Brother PT-P700

There are some reviews here that look at this thing as incredibly complicated or a pain to set up. It is neither of these, and was actually quite easy to set up. Using my Windows 10 machine, I first went to the Brother P-Touch website and downloaded the full software drivers and installation package. When I ran the setup, it instructed me to plug in the printer at the correct time it needed it. The setup went flawlessly. I ran the software updater tool which updated the firmware on my PT-700, including the express software on the included partition. Super easy. The P-Touch Editor 5.2 software is fairly straightforward to use. There's a lot of options available. I would say it is not naturally intuitive. You can pick up any Brother P-Touch standalone label maker and understand how to use it fairly easily. The software here takes a little bit of time to learn. In the Express mode, you click on the paper settings to specify the tape width, length (or auto), margins, and orientation. You then click the large A to enter text mode, and a text box is automatically created on the label. Enter what you want, press Enter for new lines. The software will let you add infinite lines, but your practical limit based on printer resolution is really 7-10 lines at 3.5 pt font each. You can then select the Frame option, pick whatever frames you want (including specialty ones). You might have to go back and adjust label width if a frame doesn't fit. You can also add clip art or images to your label. I took the profile picture of my significant other, made it into a label with hearts on it as a gift. The Layout option lets you change where object boxes line up on the screen. You have to click the frame of that object to get it to accept those commands. The benefit of an object box editor like this is that it makes things easier when you're doing database connections. Brother has a good video detailing how to do this on their Youtube page. Basically, you can connect any database or CSV file and link fields on the form to specific object boxes, and line those up wherever is needed on the label. You could automate mailing address labels this way, or name and ID labels for sign in sheets or something. The possibilities are endless. Also, with this printer sitting on my desk, I have to say this is one of the sexiest office appliances I've owned yet. The white and black contrast looks great. The unit is weighted well so it doesn't fall over. And you can add batteries which stabilize it even more and provide some backup power. The printer does spit out a 1 inch segment before printing to ensure that the tape is properly fed before printing. It's an unavoidable part of the design, and only wastes like 3 cents. Not a big deal. The only problem I have with the printer is putting new cartridges in and out requires opening the side, like an old Walkman cassette player. But that's an unavoidable problem considering the form factor. Overall, this is a great printer, and I have no regrets buying it for $30 used after someone returned it who hated it. Great buy!

I have read very little about using this with a Mac. But what I HAVE heard from other reviews, made this a painless experience for me. I have a Macbook Pro running Yosemite, 10.10. And this machine works flawlessly ONCE YOU TURN OFF THE Plite button on the top. That thing defaults to on when first plugged in. Turn it off by holding the button down until the light goes out, and it stays off. This prevents the device from using the onboard software. When you put the DVD in the (external, of course) drive on your Mac, you are basically presented with a link to download the software and drivers. I simply installed everything on offer from the page I was taken to. And... everything works exactly as it should. 1" of waste for each print job: I asked the company about this, and have finally heard an explanation. It is not just to sell more tape as it seems. It is, sadly, an integral part of the lamination/fuse process. The process cannot begin at the very end that was just cut. It isn't a perfect system, but the cost of doing it this way just isn't THAT high. Best way to save tape is to print multiples at a time - assuming you want more than one. IF you want different labels, just create one long label with all the stuff you want, and print that out instead of individual labels for each item. Worst thing you can do is print a bunch of labels that you've screwed up and have to throw away. So use Preview, and be sure all your goodies are inside the little box in the template so you don't have truncated text and graphics... and don't sweat the bit of waste at the beginning of each print job. When it is time to order new tapes (I did immediately, and love the high-strength adhesive stuff) - order them from Amazon after using the handy little guide that comes in the package with the printer. Search on the tape number. The chart that comes with the device makes this very easy. Oh, and one final thing... I have other Brother Label makers that use TZ tapes... and I have a LOT of TZ tapes, I thought they'd work here, but maybe not be auto-size sensing? Wrong. The tapes must be TZe, dang it. NONE of my old tapes will work in this machine. Pretty sad because I'm not sure what the "e" gives me beyond auto size-sensing. And I REALLY don't need it to know I've got a 1/2" tape in there. I can read and click that button myself. But the TZ tapes will not physically fit in the machine due to the additional tab that the "e" adds to these things with little contacts that provides the data. Let me know if you need a great label maker that works with Windows and TZ tapes! :sigh: Bottom line is that because others have suffered to alert me to how it will work with the Mac, my experience has been flawless except for having to buy all new tapes again. I have other Brother Printers, but none of them would work on the Mac, so the entire reason I purchased this was to work with my current computer. And... yay. It does. Perfectly.

