New printers, scanners offer wider choice<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): For the last two months we have seen dozens of
\nnew computer products introduced to the Indonesian market. Just a
\nmonth after Canon introduced its updated scanners and two weeks
\nafter Epson introduced its new Perfection series scanners in
\nIndonesia, HP launched its latest scanners.<\/p>\n
In addition, Lexmark brought in three ink-jet printers, which
\nwas followed by Canon with its latest BubbleJet printers, then by
\nEpson with its latest generation of ink-jet printers. Within the
\nsame week, HP introduced its PhotoREt 3 PhotoPrinter, the HP
\nDeskJet 970Cxi. Canon also introduced four different multimedia
\nprojectors.<\/p>\n
I've been quite busy attending all these launches, and I
\nreally wish I had the time to test drive all the new products to
\nsee which ones are the best buys.<\/p>\n
Multifunction devices<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago HP held its annual New Product Introduction
\n(NPI) event at Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta. My press kit was
\npacked with fact sheets, press releases and brochures of their
\nnew lineup for 1999, and at this time we'll have a look only at
\nthe most interesting introductions.<\/p>\n
Finally Hewlett-Packard has brought its all-in-one devices to
\nthe local market. The products, which are quite popular in the
\nU.S., have enjoyed rave reviews. In the past, HP did not import
\nthem to Indonesia because the company was not sure whether it was
\nagainst the law. It was reportedly illegal to import color copies
\ninto the country. As you can guess, these devices, which combine
\na scanner and color ink-jet printer, make it really easy for
\npeople to scan and print fake paper money.<\/p>\n
I've long believed that the regulation, if it did actually
\nexist, was quite ridiculous. For many years, anybody who had a
\nPC, a scanner and a color ink-jet printer could print fake money.
\nI once took a cab with a dashboard covered with printouts of Rp
\n20,000 and Rp 50,000 bills. A neighbor of mine has pasted the
\nsame printouts across his doorframe as a decoration. What can we
\nsay? We don't have the power to stop technology. The best thing
\nthat we can do is increase our protection of the innocents. The
\ngood news is that our central bank has made the right move and
\nstarted to use plastic material for the Rp 100,000 bill. I guess
\nthey should continue to find ways to make it harder to scan and
\ncounterfeit money rather than make it illegal to import devices
\nthat can increase productivity, even if they can, unfortunately,
\nbe misused by the unscrupulous.<\/p>\n
No fewer than six all-in-one devices were introduced by HP.
\nFive of them -- the officeJets T25, T45, T65, R45 and R65 are
\nbased on ink-jet printers and therefore are capable of producing
\ncolor prints and faxes. The Ts are targeted for SOHO users, while
\nthe Rs can serve workgroups in an office. The Ts can scan, copy,
\nprint and fax documents, while the workgroup Rs cannot send
\nfaxes. The most versatile product, R65, has a 30-page document
\nfeeder.<\/p>\n
The only laser printer-based all-in-one device introduced was
\nthe LaserJet 3100. It can fax and print, but it does not have the
\nscanning function. One interesting feature is the OfficeJet
\nManager software, which adds the ability to scan and send the
\nscanned image as E-mail. These devices will replace the scanner,
\nfax machine, copier and printer. Needless to say they save a lot
\nof space in the office.<\/p>\n
New DesignJets<\/p>\n
HP also has been making large format printers, which in the
\npast were known as plotters. These large printers usually stand
\non the floor and have the roll of paper hanging on both the back
\nand front sides. At the NPI, two interesting printers were
\nintroduced. They looked like DeskJet printers, but they were much
\nlarger. The DesignJet ColorPro CAD, which you can see in the
\naccompanying picture, is intended for engineers and mechanical
\nCAD designers who need to produce checkprints quickly before
\nsending the print job to the larger-sized DesignJet. The
\nDesignJet ColorPro AG is the result of a cooperation between HP
\nand Apple Computer, and is Macintosh-compatible. It is loaded
\nwith high-end features such as PhotoREt II (photo resolution
\nenhancement technology based on color layering, which helps
\nproduce photo-quality printouts), Adobe PressReady, which ensures
\nconsistent colors in portable document formats, ICC Color
\nProfiles for accurate colors, ColorSync, which allows us to see
\nthe same color on the screen as we will get on the printouts, and
\nPantone Certification which enables us to control and define
\ncustomized colors.<\/p>\n
The DesignJet ColorPro AG also marks the return of the close
\ncooperation between HP and Adobe which was suspended some years
\nago. That's good news for graphics designers, as most of them
\nstill trust Adobe for graphics printing standards.<\/p>\n
Other updates<\/p>\n
New to HP's CD-Writer lineup is the DVD-Writer Plus 3100i.
\nThis device, which is slated for release in December, will enable
\nus to write, erase and rewrite as much as three GB of data on a
\nsingle DVD-RW disk. With compression, the storage capacity can be
\ndoubled to six GB, which is equal to 10 CD-ROMs or 5,400 floppy
\ndiskettes. HP has also raised the reading speed of its CD-Writers
\nfrom 20x to 32x. The SCSI CD-Writer 9200i, for example, writes a
\nCD-ROM at 8x, a CD-RW (rewritable) at 4x and reads a CD-ROM at
\n32x.<\/p>\n
Three new flatbed scanners replaced some already great
\nproducts. The top of the line ScanJet 6300 Series, which consists
\nof the ScanJet 6300C, 6350C and 6390C, offers 1200 DPI optical
\nresolution and unlimited resolution enhancement. That, of course,
\nwill result in a humongous amount of data (no wonder you'll need
\na DVD Rewritable drive). In addition, ScanJet 3300C also replaced
\nthe low-end ScanJet 3200C.<\/p>\n
In the server area, HP also introduced the Pentium III Xeon
\n550 MHz-based Netserver LH 4, LXr 8000 and LXr 8500. The LXr 8500
\nis really a behemoth. It can be equipped with eight Pentium III
\nXeon 550 MHz processors and 32 GB of SDRAM. The Brio business PC
\nand Kayak workstations were also upgraded. To round it out, HP
\nintroduced two value printers -- the deskJets 610C and 810C --
\nand the photo printer DeskJet 970Cxi.<\/p>\n
Now, with all these new peripherals from three leading
\nvendors, we'll surely find it more difficult than ever to decide
\nwhat to buy.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/new-printers-scanners-offer-wider-choice-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}