Best ink-jet printer for *MATTE* prints?

I'm a design student and I've been with my old trusty Epson 1280 for
years now and it's served me well... until it died last year. Warranty
has been long gone and I don't think sending it away for repairs would
be ideal for me (it's kinda too beat-up now and I'm better off getting
a new printer). Nonetheless, I think it's time for an upgrade (or not,
more on that later...) and I've narrowed it down to three: the Canon
I9900, Epson R1800, or a new Epson 1280... again (yep, it's served me
well afterall). I've been google'ing around looking for all sorts of
opinions and reviews but none seem to address how they handle two
particular things I'm looking for: type quality and how prints look on
matte paper. The bulk of the discussion I come across deals with what's
better at glossy prints (where the R1800 seems to excel) and what's
better at retaining color over decades upon decades (R1800 again).
While for purely typographic treatments I always use my laser printer,
there are times when I'll be printing text along with graphics from
Adobe Indesign/Illustrator; the way the 1280 rendered text was always
acceptable for me on Epson matte paper heavyweight. So... to cut to the
chase, should I just get a 1280 again or is the extra 200 dollars or so
for an R1800/I9900 more than worth it? If so, should I go for the R1800
or the I9900?

64hundred RemoveThis @gmail.com wrote:
> I'm a design student and I've been with my old trusty Epson 1280 for
> years now and it's served me well... until it died last year. Warranty
> has been long gone and I don't think sending it away for repairs would
> be ideal for me (it's kinda too beat-up now and I'm better off getting
> a new printer). Nonetheless, I think it's time for an upgrade (or not,
> more on that later...) and I've narrowed it down to three: the Canon
> I9900, Epson R1800, or a new Epson 1280... again (yep, it's served me
> well afterall). I've been google'ing around looking for all sorts of
> opinions and reviews but none seem to address how they handle two
> particular things I'm looking for: type quality and how prints look on
> matte paper. The bulk of the discussion I come across deals with what's
> better at glossy prints (where the R1800 seems to excel) and what's
> better at retaining color over decades upon decades (R1800 again).
> While for purely typographic treatments I always use my laser printer,
> there are times when I'll be printing text along with graphics from
> Adobe Indesign/Illustrator; the way the 1280 rendered text was always
> acceptable for me on Epson matte paper heavyweight. So... to cut to the
> chase, should I just get a 1280 again or is the extra 200 dollars or so
> for an R1800/I9900 more than worth it? If so, should I go for the R1800
> or the I9900?

Neither go for the Epson 2400 and get some good matte paper. Epson
heavy weight matte is an OK paper but fine art stocks are better.

Tom