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