An ink-jet printer having improved print quality and full color printing capability on plain paper media. To accommodate placement of both input and output media trays on the same side of the printer housing for operator convenience, a paper path with a direction reversal is employed. A low cost radiant print heater with a reflector cavity heats the medium at the print area to increase the ink carrier evaporation rate. The printer provides improved medium control at the print area through an arrangement of small diameter drive and tension shafts and shortened handoff distance between the rollers. The heater is disposed between the drive and tension rollers. To minimize the handoff distance, portions of the drive rollers extend into the reflector cavity. The resulting media advancement mechanism has low inertia, with improved media positioning accuracy.