IO Update August 2009 :: Inkjet Online

‘Cut costs by up to 50% versus laser *’ is the latest claim from HP about its new range of Officejet (OJ) and Officejet Pro (OJ Pro) printers. * Most industry leading colour laser AiOs (All in Ones) < AU$916 and colour laser printers < AU$485, April 2009, OJ Pro with highest-capacity cartridges. Energy use based on HP testing using the ENERGY STAR® program's TEC test method criteria.

Looking at this claim from the other direction suggests that comparable laser printers could now cost up to twice as much to run as inkjet printers, a pretty dramatic statement and worth looking into. I have found similar claims from manufacturers to be difficult to research and substantiate but I had no problem researching these claims from HP. Most of the information I found was on their US site and the rest from their Australian site. The tests were carried out by independent bodies and comparisons to other brands made on publically available data.

For further information on tests - http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2009/HPSMBEvent/InfoTrendsReportHPOJPro8X00.pdf

The Pro laser argument has always been about long term costs of ownership being cheaper with laser printers but if HPs new Officejet and Officejet Pro printers are winning against <$916 Laser printers across all brands then that argument is now seriously challenged or dead.

Although the tests were commissioned by HP I feel fairly confident placing faith in them. Not only are the tests carried out by independent bodies but HP have their own range of laser printers that these claims would have to undermine. So in a way it seems as much a claim about a technological advance in inkjet printing as anything else. As always statistical data can be manipulated so be sure to do your own in-depth research.

As well as the cost saving the HP 920 XL and HP 940 XL ink cartridges are pigment inks. Pigment inks give superior results on plain paper due to the pigment inks larger particle size and binding agents keeping the colour on the surface of the paper. On top of that they are water resistant and fade resistant claiming archival qualities under the right conditions.

As always inkjet printers are capable of quality laser can only dream of. If you want quality photos don’t buy a laser. With the flexibility to print real photo quality down to high speed draft quality inkjet printers are far more versatile. Combine that with the new cost saving, water resistance, fade resistance and quality vivid blacks and colour on plain paper and you’ve got a real contender against small office laser and smaller laser printers.

This month has seen prices drops in the range of Canon cartridges. All other brands have been steady. The Australian dollar has ranged between US$0.78 to US$0.82 in July. Not enough to have significant effects on most prices either way.

This month we have added Premium Green compatibles for the following Epson Cartridges.

