I'm glad to hear Erik give such glowing reviews to Canon printers as I have read consistently good reviews of their products. However my printers are old school Epsons and when I upgrade it will probably be to the 7600 for wide format print (24"). I currently limp along with an Epson 3000 now and would never suggest anyone buy one...ever. It was state of the art twelve years ago but now...
As I looked at the two printers you mention, it seems to me that there are several big differences. Six ink vs. seven ink capacities, 48 vs. 96 individual nozzles per jet yielding a maximum resolution of 2880 x 720 vs. 2880 x 1440dpi. For me one of the biggest differences is the fact that the maximum paper thickness of the 1280 is 0.27mm vs. the 2200 which is 1.3mm because of the straight through paper path. That alone is enough to sway me.
What it means is that if you use Epson paper and ink combinations only on light to medium weight paper the 1280 will do fine. If you want to use more artsy papers (and there are some beauties available) go for the 2200.
Now Erik said,
One other thing: whatever you buy: steer clear from cheapo non-brand inks. Ninety-nine times out of one hundered a nuisance, and total loss. Not only of guarantee!
While this is not bad advice as a rule of thumb, my experience differs. On my day to day Epson, I use Ink4Art inks which are about one sixth the cost of regular Epson inks. I've never had a problem in the 4 years I've been using them.
Long ago I tried running an archival ink through my old Epson without using cleaning cartridges first and the jets clogged. I took my printer to the local service center and they restored full function by simply using cleaning cartridges (thus I learned about the difference between pigment and dye based inks). They told me that, although Epson advertised that you void your warranty etc., they privately told their service centers to work on the printers because they should work with any good ink. My gaffe was 'repaired' under warranty even though I told the technician that I was at fault. (Note that this may not be a universal experience.)
When it comes to archival inks, I've tried Generations, Epson, and MIS Supply. I'll stick with MIS supply because I like the gamut and they have continuous flow systems available for most Epsons. This means you are buying ink by the pint or larger and saving big bucks and cartridge hassle. MIS inks are fully pigmented as opposed to 'archival dye' inks. The result is that the gamut is somewhat less than dye based inks but I accommodate this by finishing my image in Photoshop, sending it to my printing computer and opening there in PS to tweak the colors via the Selective Color...option. I always boost the yellow which is the most difficult to create in a pigment ink and sometimes tweak others. It's a bit seat-of-the pants but I'm an artist and that's just fine with me, as long as I get the image I'm after.
Anyway, here's good basic info on the 'archival fetish' from the folks from whom I buy my paper.
http://www.inkjetmall.com/store/techsupport/ts-media-and-ink.html
Here's food for thought... Look at continuous flow systems.
http://www.inksupply.com/
Good Luck! I've spent many thousands of dollars and years learning to get good archival prints.
