Newbie help on printer choice, follow-up

[PatStreet@aol.com]

Hi again, 
I^ñm the "need newbie help choosing a printer" artist. I had asked about a 
printer/archival-inks/archival-paper combo to best print small digital prints 
in my studio. Thanks very much to everybody who took the time to make 
suggestions.  I was hoping for a few more responses before summing up and 
asking a couple of further (I dare not say "final") questions, but the group 
seems to have moved on to other topics. :-)  So, here goes:

PRINTER: I^ñve about decided on an Epson 3000, "the industry standard."  Jerry 
was leaning toward suggesting the 1200 for me, but I couldn^ñt quite tell why 
that would suit my needs better than the 3000.  Can I get someone to do a 
quick comparison of the two (cost, what inks and papers it will take, 
sharpness of printout, ease of use)?  By the way, someone (probably Jerry) 
said that I would be impressed with the sharpness of the 3000 if printed out 
at 1440 dpi. Another beginner question: What resolution should my FILE be at 
in ppi to print out at 1440 and get really sharp small text and fine lines?  

ARCHIVAL INKSET: I am undecided about Lysonic vs. Fotonic. I^ñm leaning 
towards Fotonic, from the descriptions of it I've read on this list--25-30 
years^ñ longevity seems fine to me, and with the improved gamut over Lysonic, 
I might be happy with the color range, too. Does this make sense? Will 
Fotonic inks be available for the 3000? Has anyone tried them, and if so, 
what archival papers did you get good results with?

ARCHIVAL PAPER: A friend and I printed out some files on her 3000 with 
Lysonic inks on Somerset Velvet and yes, we basically got the muddy green 
mess that Jon recently mentioned.  Is this less apt to happen with Concorde 
paper?  I like that Concorde is supposedly whiter than Velvet, but I would 
also like to use paper that is fairly smooth. (Note:  Once I decide on 
inkset, paper, etc., and am getting consistent acceptable, crisp, clean, 
fairly true-to-color results, I would probably want to stick with that 
combination and not switch around to different inksets and papers and 
settings.)

PROFILE: Something Jon Cone said recently made a lot of sense to me:  "if you 
want great results fast and consistently - a profile may be worth the cost! 
>From experience, I find that profiles pay for themselves quite quickly from 
the time saved."  What sort of profile should I use? Do I need one?  I am in 
rather over my head, and would need something that a beginner can set up and 
get to work.

Thanks everybody, I really appreciate your generous help. :-)
Pat Street
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