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

Issue #0825/1 – As indicated in the article "New dual drop size print head design allows Hewlett-Packard to go for 5-ink configuration in new Photosmart printers" Epson’s inkjet photo printers have incorporated print heads capable of producing multiple sizes of ink drops for many years - since the Stylus Colour 740 and Stylus Photo 750 were launched in 1998. The technology is known as VSDT (Variable Size Drop Technology), capable of firing drops of three different sizes, and is now operating at an ‘Advanced’ (AVSDT) level (only in 6-colour printers), capable of firing drops of five different sizes – all from the same nozzles in the same print head.

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 #0823/1 – A redesign of its Scalable Printing Technology (SPT) print head has allowed Hewlett-Packard to cut drop size from 5 picolitres to 1.3 picolitres and thus to produce a range of Photosmart printers based on a dual drop size, 4-ink photo printing configuration, instead of 6-ink, plus a separate pigment black ink for printing documents. This article looks at the technology and the first printer to use the system, Photosmart D5460, together with the print quality and Total Cost of Printing associated with that printer.

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 – "New dual drop size print head design allows Hewlett-Packard to go for 5-ink configuration in new Photosmart printers"), at this stage.