Epson Rolls In High-Res Inkjets
Let me explain. This is the piezo-electricity principles out printers are based on that. On the other hand, look at this diagram of our competitions technology that was invented by James Watt, its the steam engine, Mike Pleasants laughs, happy at that cheeky line.
Cheeky, yes. But the senior marketing manager, Seiko-Epson has reason enough to boast. Having just launched what he claims are the worlds highest resolution colour inkjet printers, he is determined to tear the competition to bits. That the competition is not present at the scene certainly helps.
The latest in the Seiko-Epson line-up, the Stylus 800, 600 and 1520 can churn out dazzling quality colour prints at an amazing resolution of 1440 dots per inch. Just compare that to the 300 dpi resolution of most of the entry-level b/w lasers, and you get the idea. The Stylus 800 costs as much as one, can give you glorious colour (Mike calls it photo-quality, but we have our reservations on that), can print on multiple media including T-shirt transfer paper and transparencies. The Stylus 1520 can print on A3-size paper too, perfect for design bureaus and advertising agencies for proofing.
Inkjets have steadily been eating away at the laser printer segment. Last year, the share of laser printers declined to 7 per cent from 11 per cent in 1995-96. At the low end, the market share of dot matrix printers, which formed a massive 68 per cent in 1995 -96 has also come down by 4 per cent. Inkjets have traditionally offered a price to performance advantage that lasers couldnt match b/w inkjets start as low as Rs. 9000.
Disadvantages? Colour smudging and crawling speeds were the major complaints. Even when they offered up to 720 dpi resolution, they suffered from smudging, often due to the size of the dots. Epson has eliminated this with its microdot technology which produces perfectly spherical droplets. At 1440 dpi, that translates to laser-sharp text and images. The new Epson range offers dots smaller than one-tenth of a standard 300 dpi dot.
But we cant resist comparing. Hewlett- Packards new colour laser still gives just 300 dpi, and can put you back by a few lakhs. Canon will offer a 1200 dpi colour laser soon. Epson seems to be the unquestioned leader in terms of pure resolution. Too good to be true? We offer more expensive technology at the same price, says Pleasants.
How does Epsons printers compare to dye-sublimation printers? Oh, we are better, he says, and I remain sceptical. Dye sub printers are supposed to offer near photographic quality output, so how can an inkjet with its smudged dots compare?
Thats precisely that point. Dye sub printers lack resolution, but they give the appearance of better quality in photographs where they offer a continuos tone. Look at the edges, where they have sharp outlines, and they will still be indistinct. The sample prints appear to prove that point. Here, the minute dots mark the outlines clearly while our own stock dye-sublimation outputs are fudged at the edges.
Epson has also worked on the printer drivers to offer more realistic colour. And none of this is at the cost of speed either, another major complaint so far. At about 8 pages per minute, they are as fast as an entry level laser, and lead the inkjet pack. According to Paresh Vora, country manager, Epson India, the company hoped to increase its market share to 35 per cent. The current range of printers are available in India from Wipro. The Stylus 600 is priced at Rs. 19,950, Stylus 800 at 24,950 and the Stylus 1520 is priced at Rs. 49,950.