If you print a lot of label for files or mailings , feature a consecrated label printer can be a useful addition to your post . I like these type of printers because I do n’t have to impress a varsity letter - size plane full of labels when I only want one or two . While labelmaker manufacturer Dymo bring out Mac software system for its LabelWriter 330 Turbo ( , March 2004 ) a while ago , Seiko recently released a Mac driver for its Smart Label Printer 410 , 420 , and 430 printers . So I took a look at the 430 model to see what it has to offer Mac users . But because of trouble with print quality and the design of the hardware and software package , I ca n’t recommend it .
Hardware design
The Smart Label Printer 430 take care advanced , with a cylindrical label - spool orbit and a silky , lightly curved front panel . To load blank recording label , you move up the cylindrical part of the printing machine , load label onto a spool , and launch the end of the recording label roll through the back of the printer . You must remember to squeeze together the two plastic guides so your label publish with proper text alignment ( I waste many label because I neglect this footmark ! ) . Once loaded , the recording label come through the front of the printer automatically . With narrow , file folder recording label , I had to let a twain of labels get along through the front of the printer before they would derive through directly and publish with right alignment .
Software needs work
The Seiko software look easy to use , and in world-wide , it is . ( I calculate at variation 1.1 for this review . ) But I still had problem . When I tried to spell a pill - delimited Excel file containing address , some of my labels printed with info missing . A 20 - arcminute call to technical school support ( 12 minute of which were spent on hold ) did n’t help . Only a conversation with one of the software program ’s developers — not a typical exploiter ’ experience — illuminated the problem . Apparently , I had changed the battlefield information to match my Excel document ’s row headers while importing the data , as prompted , not after the data were already import .
My other major charge : The package does n’t support Internet stamp . The Dymo Label Writer does , with the service of Internet postage stamp software system Endicia ( antecedently SwordfishExpress : , December 2004 ) .
Print quality
The Smart Label Printer 430 is debauched , but it ’s also a little forte ( although so is the Dymo Label Writer 330 Turbo ) . This is likely because of the thermal - printing technology both theoretical account expend . But the Smart Label ’s text seem jaggy and discrepant ( some letter are blue than others and diagonal job look pixelated ) , even when I pose the print calibre to High . I was n’t well-to-do printing name tag for a professional get - together on this printer .
Macworld’s buying advice
If you ’re look for a consecrated recording label printer , the Seiko Smart Label Printer 430 is n’t the good alternative . Its quality is n’t on equivalence with what many Mac user expect , and it ’s more expensive than the competition . I intimate that you take a look at Dymo ’s substantial credit line of offering instead .
[ Jennifer Berger isMacworld ’s senior reexamination editor . ]
