HP Launches First
Products With Edgeline Technology
HP CM8050/CM8060 Color MFP
|
Hewlett-Packard (HP)
continued its effort this week to try and take pages from the traditional
copier market with the launch of its first office-class products to use its
Edgeline Technology: the
CM8050
Color MFP and the
CM8060
Color MFP. HP has high hopes for the products, and is serving notice
to its copier-based competitors. "The Edgeline offerings will transform
the industry, providing customers with a multifunction printing solution
offering unprecedented ease of use that can improve productivity and lower
color operating costs by up to 30 percent," said Vyomesh Joshi, executive
vice president of HP's Imaging and Printing Group.
A Closer Look At The
CM8050/CM8060 Color MFPs
Previously announced HP
office-class multifunction products, such as the LaserJet
M4345 and Color
LaserJet 4730 MFPs, were intended to be low-priced alternatives to
expensive copiers purchased with complicated contracts. Offering users support
for only legal-size output, these devices feature a basic MFP feature set at a
lower acquisition cost without requiring a service contract. In contrast, the
CM8050/CM8060 Color MFPs are positioned and intended to be sold in much the
same way as traditional copiers are sold. For instance, these models have a
similar pricing model and the advanced feature set typically found on
copier-based products.
In addition, HP plans to
sell the CM8050 Color MFP and CM8060 Color MFP based on the traditional copier
contract, with varying click charges depending on usage. Under the multi-tiered
click charge system, users will pay one charge for color pages printed in
Professional Color mode; a second, lower click charge for color pages printed
in General Color mode (which reduces color saturation while maintaining full
black optical density); and a third, even lower click charge for monochrome
pages. For output with very small amounts of color output (less than 1/2
percent page coverage, which is equivalent to about 125 characters of
underlined 10-point Times Roman text or approximately 100 characters of
underlined 10-point Arial text), HP offers the Color Accent Feature, which
bills these pages at the monochrome click charge. HP expects this multi-tiered
click charge system to save customers up to 30% savings on their color cost per
page compared to competitive color department MFPs. According to HP, the target
market for these products is general offices that need to print high quality
monochrome and color documents and save money on operating costs.
The CM8050 Color MFP and
CM8060 Color MFP are much faster than the average inkjet. Supporting up to
11" x 17" output and featuring speeds of 60 ppm in black and 50 ppm
in color, the CM8060 Color MFP ($23,530, SRP) has a duty cycle of up to 250,000
pages per month. Also supporting up to 11" x 17" output, the CM8050
Color MFP ($18,930, SRP) offers speeds of 50 ppm in black and 40 ppm in color and
has a duty cycle of up to 220,000 pages per month. When compared to
copier-based color copiers, the SRPs of the CM8050 and CM8060 Color MFPs are on
the lower end of the scale. Color copiers with a color speed of 40 ppm like the
CM8050 Color MFP range in price from $17,250 to $22,250. Color copiers with a
color speed of 50 ppm like the CM8060 Color MFP range in price from $24,000 to
$35,900.
Included in the base SRP
of the CM8050/CM8060 Color MFPs are a standard network interface, print, copy
and scan (to network folder, e-mail, LAN fax and Internet fax with various
authentication options, as well as an embedded OCR program) functionality, a
standard paper supply of 1,580 sheets and a 100-sheet duplexing automatic
document feeder (DADF). The standard memory includes 1 GB of RAM
(nonupgradeable) and an 80-GB hard drive with secure disk erase that allows for
private print jobs, stored jobs and stored fax (when equipped with the optional
33.6-Kbps fax accessory). The units feature print and copy resolution of 600 x 600
dpi (up to 600 x 1200 optimized dpi).
Based on a 1.6-GHz Intel
Pentium M-730 processor, the MFPs with Edgeline Technology offer PCL 5c, PCL 6,
PostScript 3 and direct PDF printing. Users must choose one of three output
options at the time of purchase: a 250-sheet single output bin ($80, SRP), a
1,200-sheet four-bin job separator ($1,770, SRP) or a multifunction finisher
($3,530, SRP), consisting of a 2,500-sheet stacker/stapler and 1,200-sheet
four-bin job separator. A 4,000-sheet high-capacity tray ($2,460, SRP) is also
available.
The CM8050 and CM8060
Color MFPs have five user-replaceable cartridges: black ink (yields 25,800
pages), cyan ink (yields 63,000 pages), magenta ink (yields 68,900 pages),
yellow ink (yields 56,500 pages) and a bonding agent (yields 23,500 pages).
These specially formulated Vivera inks work in combination with a clear bonding
agent to provide office quality durability. For example, the ink will not smear
when touched or transfer to the back of pages that are placed on top of them.
In addition, the inks are designed to withstand normal highlighter use and
minimal moisture without smearing. For example, if a user spills water on a
printed page, he should be able to let the water run off or blot it dry without
the ink smearing on regular bond paper. The black ink cartridge is priced at
$59, while the cyan, magenta and yellow ink cartridges are priced at $426 each.
The bonding agent cartridge is priced at $49.
