General-purpose printers capable of producing quality photos are few and far between at this price point. The Espon XP-15000 Inkjet printer appears to nail this, with its six-color dye-based ink. This goes beyond your standard home printer, with support for borderless printing up to A3+. Overall running costs could be fairly high for some, so it would be wise for potential buyers to take advantage of the photo printing aspect to some degree. The XP-15000 has been a joy to use when testing out various art prints and high-resolution photographs, showcasing a lot of detail and vibrancy.
- Printer Output: Color
- Printer Type: InkJet
- Connectivity Technology: USB, WiFi Direct, Cloud Printing
- Duplex Printing: Yes
If you are looking for a general-purpose printer that can deliver high-quality photo printing, the XP-15000 is a great option. With support for borderless printing up to A3+ and a relatively affordable price point, it is hard to ignore.
- Produces vibrant color prints on glossy photo paper and matte
- Allows for borderless printing up to A3+
- 6 color ink set works very well
- Small and lightweight relative to functionality
- Small ink cartridges may limit the amount of large format color prints (more suited to smaller sized photo printing)
- Not as good for BW photo printing
- Not the fastest
What’s in the box & initial setup
- Epson XP-15000 color printer
- 6x ink cartridges (C, M, Y, K, G, R)
- AC power cable
- Setup guide and warranty
- Software (CD)
The printer is very easy to set up, it’s a plug-and-play job then you just need to install the 6 ink cartridges and connect yourself to the wifi. When installing the software, which isn’t required, you are asked if you would like to register but it isn’t enforced. There are multiple places to feed paper from, the cassette at the bottom and the rear feed which is needed for A3/ A3+. I also preferred using the back feeder for thicker cardstock and printing 4×6 photos.
As mentioned you will need to install the ink yourself but is straightforward and there are some easy-to-follow instructions too. The top panel lifts up to reveal the internals, with the 6 slots for ink to the right. As a 6-ink printer (Claria Photo HD), you are going to get far better results for your art prints and photos than a standard CYMK printer. Of course, there are better options out there but those tend to cost twice as much.
The running costs are going to be slightly higher than your average home printer or ET model but this is the trade-off for higher-quality photo printing. While capable of A3, you may want to limit this to save on ink.
Design
Overall, the Espon XP-15000 is a pretty basic-looking printer but it packs a lot into a small-ish space. This is 370mm across, with a height of 159mm and a depth of 479mm. This should fit most home office setups, but you need to ensure you have room for the rear paper tray and the front printing tray that protrude during the printing process. Considering what this can do, I’d say it is a pretty compact size. Furthermore, this is quite lightweight at around 8.5KG, which is similar to quite a few multi-function home printers.
The input tray at the bottom can hold around 200 sheets / up to 50 photo sheets. The rear feed can hold 50 sheets of paper. the maximum paper weight is 300 GSM and it handles it fairly well but more on that later. For duplex printing, it is limited to 90GSM. CD printing is supported on this too, which sits just beneath the bottom cassette.
Display
The display is clear and easy to read, albeit a little on the small side (2.4″). The entire panel swivels up to operate at various heights or from a stand-up position. Unfortunately, this isn’t a touch screen but the navigation buttons are all responsive and easy enough to use, however, wifi passwords can be a bit of an annoyance. The internal menus are all easy to understand, with some options such as “print head nozzle check” showing instructions too.
Printing results & speed
As you may expect from an Inkjet, the print quality was fantastic – especially with photos. This performed exceptionally well on glossy paper and matte from 4×6 all the way up to A3. This was my first time using a 6-ink printer featuring the Claria Ultra HD inks and it was great. The color vibrancy was excellent and the blacks were notably dark. While BW photo prints are somewhat possible and look ok it slightly fell short here but when you consider the price it did fairly well. To increase the color gamut and grayscale in this over its predecessor, Epson replaced the light cyan and light magenta inks with red and gray. Every test print looked pretty darn good with superb detail and accuracy.
I tried out some 300GSM cardstock (the limit listed in the specifications) and it performed fairly well. The printer at one point fed through a blank sheet instead of the spooled job and it didn’t like a single sheet in the bottom tray but aside from that everything went as expected.
This is rated for around 29ppm and while that may not be the quickest, the emphasis on this is quality, and unless you are in a rush that isn’t a con. The XP-15000 is capable of borderless, CD, canvas, and panoramic printing, making it perfect for any creative looking to share or showcase their personal artwork and photography.
Specifications
- Printing Technology: Inkjet
- Maximum Print Resolution: 5760 x 1440
- Ink Type: Dye-based ink cartridges (Claria Photo HD)
- Operating Systems: Windows & Mac Compatible (Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X Version 10.6 to 13 (Ventura) )
- Dimensions (W x D x H): 479mm x 159mm x 370mm
- Weight: 8.5kg
- Connectivity: USB, Network & Wireless
- Other: Epson Connect (iPrint, Email Print, Remote Print Driver), Apple AirPrint, Epson Creative Print App
- Paper Sizes: A3+, A4, B5, A3, A5, A6, C6 (Envelope), DL (Envelope), No. 10 (Envelope), Letter, 10 x 15 cm, 13 x 18 cm, 16:9, Letter Legal, 9 x 13 cm, 13 x 20 cm, 20 x 25 cm / Standard Tray: Custom Sizes (89 x 127 to 215.9 x 1200 mm) / Manual Feed: Custom Sizes (54 x 86 to 329 x 1200 mm)
- Paper Types: Plain Paper, Inkjet Paper, Copy Paper, Glossy Photo, Matte Photo, Semi-Gloss Photo, Photo Stickers, Iron-On Cool Peel Transfer Paper, Envelopes, Fine Art Paper, Suitable CD/DVD
- Input Paper Capacity: 250 sheets
- Display: 2.4″ color screen
Is the Epson XP-15000 worth it?
Epson Expression XP-15000
Printer Output
Color
Printer Type
InkJet
Connectivity Technology
USB, WiFi Direct, Cloud Printing
Duplex Printing
Yes
If you are searching for a printer that can take care of your general printed needs but also excels in photo printing, the Epson XP-15000 is an ideal candidate. High-end art/ photo printers are quite expensive but the XP-15000 is relatively quite affordable and compact for what you get. While I experienced no jams or issues whatsoever, it didn’t print as effectively at 300GSM. Still, this produces quality prints, especially on glossy and matte paper, and is a welcomed addition to anyone’s home office.
