Epson asks... Inkjet over laser?

Inkjet has often been regarded as the poor sister to laser printing.

But advances in inkjet technologies mean there's now a compelling case for inkjet, says Bruce Bealby, Epson Australia business unit manager.

The printing world has been changing at a rapid rate for some time. This change and its rapidity makes life challenging for manufacturers and resellers alike.

So what can be done to help better sell printers? The answer is in the change itself and embracing it rather than pushing back against it.

There are some technologies that have been around for a very long time. Technologies that almost became the defacto standard in certain areas of printing.

Laser is one of these technologies. For many years few people questioned laser technology, often simply accepting it as the leader in its field. More recently technology and technological advances had other ideas.

In the past there was a clear line (no pun intended) between inkjet and laser. Two different technologies that sometimes competed in the same space, until now.

New tech, new opportunities

For the last few years there has been much research and development done in the world of inkjet printing. This research focussed on what was really important to the end user – quality, performance, colour resolution, operating costs and power usage.

By focusing on the end result and the benefits possible with inkjet over laser, such as fewer moving parts and cheaper servicing, major breakthroughs were made and new technology was created such as the PrecisionCore MicroTFP print chip.

This print chip is modular and can be arrayed in various printhead configurations. Based on the thin film piezo (TFP) technology that has been used in commercial large-format printers, the MicroTFP PrecisionCore print chip offers vastly improved basic performance compared to conventional piezo printheads, including faster speed and more accurate dot placement.

The thin film piezo printhead technology merges the latest advances in materials science and microelectromechanical systems fabrication.

As the technology is scalable it could be integrated at the heart of products ranging from the high-end commercial printers to everyday compact small office and home office printers. This ‘across the board’ approach presented the print world with significant opportunities.

How does this help resellers?

There is now a very compelling case for inkjet over laser. In many tests when compared to laser printers in the same price range and class PrecisionCore inkjet printers can now offer better quality than a laser, better performance than a laser, better colour resolution than a laser, at lower costs than a laser all the while using far less power than a laser.

In a challenging environment where costs and cost savings are always welcome but where quality must still be maintained, this quantum leap in inkjet technology gives resellers a strong argument about why inkjet is indeed better than laser and truly the future of printing across the board.