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

Issue #0824/1 - A couple of weeks ago we ran a cost comparison on the new Brother A3 inkjet Ai0, pitching it against several A4 devices – for want of anything at all to compare it with. In that line-up we included the Hewlett-Packard Colour LaserJet CM1312nfi MFP. We now check out the remarkable CM1312nfi MFP in its own right and pitch it against its own, very limited, competition – Konica Minolta 2590MF and Samsung CLX-3160FN.

Issue #0823/2 - Designed to improve the accuracy of gas gauge information presented to inkjet printer users, Hewlett-Packard has introduced a direct detect system of determining when the ink in a cartridge is exhausted. The system currently works only on the new HP364 pigment black cartridge, used in the new Photosmart D5460 printer (available August 2008 – ), at this stage.

Issue #0822/1 - In one of the most exciting developments seen in the field of business inkjet printing for years, brother has announced an A3 format inkjet All-in-One device, the MFC-6490CW, boasting a very high multifunction specification. Although the product is not yet announced in Europe, nor has it reached stores fully in the US, pricing is available for both hardware and print cartridges in the US so comparisons can be made against A3 single function inkjet, A4 multifunction inkjet and A4 multifunction laser devices.

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.