Colour
printers adapt to peripheral media
Latest
models print disc labels, read camera memory cards
by Alan Zisman (c) 2003 First published in
Business in Vancouver ,
Issue #713 June 24-30; GearGuide column
Even
with overall sales of technology products relatively chill, the market
for personal printers remains heated, with companies adding on
features.
The
April Gear Guide column looked at colour laser printers with relatively
high-prices because they were aimed at using the local area network to
service an entire department. This month I'll look at models that are
more affordable for the small office or home user. (And for good
measure, I'll take a quick look at a digital projector that sets a new
benchmark for affordability.)
Epson Stylus Photo 900
Epson's
latest edition to its Sylus line of inkjet printers, the $300 Stylus
Photo 900 can print directly onto CD or DVD discs.
With
consumers and business-users burning millions of blank discs each year,
many will appreciate the ability to label them in an attractive,
professional-looking manner. This feature may be especially appealing
to
businesses that make their own discs with product information for
clients.
The
Stylus Photo 900 uses a special tray that holds the disc and is run
through the printer's straight-through paper path. For best results,
use
ink-jet printable CD-R or DVD media, and print them after burning the
data on. Print quality is good, but the relatively slow speed makes
this an option for discs that are custom-burnt or produced in small
quantities. It's not a replacement for commercial production of large
quantities of discs.
As
the name suggests, the Stylus Photo 900 also offers high quality
printing of digital photos and scans, including borderless printing at
sizes from four by six inches to eight by 10 inches. And you can use
the included roll paper holder to print multiple photo prints. Also
offering good speed and quality on everyday printing tasks, its
printing right onto blank discs is what makes this printer stand out
from the crowd of medium-priced inkjet models.
Lexmark Photo Jetprinter
Digital
camera-users may want to take a look at Lexmark's new $150 P707
Photo Jetprinter, the first model at that price to include slots
for digital camera memory cards. A wide variety of card formats is
supported, including Compact Flash, SmartMedia, Sony Memory Stick,
Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMedia Card (MMC). (Users of new Fuji or
Olympus cameras are out of luck, however; those cameras use yet
another format: XD Picture Cards.) Along with the memory card slots,
this printer features up to 4,800 dpi resolution, and six-colour
borderless photo printing.
HP Color LaserJet 1500
HP's
new Color LaserJet 1500 series printers by design do less than
the big expensive models featured in the April Gear Guide, but prices
starting at $1,200 set a new low for colour laser printers. Not aimed
at
corporate departments, HP is targeting home and small office users,
offering print speeds of four pages per minute for colour and 16 ppm
for black and white printing. With higher print speeds and lower cost
per page than widely-used colour inkjet printers, it allows home and
small office users to more easily print their own presentations,
reports and brochures.
Epson PowerLite projector
Epson
is also aiming at home and small office users with the $1,500 PowerLite
S1 projector. With digital projectors typically costing more than
the computers that they plug into, this model offers 1,200 lumens of
projection power, and an 800x600 SVGA resolution.
The
bulb (with a replacement cost of $300) is rated for 1,200 hours of use.
Weighing in at 7 lbs. (3.2 kg) with a built-in handle, it can be easily
toted around, and can project onto a screen as close as 125 cm (four
feet) away.
Designed
for PowerPoint presentations and home entertainment uses in small to
mid-sized rooms, the PowerLite S1 sets a new low price-point for
digital
projectors.