Brother P-Touch PC Connectable Label Maker 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.

Good product

La empleo en mi negocio, es una forma accesisble y muy buena, con buena presentación de generar etiquetas, todavía tengo la primera pero es tan buena esta serie de etiquetadoras que aprovechando el precio compré una segunda, esta. Muy bien por Brother mi marca preferida para impresión por confiable, productoa que duran, sean estas o laser o inyección.