B e sure your printer is up to the task. If you paid around $60 for your printer you are asking a lot of it plus printing images can be costly. Printing images is very thirsty on ink. Most manufacturers will state a number of pages you can expect per cartridge. This is usually based on 5% coverage and is a useful guide to workout cost per copy. Take the price of the cartridge and divide it by the number of pages the manufacturer states it can do at the 5 coverage. You now have a cost per page. The average photo is 150 x 100 mm. Four of these photos squeezed onto an A4 sheet is essentially 100% coverage. At this rate you can expect 1/20 of the stated page count or 20 times the cost per page you calculated above. If the page count for the cartridge says 400 pages you’ll get 20 A4 pages of 4 to a page photos (80 photos total). You could be paying an arm and a leg for relatively low quality so choose your printer carefully. Look for a printer around the $100 or more price range that has separate ink tanks for each colour and makes claims about printing great photos and graphics. Most manufacturers have an extraordinary number of printer models all of which suit a particular task best. Inkjet Printers generally fall into 3 general categories, Photo Printer, Photos and Documents Printer and Document Printers, then they will have varying levels of each of these to suit different budgets. Generally you’ll find the more expensive the printer the better it will be at all tasks. If you have $300 to spend and don’t need copy, scan, fax capability don’t be too tempted to get it. Better to spend it on a $300 stand alone printer. You’ll save on print costs in the long run and get a really nice printer that will do outstanding images and photos. Having said that I am continually amazed at the quality I get out mid range multifunction devices.
It sounds a little too simple to talk about but be sure your image is good to start with. Don’t be afraid to zoom in and out and really analyse your photo. A lot of time gets wasted on images that will never look great when printed. Is it in focus, are the colours what you want? Zoom in a little and look for graininess especially in images from digital cameras. Your printer will only produce what you feed it. Some programs (like Microsoft Word and I believe publisher) alter your images automatically so that they look nice on screen but can print very differently.
The concept of Image resolution is a challenge for a lot of people. Next month I will go into this in a fair amount of detail because it can be a critical factor, often over looked and misunderstood. What is DPI or PPI, why does resolution matter and how do you find out what the image resolution currently is anyway. As a general guide you need to make sure the images you are printing are at least 150 dpi or ppi (same thing to most people but ppi is actually correct) at their final size. By final size I mean the image after you have finished editing it and are ready to print. When you enlarge an image you reduce its ppi and when your reduce an image you increase its ppi. Take an image that is 150 ppi at 100mm wide. Enlarge it to 200mm wide and its ppi is now 75 ppi. Personally I try to make sure my images are at least 300 ppi at its final size. Many people will argue that this is more than necessary and 200 dpi is enough but I can see the difference. The better the printer the easier it is to tell. Adequate ppi will give your prints sharp edges and refined detail.
Some colours that you see on screen cannot be reproduced by a printer. Bright greens, blues, oranges and more... are outside of your printers colour range. Your monitor is using Red, Green and Blue light to produce colours whereas your printer uses reflected Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. In the October edition I will go into the world of RGB and CMYK in more detail. If your images are looking somewhat dull or washed out this may be a cause.
Printer health covers a couple of topics. To do anything about this you will need to access your print driver. START button>>SETTINGS>>PRINTERS>>right click on your printer and choose PROPERTIES, in this window most printers will have a tab dedicated to printer maintenance. Be sure the print head is in full working condition and has no blockages or dead nozzles. Blocked or dead nozzles will cause a repeated pattern or lines in your image. Most print drivers have a 'Nozzle Check' pattern that you can print out and this will make nozzle problems clear. Clear blocked nozzles with a print head clean, one may not be enough. If the nozzles are dead there is nothing that can be done and the print head will need to be replaced (or the printer). With a healthy print head it’s a good idea to do a print head alignment. You will find this function in the print driver settings, maintenance tab.
Choosing the right paper is critical. Plain or uncoated paper will never produce high quality results. As ink is a liquid it is absorbed by the paper. On plain paper the coloured liquid gets drawn out in every direction feathering sharp edges and blurring into other colours. Better quality paper will help to reduce this but until you change to a specially coated paper it will never be as good as it could be. Specially coated paper comes in various forms and ranges from High Resolution Paper, offered as an alternative to plain paper, all the way up to Super Glossy Paper for those treasured photos. All coated papers will produce vastly better results than plain or uncoated paper.
Your printer is in good health and you’ve filled it with specially coated paper. Now you need to make sure that your printer knows what kind of paper you have fed it with. Getting this right is critical. Generally you will only be able to tell it this once you are ready to print. Click PRINT and then PROPERTIES. In this window you will be able to select a paper description that closely matches the paper type you have put in your machine. The same file printed using Plain, High Resolution, Satin or Super Glossy settings in the print driver will all be printed differently. Your printers software will adjust the ink droplet size and frequency and colour density depending on the paper type. The higher the quality settings the longer your prints will take to be printed. This is because the printer is laying down more droplets to create finer detail. There are also other settings you can alter but for now these are the basics that cover 99% of what you need to know to get great results.

Joke of the Month - If you have any good jokes to share please send them to us. Just reply to this email.

This guy comes home from work one day to find his dog with the neighbour’s pet rabbit in its mouth. The rabbit, now looking a little second hand, covered in dirt and very dead causes the guy to panic. He thinks the neighbours are going to hate him forever, so he takes the dirty, chewed-up rabbit into the house, gives it a bath, blow-dries its fur, and puts the rabbit back into the cage at the neighbour’s house, hoping that they will think it died of natural causes.

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