CM8050/CM8060 Color MFP Control Panel
|
The new MFPs with Edgeline
Technology include an enhanced version of HP’s Easy Select Control Panel
(recipient of a Fall 2006 BLI Outstanding Achievement Award for User Interface
Design). A full-color 10-inch touch-screen display features an easy-to-use
graphical display, which allows users to easily program functions and view help
messages. HP’s “AutoNav” feature helps users to resolve device issues. With the
help of live action videos on the control panel that change as users perform
each step in the process, as well as a series of LEDs that light up in sequence
to guide users quickly and easily to the source of the problem, solving such
problems as locating and removing paper jams are simple.
The CM8050 and CM8060
Color MFPs are also fully compatible with HP Web Jetadmin 8.1 and include HP’s
Color Access Controls, which allows the administrator to control how and when
users can print and copy in color. The color copy lockout feature allows the
administrator to password-protect the CM8050/CM8060 Color MFPs as black-only
copiers, so that only authorized users can copy documents in color. Administrators can also assign color access to specific users or workgroups by using the
embedded Web server or HP Web Jetadmin’s fleet configuration capability. Color
access can also be designated by application type. In this manner, certain
applications will be printed in color and others in black only (such as e-mail
and Web pages) to ensure that users are not wasting color ink. Administrators can also shut down color completely, temporarily disable the device’s color
capability for all users, or lock out certain individuals and workgroups using
Web Jetadmin’s Print Driver Pre-configuration Plug-in to set users’ print
settings to control color printing by print queue.
While these products have
robust monthly duty cycles, HP anticipates that real-world usage will average
between 5,000 to 35,000 pages per month for the CM8050 Color MFP and between
10,000 to 50,000 pages per month for the CM8060 Color MFP. In addition, both
models include a standard 90-day hardware warranty; however, HP expects the
devices will be sold with an additional service contract that is customized to
meet customer needs. Both the CM8050 Color MFP and CM8060 Color MFP are Energy
Star compliant.
Edgeline
Technology In Summary
Edgeline Printhead
|
Introduced in October
2006, Edgeline Technology uses page-wide printheads to distribute ink rapidly
in one pass. A similar technology has been developed by Silverbrook Research
(see
Silverbrook
Research Announces New Inkjet Technology). To address the slow
print speeds typically associated with inkjet technology, HP printers with
Edgeline Technology use large, page-wide stationary printheads—arranged in a
line—to dispense ink across the entire width of the page as the paper passes
beneath them, resulting in more accurate ink-drop placement, according to HP.
In addition, this stationary printhead design is expected to deliver higher
reliability, due to fewer moving parts, and is said to offer a lower total cost
of operation over time. To complement the new printhead design and increased
speeds, HP has specially designed Vivera inks for each model offering Edgeline
Technology.
HP Edgeline Technology
already powers the retail photo kiosk with the HP Photosmart Express Station
and the HP Photosmart pm1000 Microlab printer, both of which produce photo
lab-quality prints in as fast as five seconds. The HP Photosmart Express
Station uses HP Vivera professional inks and a patented 6-ink system that
prints smudge- and fade-resistant photos that HP says will last for generations.
The recently introduced HP Photosmart pm1000 Microlab printer delivers photo
lab-quality prints in as little as 5 seconds per print using an Edgeline module
that plugs into a retailer’s existing photofinishing system.
What Customers Are
Saying
As part of its pre-launch
preparation of the CM8050 Color MFP and CM8060 Color MFP, HP had a number of
customers evaluate the products for three months prior to their announcement.
Here is what some of them had to say:
Ryan Barnhart, micro
systems manager, WinCo Foods, Inc. – "The user interface on the HP
CM8060 Color MFP is incredible. We’d buy it just for that. I’m in IT, but our
other users are not and on our previous non-HP device users got lost in the
menus. With this new HP MFP it’s self explanatory to breeze right through it.
Every business wants speed and efficiency and this printer offers both. Usually
we give instructions on how to use a new machine and we didn’t even hang a
sheet for this one. It’s just plug and play. We directed people from all over
the company to use it because it was just so easy."
Mike Harris,
information services operations manager, Clark Public Utilities - "The
HP CM8060 Color MFP is a powerful production system. We produced booklets for
HR, manuals, newsletters, ledger-size spreadsheets as well as maps and diagrams
making full use of all five media trays. The new color MFP has a more flexible
and comprehensive user interface which was easy to deploy from an IS
perspective and intuitive for users. We knew the HP CM8060 Color MFP had made
an impact when an employee remarked after the evaluation that it felt like one
of the family had left home and was really missed!"
Michael A. Lindstrom,
group vice president, engineering, ECCO Group - "We’ve been testing
the HP CM8060 Color MFP in the office for a few months and without a doubt it
is better than other devices we’ve seen before. It's extremely user friendly
and intuitive which is a nice change because for the first time we didn’t feel
like we needed an engineering degree to use it. Even though we have a beta
version of the HP CM8060 Color MFP, we’d keep this device as is rather than
switch back to a copier machine. HP has hit a homerun with this one."
Memjet Printhead
|
According to Silverbrook
Research, its Memjet technology, which uses page-width printheads similar to
HP's Edgeline Technology, has been in development for the past 10 years (HP has
been developing Edgeline Technology for the past four years). Memjet
technology's page-width printheads eliminate the need for the printheads to
move back and forth as the page moves through the printer. The privately funded
Silverbrook Research, located in Sydney, Australia, was founded in 1994 and has
been awarded 1,400 patents and has more than 2,000 patents pending in the area
of digital imaging and printing.
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