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HP Invents A New Way To Print

Sushant Bhatia writes "Forbes is reporting that HP is introducing new technology in its inkjet printers that should help the company and consumers save time and money. If successful, the strategy may alter the economics of the printer market. The new inkjet platform, which will initially be geared toward the high end of the market, will incorporate the print head in the printer itself rather than in the ink cartridge. It means cheaper prints for consumers (about 24 cents per photo print) and faster output. HP says it has more than halved the time it takes to print a 4-inch-by-6-inch photo, to 14 seconds. The press release from HP has details on the new technology."

18 of 436 comments (clear)

  1. cheaper ink??? by Capt.+Caneyebus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    now if they could just lower the price on ink cartridges. 45 bucks to refill my ink is a bit steep.

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  2. My prediction by njfuzzy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    HP makes their money off of ink, not printers. My prediction is that this will allow them to produce cartridges more cheaply, but they will still charge as much for them.

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    1. Re:My prediction by jfengel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think it's more likely they'll produce them for a fifth as much, and charge half as much. They'll still look great compared to the competition, the actual price per photo goes down, and they make a bundle.

    2. Re:My prediction by peculiarmethod · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Which keeps them from supporting internal advances in quality ink. What I will pay for is sun resistant ink with a shelf life of at least a 100 years. And I want it cheap. Enough of this disposable "they will pay and pay" model.

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    3. Re:My prediction by buckhead_buddy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Putting a part that's subject to significant wear and tear into the printer itself suggests to me that their goal is making the printer a disposable device that's consumed and replaced just like printer cartridges are.

      The photolithography tech in the printer sounds interesting (and probably heavily protected with patents) but it sounds like the value to a consumer like me may not be significant when all costs for purchase and replacement are considered over a three year term (or thereabout).

    4. Re:My prediction by gadgetbox · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not news...it's a carefully placed ad in Forbes. If you dig deep enough, you'll find that there is a PR company behind the "story" being published in Forbes. HP pays the company to convince various "news" outlets to make their press release appear to be news. /. is merely contributing to that by providing more free advertising. Real news reporting is practically dead....

    5. Re:My prediction by DECS · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Have you bought a printer recently? Printers are disposable devices!

      They have become the handle the holds the razor. While I'm a little nostalgic for printers that were built like tanks and lasted forever, they also cost quite a bit, and can't incorporate new technology that comes out every week.

  3. The Best Way To Print... by nokilli · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...is to not print at all. I haven't had a printer for a decade now, and those two or three times that I've missed it were easily remedied by a trip to a Kinko's or some such similar service.

    I have to believe that with the greater reliance on web and email for communications, along with bigger and better monitors, that most of the rest of you will cease missing their printers as well within the next few years.

    So HP invented a new way to print, just it time for nobody to care.

    1. Re:The Best Way To Print... by rainmayun · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't print too much at home now, but I print lots at work. At home, the main thing I print is maps with directions to places I am about to drive, because I'm too cheap to buy a GPS. I think that might account for 80% of my home printing.

  4. Perfect... by rm69990 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The thing I liked about HP Inkjets was that the Printheads didn't die in them, since they weren't part of the printer....so much for that :(

  5. Ink Jet is ALWAYS a bad idea by DogDude · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From everything I've seen, ink jet technology is more expensive, slower, produces lower quality, and less durable printed pages. With the cost of laser/LED (Okidata uses LED instead of laser) technology so low, why would anybody, especially in a professional setting, consider ink jet?

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  6. we have been zonked again by P3NIS_CLEAVER · · Score: 1, Insightful

    HP is pretty much the only inkjet company that has(had) the print head as part of the ink cartridge.
    I guess we should be thankful it is not a dupe.

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  7. HP said that was bad?!? by DamienMcKenna · · Score: 2, Insightful

    HP used to promote their printer-head-in-cartridge system for years because, honestly, it was a great idea - instead of having to repair your printer every year or two because the print head had worn out you got a "free" print head change every time you changed cartridges. I honestly thought their way of doing this was better than the rest. This turnabout is just plain dumb IMHO, it'll make cartridges cheaper but the printers themselves will be of lesser quality, meaning when they start having print head problems people will just replace the entire printer.

    Damien

  8. Printing changes by jfengel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Except that people use printers diffrently now than they used to.

    The biggest change is that you really can print photos at home now. Ten years ago that wasn't practical. People like having physical copies of their photos for an album, and you just can't replicate that with a screen. There are services that let you do it online, but a lot of people like the control that they get from having it right there: they can choose the paper and do a lot of tweaking right at home.

    In addition, new kinds of paper have opened up new opportunities to use your printer: bumper stickers, tee shirts, even tattoos. You can't get those at Kinko's.

    So I'd hardly say that nobody cares. In fact with the digital cameras many people care more than ever. (Not to mention that most schools still won't accept your homework on a CD-ROM.)

  9. Nah by phorm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Normal capacity cartidges, $99.9 for a replacement print-head when the ink dries up in it...

  10. Re:Photolithography by mnmn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They will just jack up the ink price further to make the final price even again. Makes me think the whole reason the head was on the cartridge was to make thirdparty cartridges difficult to make or copy.

    We should all be exclusively using laserjets anyway, why is anyone happy the inkjet technology has a new lease on life?

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  11. Re:Photolithography by Drachemorder · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "why print photos when there are such cooler ways to display them if you want to"

    Some of us have kinfolks who can barely turn on a computer, much less look at pictures on one. They aren't happy unless I give them something on paper.

  12. Re:Photolithography by gessel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...woo hoo... what an advance:

    Merrill's Steven Milunovich believes the new technology makes HP more competitive, and that "the foundation for longer-term price competition is evident." In a research note, he said that competitors may be pressured to introduce similar photolithographic capability. While HP claims to have a years-long head start with the technology, Milunovich says it may take that long for HP's new technology to trickle down to mainstream price points. - Forbes

    Oh yeah, do that research Forbes... later heard to say "duh... what's google?"

    Canon Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) uses a high-performance 1,856-nozzle print head that ejects precise, consistent droplets as small as 1 picoliter, resulting in beautiful photos with virtually no detectable grain.

    Frobes might also have check Amazon for those prices:

    Refills of HP's new color Vivera ink cartridges will sell for $9.99, while older color ink cartridges can run $30 or more.

    Canon BCI-6BK Black Ink Tank $9.99.

    It'd be one thing if maybe the exact key words weren't so easily googled...

    Fact checking, a lost art.

    Canon's print head is not "built in" to the printer, meaning they've even developed a non-disposable printer too! Of course that's done really well for them...

    Survey results show that 85.6% of respondents reported they would most likely purchase an Epson printer, while no other vendor reached even 7%.