Mac Question - How to get what you print to look like what is on the screen.

[rathoriel]

Our Marketing Dept just got 2 HP CP4525 color laser printers. They were having issues because what they printed didnt match the colors on the screen.
 
They Use Adobe Illustrator cs5, create the item in CMYK, export to a pdf in CMYK, and print CMYK. Since a screen is RGB suggested that they change the process from CMYK to RGB. It prints closer to what is on the screen but its still off and some colors dont match up too well (magenta being one).
 
Is there a cheap way to calibrate this? I have done some research, and there are also some devices that do this. Are these devices easy to use? If so could someone suggest a inexpensive one?

[mgz]

yea calibrating monitors and printers is a hassle have fun with that

[Reesebiz]

You can change the monitor profiles in Photoshop so you can have a better idea of what it will look like after printing. Even if you set the PS document to CMYK it won't look exactly like the print version.

I heard that if you go to Edit> Color Settings (Shift+Ctrl+K) you can pick a setting that works best for you. But that's all I know, hopefully that helps a little.

[temuchin]

scope out this guide to digital imaging: