TCPglobal - news, views and issues on total cost of printing

Issue #0821/1 – Following the postponement of this article in favour of last week’s article ("Lexmark in-store inkjet visibility plummets"), we now consider the elusive new home/student range of inkjet devices from Lexmark and see just how expensive the X4650 is in comparison to its competition – Brother DCP-560CN, Canon PIXMA MP610, Epson Stylus Photo RX585 and Hewlett-Packard Photosmart C5280.

Issue #0818/2 - Sadly, the claims of most manufacturers need to be taken with a large pinch of salt when the words “affordable”, “lowest”, “smallest”, “fastest”, etc. are used in their marketing literature. In the case of the newly announced C3600 colour laser printer from Oki, the use of some of these terms is unfounded. Even “competitively-priced” can be misleading. Comparing with 10 competitors, Oki does not fair well overall where it really matters.

Issue #0816/1 – New printing technologies don’t come along too often, so when Océ announced a new hybrid toner/ink technology for use in its large format printers, “CrystalPoint” using proprietary “TonerPearls”, we ask the question, “does this technology have a place in the office market”? In this article, we examine the technology and explore that potential.

#0814/1 – Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark have both recently launched new high-speed colour MFPs, targeted at workgroups, that are available under the traditional printer hardware sale arrangement. The Hewlett-Packard Colour LaserJet CM6040 and the Lexmark X945e will both print at 40ppm in colour but have quite different paper handling characteristics and very different cost structures.

Issue #0812/2 - Despite our appetite for all things small and portable, when it comes to A4 office printers, portability is something that does not tend to find a major place in the armoury. Portable printers are few and far between and are pricey in comparison to their desktop companions. Canon and Hewlett-Packard’s latest new models, PIXMA iP100 and Officejet H470 respectively, are small, fast and capable of printing borderless photos at A4. We check out the needs of the travelling businessman and compare the two devices.