HP recently announced the scaling of its inkjet-based PageWide Technology for large-format printing, delivering high-quality prints at faster speeds and lower costs.
This innovative technology, which consists of more than 200,000 nozzles on a stationary print bar and spans the width of the page, enables users to produce a variety of black-and-white and color applications, such as drawings, maps and posters. HP PageWide Technology will disrupt the $1.3 billion production printing market currently dominated by monochrome light-emitting diode (LED) printers.
HP also is expanding its existing large-format portfolio with new devices and software designed to meet specific business demands for high-volume, production printing. The new products include:
- The HP Designjet T3500 Production eMultifunction Printer (eMFP), the most productive large-format color multifunction printer in its category,(2) ideal for use by enterprises.
- The HP Designjet T7200 Production Printer, a full-color large-format printer built for central reprographic departments (CRDs) and reprographic houses with high-volume print demands.
- HP Designjet SmartStream, a software program that streamlines the complete printing workflow.
These solutions can handle the volume and diverse print needs of enterprise organizations; CRDs; architectural, engineering, construction (AEC) and design firms; public sector agencies; quick printers and small- to medium-sized reprographic houses.
“Our customers are continuously seeking cost-effective and reliable printing technologies that improve the way they work,” said Stephen Nigro, senior vice president, Graphics and Inkjet Solutions Business, HP. “The new large-format HP PageWide Technology will disrupt the production printing market by offering customers an affordable option for high-volume quality prints, transforming an industry that typically prints in monochrome to now print in color without compromising speed.”
Pioneering inkjet printing: HP leads with technological advancements
For more than 30 years, HP has led the inkjet printing market by investing in printhead and ink research and development. Building on the success of its HP PageWide Technology from industrial production to small business printing, HP will offer customers dependable and economical operation for high-quality, large-format printing at high speeds.
With inkjet technologies, the ink vehicle, which carries the colorant to the surface of the printer, is crucial to the stability of the ink, the drop ejection process and the overall print result. The HP PageWide printhead is built with thousands of identical drop generators that offer uniform volume, speed and trajectory for precise printing. The technology also regulates the speed and penetration of Original HP pigment ink to accelerate drying and to control dot size, feathering and color-to-color bleed for high-quality prints.
Together with HP Thermal Inkjet Technology and HP pigment inks, the new HP PageWide Technology for large-format printers reduces the cost per page and offers the flexibility to use low-cost photo papers for graphically rich applications. Additionally, the PageWide platform prints the full page in a single pass for decreased turnaround time.
Rethink productivity: Large-format solutions designed for quality, volume, speed
The compact 36-inch HP Designjet T3500 Production eMFP requires no warm-up time and features an ultra-fast processor and a high-productivity scanner with batch-scanning, multipage PDF creation and scan-to-email capabilities. The device also allows for unattended and low-cost operation, producing monochrome prints at the same cost per page as LED MFPs.(3) For printing jobs requiring high security, it is built with a self-encrypting hard drive, secure disk erase and controlled access printing.
The 42-inch HP Designjet T7200 Production Printer is capable of handling three heavy media rolls. It can produce both color and black-and-white prints on a wide range of media, from bond to glossy photo paper, with a low cost of operation comparable to monochrome LED printers.(3)
The HP Designjet SmartStream software makes print management more efficient by streamlining workflow for highly demanding print environments. It offers true PDF management, along with accurate and error-free prints with the HP Crystal Preview technology. It also can reduce job preparation time by up to 50 percent on multipage print jobs.(4)
For IT managers, HP also introduced a new HP Designjet Universal Print Driver, which allows users to manage their entire HP Designjet fleet with a standardized single driver. This reduces the amount of time and cost in testing and deployment—and in keeping the software across all HP Designjet printers up to date.
Customers also can increase efficiency with optional hardware accessories and software tools, such as the new HP Designjet HD Pro Scanner, stacker and online folder.
Pricing and availability (5)
- Large-format HP PageWide printers will be available in the second half of 2015.
- The HP Designjet T3500 Production eMFP and HP Designjet T7200 Production Printer are now available worldwide with estimated starting list prices of $14,750 and $12,644, respectively.
- The HP Designjet SmartStream Pre-Flight Manager and Controllers are expected to be available worldwide on June 30 for an estimated starting list price of $1,295 and $795, respectively.
(1) Based on HP internal data.
(2) Compared with large-format color MFPs under $25,000. Based on the fastest-rated color speeds published by manufacturers as of January 2014. Test methods vary.
(3) Compared with large-format low-volume LED printers with print speeds of up to 7 Arch D pages per minute.
(4) Conclusion based on an HP internal test measuring the time required to extract pages from a 50-page document and print them using several printers compared with using equivalent software products.
(5) Pricing and availability will vary by country and are subject to change.