by Abhinav Kaiser on November 30, 2008
Brother’s latest offering DCP-6690CW is not only a standard photo printer that can scan and copy, but it can do all that on A3-size paper. A big inkjet printer with a host of features is guaranteed to take the market by storm, even though Brother carries more credentials with laser printing than inkjet.
The printer carries four individual cartridges, cyan, yellow, magenta and black. Ink cartridges are available in standard and high yield variants. Best printing resolution is at 1200 X 6000 dpi. Some testers who had hands-on experience with 6690CW felt that text prints were pretty ordinary while the colour graphics and photo quality were excellent.
Printing speed is decent for A3 at 10ppm for both monochrome and colour. However, it was found that the printer demonstrated a speed at 4ppm which was a net reduction by 60%.
Other features that make this printer a must buy is the multiple options it presents to be connected over a network along with the standard USB 2.0 interface; it’s both Ethernet and Wi-Fi capable. The scanner is capable of directly emailing digital copies along with the option of storing them on memory cards and OCR.
After a bunch of positives, it’s time to look at one major negative that has the potential of negating the bunch of features it carries, the selling price. This Brother inkjet printer carries a price tag of £260 which is a little steep for printers in this segment and the quality it offers, especially with monochrome text prints.
by Abhinav Kaiser on November 29, 2008
HP launched their new wide carriage printer, Photosmart B8550 at Photokina, one of the world’s largest photography tradeshows. The objective was simple - HP has flagged their campaign in the A3 inkjet market and are directly competing with Epson, the leader in this segment.
This HP inkjet printer is an A3 inkjet printer and a photo printer that is capable of outputting 15 x 10cm photo prints. Similar to A4 photo printers, this printer has a LCD screen to view images before printing, three memory slots and a PictBridge port for direct camera connection. The lack of networking functionality on this printer baffles us as the reasoning behind leaving out the most desired feature of the times cannot be a smart one.
TR has conducted a thorough testing on Photosmart B8550 and the results are more or less on the expected lines.
Printing quality on a HP is always presumably good and this one is no different. Black text prints are sharp with clean cuts and smooth characters. Colour printing is neat as well, except for the yellow shade that looked muddy. Photo printing is excellent but some minute details were left out, which is not a big concern.
One of the biggest concerns about this printer is the amount of time it takes for performing its regular household duties. The printer head loiters around and produces grinding sounds anywhere between 30 and 90 seconds before it loads the first sheet. This is unacceptable for an inkjet printer, especially for those who bear the print heads on the cartridge.
HP claims that the printer spits out monochrome prints at 33ppm and colour prints at 31ppm. But, it was seen that the claimed rates were a 1000% exaggeration of the reality; printing speed was in the range of 3ppm which is still not bad for an A3 printer.
HP has gone the Canon way with five separate ink cartridges, probably for the very first time. This has paid out with the cost per print for colour at 7.36p but black prints are still not on the economical side at 2.95p.
B8550 is a decent wide carriage printer. The time to spit out the first print is quite annoying and maybe the first of the kind. All we could say is “well done HP” for trying to compete with the leader, and we feel that HP has a long way to go in this segment.
by Abhinav Kaiser on November 29, 2008
HP may not be the leader in the laser printing segment, but their new printer Laserjet CP3525dn has features that can raise quite a few eyebrows in the industry. It’s a standard colour laser printer that offers great quality and expandable features at a highly competitive printing speed.
The printer carries the ColorSphere printing technology to output some of the finest prints in the industry. The best printing resolution is 1200 X 600 dpi and the printer has a massive 75,000 monthly duty cycle, making it apt for large enterprises.
Printing speed is great at 30ppm for both monochrome and colour. HP’s Instant-on technology ensures that the first print comes out as early as 11 seconds.
CP3525dn features a fast 515MHz processor along with standard 384MB DDR memory, expandable up to 1GB. A hard disk can be hooked inside the printer, but the drive doesn’t come as a standard component of the printer. This network printer features enhanced security features which is soon becoming the need of the times along with automatic duplex printing.
HP claims that the printing costs would be at a minimal, thanks to the Color Access Control (CAC) technology. We will find out the actual costs when we run a review on this printer in the near future.
This feature rich colour laser printer from HP is available directly on their website at £573 excluding VAT. It’s a little steep and as we have seen in the past, HP printers are never economical. The true worth of this Laserjet is in the price of its prints along with the print quality and printing speed.
by Abhinav Kaiser on November 25, 2008
The latest Brother offering, MFC-7320 is a new look A4 monochrome laser printer that has all the usual multi-function features. This printer can scan, copy and send out faxes as well. It is well suited for small and home offices due to the lack of colour printing functionality.
This Brother laser printer is strongly built but surprisingly not too heavy. It may be a little overboard in terms of the present day compactness of laser printers though.
MFC-7320 can print at a best resolution of 2400 X 600 dpi. Printing speed is average at 18ppm.
The prints emerging from this printer is of the highest quality when tested with fonts at various sizes including the tiniest ones.
One thing that baffles me about this Brother printer is the absence of a network option. This printer connects to a computer through USB only. Although, users may fuse in a print server to convert this ordinary printer into a network printer.
The manufacturer puts a steep price on this printer at £260 while we found some deals online at as low as £160. At the online price, it’s definitely a steal and a must buy for every office.
by Abhinav Kaiser on November 25, 2008
Around two years back, there were reports emerging from China which stated that laptops as cheap as £50 would be out in the market pretty soon. It has taken over two years to witness a new laptop, a tiny laptop or a netbook at £50 from the very same country.
Hong Kong based Jointech recently launched its J-PRO mini laptop JL7100. It features a 400MHz CPU, 7-inch TFT screen and 1GB SD storage space. It has 3 USB ports, Ethernet port and a VGA connector. The weight of this netbook is barely 800 grams along with the battery. Talking about batteries, this one can run your system for up to 4 hours.
Unlike other laptops, it runs on Windows CE and not XP. The netbook can run basic office applications such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and IE among other Microsoft certified programs.
Going by the looks, this netbook is as unattractive and ancient as it can get. People these days have begin to go for looks along with the performance. Maybe, Jointech should have spent more effort in redesigning the world’s cheapest laptop.
However, there are other costlier variants of this laptop that sports Wi-Fi capability and the top end that can run XP.
These models surely sound cheap going by economies but in terms of practicality, I am not sure how useful they can really be. Most of our cellphones these days are capable of doing the same functions at similar speeds and carry better memories. The World’s Cheapest Laptop may be out just for the record.
by Abhinav Kaiser on November 24, 2008
Most of those who use printers would have observed a small check box stating Print to file (Ptf) in the print dialog box. It’s an inbuilt functionality in Windows that allows you to save your documents into printer readable (binary) format.
Advantage? If you would like to send a file to your friend for printing and if he/she does not have the application to open it, the output of Ptf will be your friend. Alternately, if you want to take print outs at a later point of time without opening the actual application, Ptf is ideal.
How to Print to a file? Open the document that you want to print. Check Print to file checkbox in the print dialog window. This will open a Save As dialog box. Provide a file name with .prn extension and hit OK; that’s it.
How to Print .prn file? The specialty of Windows is the ease at which one could just double click on the actual file and get the job done. Printing a .prn file is as simple as double clicking the file and following the instructions.
If you would like to have Ptf option as one of your installed printers, this is how you do it:
1. Click the Start button -> Settings -> Printers and Faxes
2. Click Add Printer -> Next -> Local Printer -> Next
3. Select create new port (type of port) -> local port -> