Jon Pepper
Technological advances should accelerate the use of color output in both the home and the office over the next several years. An impressive new color printer from Tektronix (Wilsonville, OR, (800) 835-6100; fax (503) 682-7450), the solid-ink Phaser 340, successfully addresses many of the problems associated with color printers: color print speed, color quality, plain-paper output, and maintenance. Meanwhile, analysts predict the sales of new color ink-jet printers priced at under $1000 should more than double in the next three years (
see the accompanying chart
).
The Phaser 340 ($4995) prints either black-and-white or color documents at approximately 4 pages per minute (compared to 2 to 3 1/2 ppm for color lasers and about 1 ppm for color ink-jets generati
ng four-color output). It prints on almost any type of paper or transparency film, and Tektronix has increased the 340's resolution to 600 by 300 dpi.
The Phaser 340's performance is due to a combination of Tektronix's solid-ink technology and a new internal print mechanism. Color is applied to a high-speed, rotating metal drum. The drum-rotation speed is then reduced, and color is applied to the paper. The result is vibrant color at high speeds.
Unlike printers such as Hewlett-Packard's Color LaserJet, which makes you maintain separate developer and toner cartridges, you only need to refill the Phaser 340's four solid-ink slots.
Users who print mostly text with occasional spot color may prefer to go with a color laser printer, such as Tektronix's Phaser 540, which offers a rated speed of up to 14 ppm for black-and-white text. However, analysts believe the Phaser 340 is a strong new contender. "I think it's a viable color laser alternative," says Michael Weiss, president of MWA Consulting
(Palo Alto, CA), a printing and imaging consultancy.
Vendors are also preparing a new round of ink-jet printers. HP (Santa Clara, CA, (800) 752-0900; fax (800) 333-1917) will likely introduce in June its new DeskJet 660C, an under-$500 color printer with print speeds of up to 1.5 ppm in color and 4 ppm in black and white. Also, Canon (Costa Mesa, CA, (800) 848-4123) was scheduled to release in late April the BJC-70, an under-3-pound printer with capabilities similar to those of its BJC-4000, for a street price estimated at $349. In addition, Lexmark (Lexington, KY) says it will release a slew of new color ink-jets this year. And Epson's (Torrance, CA, (800) 289-3776; fax (310) 782-4212) new Stylus Pro XL color ink-jet will offer better flesh-tone and color-transition printing than the current Stylus. It will also print on up to an 11- by 17-inch area.
"People are very conscious of color," says Charles LeCompte, editor of the Hard Copy Observer (Newton Highlands, MA). "In perhaps three years, mo
re people will have access to color printing than [those who] don't."
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IDC predicts that, in terms of units shipped, color ink-jet printers will become the most popular color solution for the desktop.
Color Encroaches on the Desktop
