New hardware products from Japan<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Our friends in the page layout department of The
\nJakarta Post added \"(mis)\" before the word \"adventure\" that I
\nused in the title of my article last week. The ripple it created
\nwas quite significant. A handful of e-mail messages have arrived
\nin my box, expressing their condolences. A friend in Britain even
\nthought my article was, as she put it, quite \"emotional\".<\/p>\n
The truth was I had a lot fun with the hardware adventure the
\nentire week. True, I lost a modem in the process, but now I am
\nenjoying a faster Internet connection. What a difference the
\nprefix (mis) made!<\/p>\n
Anyway, in this week's column we will look at several new and
\ninteresting products from a Japanese company renowned for the
\nlarge number of patents that it holds. About two weeks ago, PT
\nDatascript, Canon's distributor for Indonesia, unveiled a sleek
\ndigital camera, a pair of new printers, a couple of flatbed color
\nscanners and a color laser printer cum copier, which were worth
\ntaking a look at.<\/p>\n
Digital cameras<\/p>\n
A recent PC Magazine Online survey found that 35 percent of
\nrespondents said they were ready to buy a digital camera now, 39
\npercent said that they would buy on next year and only 9 percent
\nsaid they had no interest in digital cameras.<\/p>\n
What does this mean? Clearly, computer users are accepting
\ndigital cameras more than ever before.<\/p>\n
No wonder companies like Olympus, Sony, Ricoh, Hitachi, Sharp,
\nToshiba, Canon, Kodak, Epson and so many others are jumping onto
\nthe digital camera bandwagon, regardless of whether they have the
\ntradition of camera crafting in the past or not. The quality of
\ndigital cameras has improved tremendously since I first tested a
\nLogitech digital camera a few years ago. Unfortunately, the
\nprices are moving to the south more slowly than we would like.<\/p>\n
Canon, with a strong tradition in camera technology, has been
\nmaking great cameras. In the past, its PowerShot A5 won a couple
\nof awards from computer magazines. During a new product launch at
\nHotel Horison, Ancol, two weeks ago, they introduced an update to
\nthe beautifully crafted camera PowerShot A50. I requested a test
\nunit of this Rp 5.2 million megapixel gadget, and you will
\ncertainly read about it after I have played around with it.<\/p>\n
Scanners<\/p>\n
In the past, scanners had to be quite tall because the Charge-
\ncoupled Device (CCD) used to capture the image and create the
\ndigital data incorporates a complex configuration of mirrors and
\nlenses. Today, new technology based on newer Contact Image Sensor
\n(CIS) technology using Light Emitting Diode (LED) makes the use
\nof mirrors and lenses no longer necessary. Therefore, scanners
\ncan be made very thin and very light, like the scanners from
\nCanon. In Canon's lingo, the technology is called LED Indirect
\nExposure, or LIDE.<\/p>\n
Four models are available from this company: FB 330P, FB 630P,
\nFB 630U and the FB 636U. The \"P\" indicates that the scanner
\nconnects to the PC through the parallel port, and the \"U\" means
\nit has a USB interface. With USB, the scanner can be used with a
\nMac as well.<\/p>\n
The resolution capability of the 330P is 300 by 600 DPI, while
\nthe FB 630P and FB 636U can scan at the 600 by 1200 DPI level.
\nOne thing that impressed me was the lightness of these scanners.
\nMy nine-year-old HP ScanJet IIC feels like a behemoth compared to
\nthem.<\/p>\n
These CIS-based scanners are good for personal use and small
\noffices that need to scan pictures to incorporate graphics in
\ntheir brochures and catalogs. For better scan quality, however,
\nthe CCD-based scanners are generally still a better bet.<\/p>\n
Canon has also been the pioneer in document management, and it
\nhas introduced two high-speed document scanners that will turn
\nyour stacks of paper documents into digital images that you can
\nsave on CD-ROMs.<\/p>\n
You can feed up to 500 sheets of letter-sized or even A3-sized
\ndocuments into the tray of DR-5020 or DR 5080C Document Scanners,
\nand they will be scanned at the speed of up to 100 pages per
\nminute. The DR 5080C can scan and store the image in up to 24-bit
\ncolor. With these devices, there should be no more excuse to keep
\nthose stacks of dusty and damp paper documents in the storage
\nrooms of our government offices.<\/p>\n
Printers<\/p>\n
We all know that Canon makes decent inkjet printers. Being the
\nmaker of a very popular printing engine in the world, this
\ncompany understandably makes its own laser printers, too. In
\nfact, one of the highlights of the product introduction that
\nafternoon was CP660, a color laser printer and copier.<\/p>\n
Looking more like a copying machine than a printer, this color
\nlaser printer can print 24 pages per minute (ppm) in black and
\nwhite or 6 ppm in color. A 100Base-T network port is available,
\nso that the printer can be used in a network as well.<\/p>\n
To temporarily store data that may flow in from multiple
\nusers, a 2.1 GB hard disk is standard. A new type of toner is
\nalso used; it has a microscopic wax core that makes the fusing
\nprocess free of oil and the output non-glossy on paper from A5 to
\nA3 in size.<\/p>\n
The good news is that this printer carries a hefty price tag,
\nRp 110 million. That makes it not so attractive for money
\ncounterfeiters who have been creating a heavy burden for our
\neconomy in the past few years. A color laser printer is a good
\nsolution for companies that need to print small volumes of high-
\nquality communication materials.<\/p>\n
In the inkjet printer area, two new models were introduced,
\nBJC-2000SP and BJC-5100SP. These SP printers are equipped with
\nthe capability to print in what the company calls Super Economy
\nmode, using only one-fourth of ink compared with the
\nprofessional-quality mode.<\/p>\n
It can also be turned into a scanner just by changing the
\ntoner cartridge with a special scanner cartridge. I test-drove a
\nCanon BJC 4310SP in the past and found that, while the printing
\nquality was acceptable, you would still be wiser to invest in a
\nlow-cost flatbed scanner.<\/p>\n
The BJC 5100SP can print up to A3-size with the speed up to 10
\nppm in black and white and 4 ppm in color. You can even use
\nspecial 7-color toner combination for photo-realistic prints at a
\nresolution of 1440x720DPI.<\/p>\n
The choice in inkjet printers in our local market, which has
\nbeen traditionally dominated by the three big players Canon,
\nEpson and Hewlett-Packard, has been made wider by the arrival of
\nanother leading brand, Lexmark. We will take a look at Lexmark
\nofferings in an upcoming article.<\/p>",
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