Jon Pepper
The first generation of color laser printers were pricey, difficult to maintain, and expensive to operate in color. A second generation of products due to ship this summer addresses these issues, although prices remain relatively high (at least $5000).
One second-generation offering comes from Xerox (Rochester, NY, (800) 349-3769) and its XPrint line. With three machines (the 1200 by 300 dots-per-inch model 4915 [$6895] and the 600 by 600 dpi models 4920 and 4925 [$7995 and $9495, respectively]), Xerox claims it is cutting black-and-white page costs to about 2.5 cents a page, which is comparable to that of a monochrome laser printer. Color prints will cost about 20 cents a page, a price that's competitive with other laser printers but slightly more than the Te
ktronix Phaser 340 phase-change printer's estimated 11 cents per color page. All three Xerox printers print at up to 12 pages per minute in black-and-white and up to three ppm in color.
With its Intelligent Color technologies that make it easier to generate high-quality images, Xerox hopes to make color printing less daunting. However, although Xerox's new printers will ship with consumables like toner installed, they still require separate developer and toner cartridges, making them more difficult to maintain.
Apple's (Cupertino, CA, (408) 996-1010) new Color LaserWriter 12/600PS doesn't require separate developer and toner cartridges and thus reduces the number of consumables a user must confront. In this respect, the 12/600PS joins Tektronix's (Wilsonville, OR, (800) 835-6100) new Phaser 540 Plus ($8995), a modest upgrade of the Phaser 540. The Phaser 540 already combined toner and developer.
Apple's color laser printer (prices start at $6400) prints at up to 12 ppm in black and 3 ppm
in color at 600 dpi. The 12/600PS's rotating carousel for the four color-toner cartridges makes it easy to replace spent toner.
Another handy feature is the 12/600PS's automatic color calibration and PhotoGrade technology, which delivers close to photorealistic color. And although the printer ships with just 12 MB of RAM (the Xerox printers come with 16 MB to 24 MB depending on the model), the 12/600PS can print at 600 dpi in black and white or color, thanks to its compression/decompression ASIC. Apple says its Contone compression lets a page that would require 120 MB of RAM print with just 8 MB.
Despite the performance and usability advances, analysts say color laser printers are still too expensive for the mainstream, especially when quality monochrome laser printers sell for $400 to $1500. However, increased competition should continue to drive improvements. HP, QMS, and even NEC will also likely introduce new color laser printers this year. With competition from phase-change printers like Te
ktronix's Phaser 340 (see "Color Encroaches on the Desktop," June 1995 BYTE, page 28) and from startling new color ink jets (see the table
"HP's Fast Color Ink-Jet Printer"
), the prognosis for end users is a new palette of cost-effective and high-performance color output options.
Color ink-jet printers are not just for the small- or home-office
user. New high-end color ink-jet printers like the Color Jetprinter
4079 Plus ($3199) from Lexmark (Greenwich, CT, (800) 358-5835) target
graphics artists and CAD/CAM users with its PostScript Level 2
support, color matching, and 11- by 17-inch printing capability. But
color ink-jet printers generally suffer from slow output performance
(one ppm for monochrome output is typical).
However, HP's (Santa Clara, CA, (800) 752-0900) DeskJet 1600C, which
was announced earlier this year in Europe and more recently in the
U.S., prints at 600 by 600 dpi resolutio
n at up to 9 ppm. Color pages
are produced at 300 by 300 dpi at up to 4 ppm. At estimated street
prices of $1400, the 1600C will tempt buyers who can't afford a color
laser printer. A Mac version, the 1600CM, includes PostScript and
should sell for $1999. You can expect Canon and Lexmark to provide
products with similar speed in the coming months as well.
--by Jon
Pepper
Color Lasers: Faster, Easier, Cheaper
