Four years ago, thePhotoFinishes ran a story about the Memjet Inkjet Printer that used a unique paper wide printhead and the ability to print at 40 to 100 pages/minute full color with impressive fidelity. Here is our take at the time:
As you can see there is still a good deal of suspicion, but as more samples of the real thing get viewed in action, that skepticism seems to be breaking down. This technology, called “a fraud” by Kodak CEO A. Perez, has caused HP to speed up its rival technology- Edgeline which also uses page wide printheads. PCMagazine is saying Edgeline looks solid too. So expect in the next 6-8 months for printing technology to take a significant boost in performance.
Now nearly 4 years later and no sign of Memjet except a news item about LG and Lenovo using the technology in the Asian market. Hmmm – having just shelled out $300 for 3 HP laser printer cartridges that will produce about 200 copies before refill at barely 2 pages per minute, maybe a check on Memjet’s status is overdue.
The Latest on Memjet
Memjet Home Printer in action
From visits to Memjets website and reports in the Print press, Memjet technology has done well in the label printing business. Memjet appeared at CES2011 in January where it turned some heads. But the critical factor is that Memjet is being adapted for Home-Office printing by some savvy electronics players including LG and Lenovo. These vendors must see Memjet printers as clearing some of printing’s nasty hurdles.
The whole problem with printing technology is that there are so many ways to screw up. Let me count the ways[note – I have added the latest Memjet printer capabilities where available] :
1)Cost of the printer is too high – $700 for LG A4 printer;
2)the cost of ink cartridge refills is too high – 5cents per page versus 25 cents for most laser printers;
3)the process of changing the ink cartridges is too messy/difficult;
4)speed of the printer is too low – 60 pages/minute;
5)Accuracy/fidelity of the printed page is off by too much or inconsistent – at 1600 DPI, no problem see here;
6)the mechanics of the printer wear out too quickly – especially for fast printers;
7)the printer feed jams up – especially with faster speed of operations;
8)the printheads become clogged with dust and shorten the life of a cartridge;
9)the different colors runout unevenly so users are constantly changing ink cartridges;
10)the printer cannot handle a wide range of paper densities and finish well.
See how easy it is to get a Letterman 10 Ways PC Printing can go wrong – and readers certainly could add to the list. Having said that one can report that Memjet has met 3 of these requirements very well. And with Lenovo, LG, Delphax and Medion among others announcing new printers across label, home and office, plus industrial printing categories, it appears that Memjet is finally gaining some commercial momentum.
If Memjet printers can pass hurdles 6), 7), 8) – printing and HP[with its own expensive Edgeline competitive printer tech ], Canon, Epson, and Kodak may be confronted with another disruptive technology. Look for Memjets in a store in Asia now and in North America in 2012.