| urchasing printers or multifunction copiers for an office, | | | | under the fixed printhead, and an ink system that can |
| trade-offs are typically made. Is the speed appropriate | | | | adapt to different requirements. The new ink contains |
| for a workgroup or a department? Is color or | | | | colorants that immobilize rapidly on the paper to ensure |
| monochrome output sufficient? If color, would ink | | | | consistent dot size, high color saturation, and high |
| technology or the faster laser technology be better? | | | | optical density. Prints dry rapidly at 70+ |
| Typically, if color output is needed, the user must | | | | pages-per-minute, resist smear (even from a |
| decide between the photo quality of an ink technology | | | | highlighter) and are water resistant. Will the quality be |
| or the slightly more grainy output of a color laser. Of | | | | good? Edgeline technology also includes intelligent and |
| course, the color laser can print much faster than the | | | | self-calibrating writing systems to deliver consistent |
| ink technology so that is also a factor. If a large | | | | image quality. The printheads are designed to print at |
| volume of output is necessary, the user must choose | | | | 1200dpi. This equals the best native resolutions of |
| a color laser because ink printing is just too slow and | | | | current products. The printheads also know when a |
| ink machines are not built to handle volumes of paper. | | | | specific nozzle is acting up and it's duties can be |
| In many cases however, laser printing is more costly to | | | | passed to an adjacent nozzle. There will also be a |
| print (per page) than ink technology. Edgeline | | | | 2-pass option for further increasing print quality. Will it |
| technology from Hewlett Packard promises to deliver | | | | be more expensive? Pricing has not been released as |
| the best of both ink and laser technologies. It will bring | | | | of the date of this writing, but the base technology is |
| low machine cost, low operating costs, fast print | | | | already in use and HP is promising best-in-class |
| speeds and photo quality output. What is Edgeline? | | | | operating costs as well as reliability, quality and speed. |
| Edgeline is the result of 4 years and 1.4 billion dollars of | | | | The machine itself should not cost more than current |
| research and development by Hewlett Packard. What | | | | color laser MFPs due to the much simpler mechanics. |
| they created was a patented process to economically | | | | There will be no high voltage power supply, laser |
| manufacture an inkjet printhead that spans the entire | | | | scanner mechanisms, transfer belts, or fuser |
| width of a printed page. This means that during printing, | | | | assemblies. And those are just the major components. |
| only the paper moves not the printhead. Combined | | | | In fact, the machine will only need to move paper |
| with new ink formulations, the speed of the printer can | | | | passed the printheads. This is much simpler than any |
| be increased to 71 pages per minute with outstanding | | | | current design. When will it arrive? Multifunction devices |
| image quality. The printheads are very reliable, | | | | utilizing this technology are expected to be shipping |
| designed to last for 2 million printed pages or the useful | | | | during the second quarter of 2007. Because of all its |
| life of the machine itself. Three Key Elements The | | | | advantages, it is very likely that you will see this |
| three main features of this system are a printhead | | | | technology in an office near you before the end of this |
| that spans the entire printed page, moving the paper | | | | year. |