First, like everyone else has said, due to the design of the cartridge tapes, it has to waste some before and after. I don't find this to be a big deal though, and I just deal with it. If I have a lot of labels to print, I just print them all at once on a long strip, and cut them out separately. I like the simplicity of this label maker with the use of batteries and the easy interface. It is easy to print labels wherever I want using a laptop. I only bought genuine brother tape cartridges due to the reviews I kept reading of some that were using 3rd party ones having problems. I haven't had a single issue with any of the brother tape that I've tried. I used to use a handheld label maker, and I much prefer to be able to type and use the computer interface. I know the 750 can do the half-way cut to make multiple labels at once easier, but I didn't want all of the extra wireless connectivity, as I actually prefer to just connect with USB. I think this is a great option for those who want to type and just connect by USB.

When I was considering purchasing this printer I read several reviews with complaints about the waste generated by the printer, cutting off a one inch piece of tape before every label printed. While I did find this to be true out of the box, I've found a work-around that will reduce the waste to one print session, rather than each printed label. If you click on the check mark icon just to the right of the Print button and check the box for Chain Printing (see attached screenshot), the printer will take an initial cut for calibration (1" unprinted piece) and then print all your labels except one, waiting to cut it until your next print command (see attached pic). You can then open or create your next label and print it without the calibration cut, cutting your final label from your last print command instead. Then, when you're done with the final label, just push the scissors icon (cut) button in the P-touch toolbar or on the printer itself. I'm much happier with this printer, now that this issue is resolved and like the print quality much better than my previous handheld printer by a different popular brand. One other tip, install the printer driver before connecting the printer to your computer. I installed it after connecting the printer and my Windows 10 OS installed a generic driver and installing the driver on the CD didn't fix it, initially. It took me several minutes trying to figure out why my PC couldn't find the printer. It wasn't in the Printers & Scanners list and when I tried to add it, the PC couldn't find it. I finally found it in the Devices and Printers list under Unspecified Devices. After going to it's properties and clicking Update Driver, if found the driver I installed from the CD and the PC then recognized it as a printer.

I bought this PC USB connected label printer to replace a handheld brother label maker. The handheld unit worked nicely but I found the small display to be very difficult to read, and the operation to be a bit difficult. This PC version is so much easier to use, has more capability, uses the same excellent TZ style tape and can be battery powered for easy movement between computers. No software install is required, the device appears on the computer as a disk drive that contains the label making editor (lite version) program. Super easy, works really well, and making the labels on screen with a real keyboard is just so much easier than fussing with the handheld unit. If you want to make more complicated labels you have the option of installing the full version of the label editing software on your computer, but so far I have found the light version which requires no install to be perfectly adequate for my needs. This unit has made making labels fast and easy, and I recommend it highly.

Works great, easy to connect and if you want to you don't need to install the software. Looks great. Its a really good looking product, feels well made too. Its big, not quite portable, it comes with a AC adapter so I won't even think in put batteries in there. You can contact this to your Mac and start to print labels right away, no "easy 15 steps" to follow, just plug, type and print. Can handle almost every kind and size of TZ (or TZe) labels, useful if you need the extra strength ones. CONS: The one thing that I don't understand is why my old P-90 can do things that this top of the line labeler can't. For example in the P-90 I used a command (just one) to generate labels for cables, just type a word, enter the length and the P-90 automatically creates a label with 2 lines of text (one on each direction) and the text you entered is repeated trough the length you chose. So far, on the P-700 you need to do this by hand!! Brother make this labeler able to actually replace your entry level models and I will give you 5 stars

Damn thing works great. I upgraded from a P Touch handheld- it worked well, too, but I needed a lot of plant labels and got behind trying to produce them one at a time. What a difference just importing a spreadsheet of 37 at once! Print, cut, print, cut, one after the other. And the .94 size fits zinc metal plant stakes perfectly, vs 2 strips each time with the handheld model’s width limits. Exactly the convenient personal solution I needed. Worth every penny.

EXCELLENT label maker. You MUST have a pc to connect to to use this label maker. The machine has 2 functions: 1 is "Lite" mode...no software required, just plug it in, and it show up as a drive letter you click on. The 2nd mode is for more serious stuff using the software that comes with it. Easy as using "Word". An editor comes up that allows you to choose fonts, font sizes, and automatically adjusts font for extra line text. You can insert icons, pictures, print bar codes, change orientation on the fly....just about anything you can with Word. Machine also takes several different tape widths, and adjusts to the width automatically, and cuts labels automatically. . The ONLY con I can find is that there is extra unused tape (about an inch) before and after print on each label....I believe this done so the label extends enough from the machine when cut. Either deal with the extra bit of label, or trim them yourself. Not a big issue. This makes the older keyboard label makers look stone aged. Update 2024: Still working like new. 3rd party replacement cartridges can be found on that auction site for pennies on the dollar vs Brother brand.