Inkjet may be considered old technology for some organizations, especially as the cost of laser technology drops, but printer manufacturers continue to release multifunction devices based on it.
The latest units come from Hewlett Packard, which announced replacements Tuesday for six of its current lines and a new low-priced entry, all aimed at small companies. They will be available to the channel either at the end of the month, March or April depending on the model.
“These are a key focus for us as we market to small business,” said Jean-Paul Demarais, HP Canada’s business customer marketing manger, who emphasized the new products’ speed and price compared to multifunction colour laser machines.
Offering inkjet MFPs is HP’s way of offering buyers choice, “as opposed to trying to make one solution fit all businesses,” he said.
The seven new units are:
–OfficeJet Pro 7780, 7680 and 7580 All-in-Ones. Their prices start at $599, and differ in whether they offer wireless networking, legal size scanners, a large paper tray or duplexing.
The trio use HP’s Scalable Printing Technology (SPT), which the company says print faster and higher quality than their replacements, the models 7410, 7310 and 7210;
–OfficeJet Pro K5400dtn, 5400tn and 5400. Their prices range from $299 to $199, and differ in wireless, duplexing and large paper tray capabilities. Unlike the units they replace, the K550 series, they also use SPT technology;
–OfficeJet J5780, a $199 unit that’s the first of a series aimed at users with modest printing needs. It has a duty cycle of 3,000 pages of month, compared to the 7000- and 5400-series machines, which are for those who print up to 7,500 pages a month.
The $199 compact 5780, has a letter-size scanner and a 35-page document feeder.
All use HP’s Vivera inks, which it says produce vivid colour images.
The ability to reproduce colour pictures better than colour laser multifunctions is one of the main reasons buyers lean towards ink jet MFPs, said Demarais, as well as their ability to print faster than lasers.
For example, HP says the cost per colour page of an L7000-series inkjet MFP is 7.7 cents, compared to between 11.8 cents and 13.6 cents for a colour lasers made by competitors including Brother, Epson, Canon and Konica Minolta.
Spokesmen for those manufacturers could not be reached at press time.
The constant comparison between inkjet and laser intrigued Brad Hughes, a printer analyst with IDC Canada briefed on the new products. He speculated that HP wants to maximize its investment in inkjet technology in part because it uses the Canon engines in its laser printers.
Still, because of buying patterns he said he doesn’t think inkjet is going away soon. Through the first three quarters of 2006, IDC has seen a 25 per cent increase of single function and MFP inkjet devices being purchased by small business (up to 99 employees) over the same period from 2005, he said.
Certainly price has a good deal to do with it, according to Don Kovacs, manager of the Burlington, Ont. branch of Onward Computer Systems and an HP dealer who sells about 10 inkjet MFPs a month.
“Everything comes down to price these days” for small business, he said in an interview. “When somebody wants to spend $200 to $500 they tend to look at the inkjets. Also, sometimes people prefer inkjets from a consumables cost.”
Kim Tanner, HP Canada’s inkjet business manager, said that with the new models the company is trying to fight myths cloaking inkjet machines.
The SPT technology counters claims that inkjets are slow, she said. The new L7000-series, for example can print at laser quality speeds of up to 12 pages a minute in black and white and 10ppm in colour.
To help lower the cost per page, the new units can carry an extra large black and white cartridge, while the Vivera inks have it over laser colour.
Some models also include special features. The new 7780, 7680 and 7580 have what HP calls Direct Digital Filing, so users can scan a document and send it to a computer folder on a network.
Some models also a user to create a PDF file from a scanned document and save it to an attached USB memory key.
HP said that roughly half of the 7000-series and 5400-series sales will go through HP business partners, with the other half going through retailers such as Future Shop and online stores such as CDW. The 5780 will mostly be a retail sale.
While the cost of colour laser MFPs is dropping, Demarais doesn’t believe it will displace inkjet for a while.
“Inkjet printers and lasers are both good at specific things,” he said. “Ink printers are great at photo-quality images. In the business class they have a lower operating cost than a laser and more features. Laser printers will always print their rated print speed, and they’re perceived to be of higher quality.”
