New Edgeline Printer Technology Could Revolutionize Office Printing

When purchasing printers or multi-function copiers for an office, trade-offs are typically made.  Is the speed appropriate for a workgroup or a department?  Is color or monochrome output sufficient?  If color, would ink technology or the faster laser technology be better?

Typically, if color output is needed, the user must decide between the photo quality of an ink technology or the slightly more grainy output of a color laser.  Of course, the color laser can print much faster than the ink technology so that is also a factor.   If a large volume of output is necessary, the user must choose a color laser because ink printing is just too slow and ink machines are not built to handle volumes of paper.  In many cases however, laser printing is more costly to print (per page) than ink technology.

Edgeline technology from Hewlett Packard promises to deliver the best of both ink and laser technologies.  It will bring low machine cost, low operating costs, fast print speeds and photo quality output.

What is Edgeline?

Edgeline is the result of 4 years and 1.4 billion dollars of research and development by Hewlett Packard. What they created was a patented process to economically manufacture an inkjet printhead that spans the entire width of a printed page.  This means that during printing, only the paper moves not the printhead.  Combined with new ink formulations, the speed of the printer can be increased to 71 pages per minute with outstanding image quality.  The printheads are very reliable, designed to last for 2 million printed pages or the useful life of the machine itself.

Three Key Elements

The three main features of this system are a printhead that spans the entire printed page, moving the paper under the fixed printhead, and an ink system that can adapt to different requirements.  The new ink contains colorants that immobilize rapidly on the paper to ensure consistent dot size, high color saturation, and high optical density.  Prints dry rapidly at 70+ pages-per-minute, resist smear (even from a highlighter) and are water resistant.

 

Will the quality be good?

Edgeline technology also includes intelligent and self-calibrating writing systems to deliver consistent image quality.  The printheads are designed to print at 1200dpi.  This equals the best native resolutions of current products.  The printheads also know when a specific nozzle is acting up and it's duties can be passed to an adjacent nozzle.  There will also be a 2-pass option for further increasing print quality.

Will it be more expensive?

Pricing has not been released as of the date of this writing, but the base technology is already in use and HP is promising best-in-class operating costs as well as reliability, quality and speed.  The machine itself should not cost more than current color laser MFPs due to the much simpler mechanics.  There will be no high voltage power supply, laser scanner mechanisms, transfer belts, or fuser assemblies; and those are just the major components.  In fact, the machine will only need to move paper passed the printheads.  This is much simpler than any current design.

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Laser Printer Scanner - The Multifunction Machine

The evolution of technology has been a boon to the home-based business and small office enterprise. No longer does the little guy have to invest an inordinate amount of money in office machinery.  A device that epitomizes the solutions that are easily within reach of the average consumer is the laser printer scanner.  This machine, which often integrates fax and copying capabilities as well, has evened the playing field for the small business.  A laser printer with scanner, copying and faxing abilities can give the impression of a fully-staffed, finely tuned, large scale production.

In the past, it was next to impossible for a would-be entrepreneur on a shoe-string budget to make a go of it.  So much of the initial investment went to buying all the necessary office equipment.  Before the door was opened for business, the small business owner was fighting an uphill battle against his own dwindling bank account.  Now though,with multi-function devices that provide laser quality scanner printer solutions have eliminated that challenge.

As these integrated solutions have improved, they have all become incredible user friendly as well.  In contrast to the first generation of laser jet multi-function machines that had limited options (slow printer speeds, no 11 x 17 paper capabilities, difficult to user scanner, etc.), the newer models are fast, easy and reliable.  Many of the leading brands like Canon, Brother, Samsung and HP have perfected the technology so much so that the basic laser printer scanner is capable of work that once only a professional could produce.

As many of the aforementioned brands are constantly competing for consumer market share, the prices of these machines have continued to plummet.  This further underscores the accessibility to the everyday consumer.

A prime example of how far these office solutions have come can be seen in the Canon ImageCLASS MF4370DN black and white laser printer with fax, copier and scanner capacity.  Fast printer speeds and long-lasting toner cartridges make this a small office bargain at less than $300.  For a similar all-in-one solution for your home or business you might have a look at the Brother MFC 8220 laser fax copier printer scanner.  This printer combines high-quality printing from a 250-sheet paper tray to allow you to do some of the bigger jobs without interruption.  Around $350 will buy you this fine machine.

If you feel that your needs require something a little more robust, you can still find a host of solutions while keeping expenses under control.  The networking requirements and overall office work capacity may necessitate the purchase of just a little more.  Not only that, you can find more, but for not much more money in the Brother MFC 8890DW black and white laser fax copier printer scanner.  Ethernet ready, faster printing and wireless capability make this model the perfect fit for the bustling office.  Along with, its attractive price ($430 - $450) makes it a bargain considering all it has to offer.

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What Copier Companies Hide and Do Not Want You to Know

How many of you lease your copiers, fax machines or multi-function devices?  Has your lease company approached you concerning your printers and fax machines to reduce costs or offer a Print Management solution?

Copier companies have been playing the per page centralized printing game for years.  They charge a set fee per month for your copier usage for up to a set number of pages.  They say it will save you money - in a very few cases it does.

What were you quoted on your per page program?  Did you know that 87% of the companies recently surveyed on lease programs actually pay a much higher rate than quoted and they didn't even know it?

The Copier & Facsimile lease game exposed.  The simple way to see if you are Way, Way Over billed like 87% of all other companies with leased equipment:

1. First look at your lease and write down your monthly print allotment (the number of prints you are allowed BEFORE they charge you more money).

2. Now write down the monthly charges as stated on the agreement.

3. Divide the number of pages allotted into the monthly charge to get a cost per page.  Example: $750 per month for 50,000 pages Cost per page $0.015 (1.5 cents).

4. Looks great-right?  Nice and small amount per page! - This is where they get you!  They quoted you a low per page cost .

5. Now go to your machine and get the ACTUAL PAGE COUNT (if you can-many leasing companies do not give out this number to hide it from you).

6. What does it show?  Divide that into the number of months you have been leasing the machine. Example 625,000 pages printed in 18 months (half way through most lease agreements) which equals to 34,722 pages per month on the average.

7. Now get your TRUE COST PER PAGE by dividing your TRUE pages printed every month into your cost per month.  Example: 34,722 into $750 equals 0.216 per page.  44% more than what they quoted!

Do you get roll over pages for pages not used? NO!  Do you get reimbursed for not using the pages they allocated to you? NO!  They get a BIG pay increase because they spend less on the supplies and maintenance you need and you get a BIG cost increase over what you use to spend before you agreed to the lease.

Now for the kicker:

Look at your lease again and check with your accounts payable department.  If you are like the majority of the companies leasing equipment in addition to the monthly fee you are charged a quarterly MAINTENANCE fee which makes your cost per page even higher.

True cost reduction and cost avoidance is what you want to achieve-correct?  Before you agree to another lease go through the steps to determine your average print volume.  Then use that figure with the new lease amounts to determine if your costs are actually going down or up.

Many leasing companies love to put you on a centralized approach to all your printing needs.  They state, "you will reduce your printing costs."  However, they do not talk about the single biggest cost to your company: lost employee time and productivity.  The centralized approach will cost you more staff time which results in decreased productivity.  Plus, what do you do with your perfectly good equipment you own-stop using it?

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The Best Copiers, Printers, and Fax Machines

Since I work at a Copier and Fax Co., my knowledge on this subject is greatly enhanced. I get a lot of feedback from customers as well as our technicians here at work.  In my opinion, the best printers for home or small business has to be the HP.  They are always improving upon their machines, which is another reason why I appreciate their brand.

Also, their printers are user friendly and low maintenance.   Toners aren't too bad price wise.  And since I am on this subject, I will also give shout out to Brother for creating some pretty impressive printers, quality is great and so is the price.  One thing I have learned is the cheaper the printer, the more expensive the toners. Kinda crazy, huh?

As far as big businesses go, that need a big copier machine, I would suggest Xerox, or Ricoh copiers any day.  These machines are really awesome, in that they can do most anything from duplexing to sorting to stapling.  This is a big help when time is precious and you need a reliable copier to get the job done. Lanier copiers also have a good line and a good reputation for being dependable.  I would highly recommend these 3 brands of copiers for the busy workplace.

There are a few other copiers that I like, which includes, Canon Imagerunner Series,  Kyocera Series, along with the Konica-Minolta Bizhub series, and Toshiba line is reliable as well.  My personal favorites would be the Xerox, Ricoh and Konica-Minolta lines though, I think because I know the brands so well and have worked with them for the last 25-30 years.

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