New printing technologies focus on speed and quality

New printing technologies focus on speed and quality

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): If the method by which printer makers label
their products indicates anything, it wouldn't be easy to find
the reasons behind any changes.

HP used the Roman numerals II and III to label their laser
printers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. My very loyal laser
printer, for example, was a LaserJet IIIP.

After the III generation, HP started using Arabic numerals to
label Generation 4, and thus we had the low cost but decent
LaserJet 4L, 5L and 6L. Just when we were expecting HP to
introduce their LaserJet 7 series, we got a surprise. Last week
HP introduced its LaserJet 4000.

I had the chance to have a look at this new series of network
printers at a press conference in Singapore last month. Gone are
the strong lines and sharp corners that we usually find in almost
every LaserJet. The printer is more contoured, as you can see in
the accompanying picture.

But there are other more important innovations in this printer
than just the new label and smart look. Chief among them is that
it prints with a resolution of 1200 DPI using a new technology
that does not reduce printing speed.

Beyond DPI

On an ordinary printed page you will see dots of ink or toner,
a lot of them. Nobody would actually bother, but the number of
dots horizontally and vertically on the page could be counted.

The number of dots found per square inch is called the
dot-per-inch (DPI). In the old days, a printing resolution of 300
DPI was considered acceptable. This was the level of resolution
of which my now retired HP LaserJet IIIP was capable.

As time passed, printer makers found ways to increase the
number of dots per inch so that it was possible to have a higher
density of ink or toner on the printed page. Soon printers came
up that boasted 600 DPI, 1200 DPI and above. Lexmark was one of
the first printer makers that came up with 1200 DPI laser
printers, the Optras.

The 1200 DPI was considered the minimum for desktop publishing
purposes. With 1200 DPI, black and white images look reasonably
realistic and detailed. The transition between the levels of gray
is even and smooth enough for most purposes.

However, with existing technology, increasing the number of
dots per inch means increasing the number of dots that the
printer has to address. It also means that the amount of data
also increases. To print an image of 3" by 5" at 1200 DPI, for
instance, would require 16 times more data than printing the same
image at 300 DPI. To compensate for the increase of data, a
faster input/output and a faster print engine are needed. The
increased amount of data also means that a bigger memory capacity
is required to temporarily store it.

Wouldn't it nicer to be able to print at 1200 DPI as though
printing at a 600 DPI? The printing speed would not be affected,
because the number of dots the printer would have to address
would remain 600.

Luckily, HP has found a smart solution and has implemented it
in the LaserJet 4000 Series.

Called the FastRes 1200, the new technology uses 2 bits
instead of 4 bits to address the same dot space. While each dot
space still represents one of four levels of black, the amount of
data to be translated into dots remains the same as in a 600 DPI
printer, or half of what a true 1200 DPI printer has to handle.

UltraPrecise

Because the amount of data is smaller, the time required to
print the text or images is also shorter. As a result, this new
laser printer is capable of printing at a speed of 17 pages per
minute (ppm) at the 1200 DPI level. That's about 41 percent more
than the earlier generation of LaserJet, which printed at 12 ppm
and 600 DPI.

The quality of the printed text and images is also enhanced by
using a toner that has tinier particles of 5 to 6 microns. Older
types of toner used 7 to 8 micron particles. The smaller particle
size allows more precise placement of the dots on the paper, and
that is why the new type of toner is called UltraPrecise.

Besides using smaller particles, the toner transfer technology
has also been improved in many ways. The cartridge, for instance,
uses magnetic seals to make it less likely to leak. As you may
have experienced, sometimes toner can leak and create havoc to
the printer and your desktop.

In addition to the 1200 DPI printing resolution and faster
printing speed, LaserJet 4000 also comes with Adobe Postscript
Level 2 emulation based on the source code that HP has licensed
from Xionics Document Technologies, Inc. The benefit of using the
emulation is reduced cost and no additional memory requirement
for most printing tasks.

Another technology that you will be hearing more and more
about is JetSend. Pushed by this printer king, this new open
protocol will allow device-to-device communications.

HP is hoping that JetSend will become an accepted standard
that will make it possible, for instance, to scan an image using
a JetSend enabled scanner and print it with a JetSend enabled
printer without a PC. LaserJet 4000 is the first printer that has
this capability.

Still another important technology in the new printer are Web
JetAdmin tools. With the increasing pervasiveness of Intranets,
this technology makes a lot of sense as it allows administrators
to manage printers with the help of an ordinary Web browser.

The administrator, for instance, can tell if a network printer
is already low on toner without having to really check the
printer.

Finally, another interesting new feature is the instant-fuser.
Usually a laser printer needs to be warmed up before printing can
be done. With LaserJet 4000, there's no need to wait.

In Singapore, the new printer is expected to carry a street
price tag of S$2,048. Not too bad for a network printer with 17
ppm and 1200 DPI capabilities.

DeskJet

Earlier, HP also launched its new DeskJet printer, the 890C.
As expected, this printer is also capable of printing photos like
most other inkjet printers these days.

However, if the UltraPrecise toner uses smaller particles to
increase the print quality of images, this particular inkjet
printer uses a new ink type that can be sprayed on to the paper
with smaller drops.

DeskJet 890C uses ink with a drop volume of 10 pl., while the
870C that it replaces used ink with a drop volume of 32 pl. In
fact, HP claims that the new ink has the smallest drop in the
industry.

In addition to reducing the volume of ink drop as much as 70
percent, HP has also increased the number of color shades that a
dot can have. With more colors, this printer maker claims that
the image print quality surpasses the print quality of other
printers with higher DPI. It makes sense. As you may recall, in
the old VGA days people preferred to look at images on TV even
though the TV set had a much lower DPI than a computer monitor.
The reason was that the number of colors on a TV was infinite,
while on a VGA display it was only 16.

When it comes to print quality, you are the ultimate judge in
the contest. If you're looking for a new printer, be it a laser
or an inkjet printer, ask for samples to be printed out and
compare them carefully before making your choice.