) remarks at how great it looks on the ultra white paper, compared to the bland and kind of blah 84 brightness copy paper. AFAIK, only HP and Kodak make 100+ brightness paper - HP's highest brightness is 108 iirc.

I will say this - once you go to normal/premium, you will NEVER EVER go back to copy paper or even normal IJ paper. The difference in the two is night and day. I'll pay a premium if it means better quality paper. To me it's a significant difference.

Oh - you might see 28/32lb paper at the store - that's laser paper. Seems to work alright in an IJ from my experience but it's made for a laser for a specific reason, better to just use the IJ specific paper

 

[Desslok]

Thanks for the great info Angry.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

np, hope I answered your question. I sold paper for over 4 years so I know the stuff pretty well

 

[xXgambitXx]

Originally posted by: Angrymarshmello
np, hope I answered your question. I sold paper for over 4 years so I know the stuff pretty well

same here, been part time at an office supply store for a little over 4 years and because of it i've turned into a snob about paper for my printer. i'm using some Georgia Pacific 24# and it's been working great.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: Angrymarshmello
np, hope I answered your question. I sold paper for over 4 years so I know the stuff pretty well

Do they still rate the 'rag content' in good stationary?

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Originally posted by: xXgambitXx

Originally posted by: Angrymarshmello
np, hope I answered your question. I sold paper for over 4 years so I know the stuff pretty well

same here, been part time at an office supply store for a little over 4 years and because of it i've turned into a snob about paper for my printer. i'm using some Georgia Pacific 24# and it's been working great.

What store? I had 2.5 years at OMAX and 1.5 at Staples (approx). It's amazing at how frugal people are with printer paper. They'll buy a $300 printer, cartridges, surge protector, but get the cheapest POS ream of copy paper. I've had many a customer who I've recommended the premium stuff to come back and tell me how much they love it. The GP 97/24 is great stuff, even better than the 92/24. (Don't know what brightness you're using, but the 97 is great)

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Originally posted by: Cyberian

Originally posted by: Angrymarshmello
np, hope I answered your question. I sold paper for over 4 years so I know the stuff pretty well

Do they still rate the 'rag content' in good stationary?

Not sure what you mean by good stationary - resume paper? Maybe a particular brand or two, but all the stuff we sold probably wouldn't qualify as "good" because none of them listed rag content. The only thing they listed was cotton content, (25%, 100%) weight, texture, recycled content, (if any) and acid-free or not. I think i recall some paper listing rag content at OMAX but this was years ago

 

[xXgambitXx]

Originally posted by: Angrymarshmello


What store? I had 2.5 years at OMAX and 1.5 at Staples (approx). It's amazing at how frugal people are with printer paper. They'll buy a $300 printer, cartridges, surge protector, but get the cheapest POS ream of copy paper. I've had many a customer who I've recommended the premium stuff to come back and tell me how much they love it. The GP 97/24 is great stuff, even better than the 92/24. (Don't know what brightness you're using, but the 97 is great)

omax. ass pay but flexible for my class schedule. it's funny how people don't realize the difference the paper makes. it doesn't matter how nice the printer is, if you're using "cheapo office max brand copy paper" than the prints are going to be lame.