solventprinter555

Hard on the heels of acquiring Tektronix's large format printer division, Xerox is upgrading its midrange line of office large format printers with five models that offer a network interface and many paper-handling options.
The DocuPrint N2125 has an estimated street cost of $1300 and comes with a 550-sheet paper feeder and 100-sheet auxiliary tray. It can accept one or two additional 550-sheet feeders, which cost about $230 each, and a $250 duplexer is also available. You can get the same solvent printer with no network card; then, it's called the N2125b and priced at $1000.

The N2125's engine speed is specified at 21 pages per minute. PC World clocked the N2125's real-world performance at just shy of 12 pages per minute.

The 60 percent ratio of engine speed to real-world performance is likely to hold for two other new Xerox large format printers: the 32-ppm DocuPrint N3225, which costs $2500; and the 40-ppm DocuPrint N4025, which costs $2950.

The DocuPrint N3225 and N4025 include two 550-sheet paper trays as standard equipment and can accept a paper-feeding subassembly that includes a 500-sheet drawer and two 1000-sheet drawers. The subassembly, which has an estimated street price of $1050, makes it possible to keep letterhead, separator pages, and other media available at all times. For very long print jobs, you can reload empty drawers while the large format printer is operating.

The N3225 and N4025 also support an optional collating and stapler unit, priced at $1150 and a ten-bin mailbox for $1200.

The other two new models, the 20-ppm DocuPrint N2025 and 28-ppm N2825, can print on tabloid-size (11-by-17-inch) paper. Options for the N2025 and N2825 include a tabloid-size 500-sheet feeder for about a $290 street price, a tabloid-size 2000-sheet feeder for about $1050, and a tabloid-size duplexer for $440.

Hewlett-Packard has added Internet connectivity and intelligence to its large format printer offerings with seven new Internet-ready large format printers for workgroups and individuals.

Of the seven HP large format printers announced Tuesday, those designed for individuals will each have "personal Internet connectivity," allowing users to scan and digitally send images over the Internet, says Vyomesh Joshi, the president of HP's imaging and printing systems.

Higher-end systems designed for workgroups will have "both the Internet connectivity aspect and a virtual machine to provide almost any service to the large format printer as an appliance," Joshi says.

The new HP solvent printers range in price from $199 to $1099. The high-end HP LaserJet 4100 is available now. The mid-tier HP LaserJet 3200, 2200, 1220, and 1200 will be available April 1. The HP JetDirect 175x, for personal or small-business use, will be available May 1, according to HP officials.

Web, Wireless Focus
With the large format printers, HP is focused on ramping up five options, which are intelligence, Web browsing, wireless printing from PDAs via infrared, digital faxing, and digital scanning/sending, officials say.

The high-end HP LaserJet 4100, for example, incorporates HP Chaiserver Embedded Virtual Machine technology. EVM allows users to execute Java applications to extend the large format printer's ability to interact with Web-based services, cell phones, and PDAs, officials say.

The mid-tier HP LaserJet 2200, designed for small businesses, integrates color scanner/copier technology, a Web browser to monitor basic large format printer and network configuration capabilities with an HP Jetdirect network card, and an infrared port for wireless printing from mobile devices.

"The large format printer will become the platform for the delivery of multiple services, providing rich, personalized, published content," Joshi says.

Digital large format printers come in variety shapes and sizes nowadays. But whatever they may look like, they still do one thing; they transform colored digital pictures into high-quality photo prints while you sit back and wait. Thanks to the inventors of digital camera, most printers are now affordable and easy to use. Many of them do not even have to be connected to a computer to print.

Before you indulge yourself into buying your own solvent printer, there are questions that needed answering first to ensure that what printer you will be shopping for is the one right for you.

Will the digital printer work with your camera'

Buy a large format printer with a media slot that has the same kind of memory card your camera uses. Or a large format printer that connects directly, using a cable of course, to your camera. A USB-capable printer that connects to your computer is a nice option. The process is fairly simple. You just have to drop the photos into the hard drive, edit and print them from there.

What printing technology suit you best'

There are basically two kinds of technology that is inherent in photo large format printer. Dye sublimation and inkjet. Both kinds can produce brilliant images.

Some people believe that dye sublimation excels at continuous tone printing. While others prefer the crisp colors, inexpensive supplies and print flexibility of inkjet and bubble large format printer. Whichever kind you choose, remember that optimizing a large format printer for photo printing will do a much better job than general use printer.

How much resolution do you need'

Take note that the higher the resolution, the crisper the print result will be. For example, a 400 dpi resolution is finer than a 300 dpi resolution.

Take note also that resolution cannot be compared between dye sublimation and large format printer. The numbers of dpi required to make the same quality photo print may vary depending on the different aspects of the large format printers.

Does the printer have editing capabilities'

Some printers let you edit digital photos. This editing capability can range from a few limited text messages and crop sizes to a touch screen LCD that allows multiple picture editing before printing.

The type you will use would depend if whether you want to do some editing, in the first place. And if you do want, choose if you rather do sophisticated editing on a computer or quick adjustments from a large format printer.