Customer Reviews

Brother P-Touch 1500PC Labeling System

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Having read all the reviews on the P-touch 1500PC I was almost afraid to buy it. In spite of that, once I cut through the plastic armor it came packaged in there were zero problems. I use a Mac with OS X 10.3.8. The software and drivers installed effortlessly. the applications are very professionally done--almost gltizy cool. Moreover, they work first time right out of the box. In less than 10 min I was making plain labels. I have only tried the sample tape but it does what I bought this for. I have played with the software and while I can't be sure that fancy labels will print, they are easy to make and look good on the screen. I give the software a 5 and the machine a 5 for simplicity and ease of use.

I like the P-Touch 1500PC very much. I had a P-Touch 2500 for years but it was not compatible with my new Mac running OS 10.5.4. I bought the 1500 because I had such good luck with the 2500 and all the label tapes I had fit the 1500.

I had a particular job in mind. I got the PT-1500PC and within an hour the labels I needed were designed and printed. The software is no more difficult to use or learn than any other graphics layout and publishing software. The printer uses standard Brother TZ Tapes and the tape requirements are printed right on the side of the printer to make reordering easy. The see through window leaves no doubt as to the installed tape and the software will confirm the width of the loaded tape. Tape changes are very easy. If you are doing a run of labels print them in a long strip and cut them apart with scissors. That cuts down on the waste a lot. The labels look professional and are durable. There is a good selection of clip art and you can even print calenders, bar codes and tables. This is a very nice machine with flexible and surprisingly powerful software.

Although the software was a bit klunky I loved this printer. It's no more wasteful of tape than others (which is still too much, I agree) and I was thrilled to be able to compose labels from my keyboard.

Sadly, when I upgraded to Mac OS X 10.3 something went awry and the printer now prints only blank labels. I emailed Brother about this in early November, 2003, and was told that the problem is that Mac OS X changes a lot in each release and they keep finding their driver doesn't work anymore. No idea when it will be fixed; I just checked and there are still no updated drivers available on their website. They can't be trying very hard; I don't know of any other printer having this problem.

So, this is a great product unless you run OS X! Since odds are that even if they get it fixed, when 10.4 comes out it will happen all over again.... :(

I had one of these at work and needed another one. Very nice compact unit, small footprint. Software is pretty easy to understand and use.

I use it to label hospital equipment but there is no limit to what you can use it for.

The one I originally got is 5 years old now and still works like a charm.

The software (P-touch Editor 3.2 and P-touch Quick Editor) are the weak point for this printer in Mac OSX 10.X. I can't print from the Brother software, but I can choose the printer in other applications such as Adobe Illustrator and print from there. Not a convenient work around, but at least I can get the thing to print. You can make up your own mind about whether to buy it or not, but if you have one already, I hope this helps.

This labler works good once you get it to work. It has a terrible communication problem between with the PC which should be blamed on the driver. I got it to work once long ago on a IBM PC (Ibm laptop and Dell laptop unsuccessful) and it worked fine. Even though initially it is hard to get acustomed to the formating and style, it is easy to use once you have a few layouts saved.

I would still rate this as a bad buy! If you can get it to work, you are lucky...if you cant, you just wasted a lot of money.

Upgraded to Windows 2000 Professional and the printer will not work. Spoke with Brother and they told me it was a Windows 2000 problem, that nothing was wrong with their software, then have thousands installed . . . Brother's Customer Service would not take a "Problem Report" and could offer no advise . . . just it's Windows 2000 fault . . . sorry, this is a wrong answer.

This is a discontinued model. Do not see any new Brother Label Printers that work with Mac. The printer driver will not work with 10.7 (Lion).

I've owned my 1500PC since 2002 and it's had very light use as a home-based labeler. During that time I doubt that I've run more than 5 rolls of tape though it in total.

On the positive side, it is an incredibly useful printer and makes professional-looking labels so easy...that even a caveman could do it! (...my apologies to GEICO)

On the negative side the durability of this device is not very good even considering my light usage. I noticed pixels dropping out last year and now the unit is no longer functional. Perhaps I got a bad one, or one that was used more frequently would have a longer life than mine, I don't know.

With that said, I'm buying another 1500PC to replace my dead one even taking into consideration the longevity issues. Hopefully Brother has worked out the bugs and this one will be around a little longer. It's a great device and very easy to use. I've used it with no problems in Windows 98, 2000 Professional and XP. I would have given the 1500PC 5 stars if my original unit lasted longer!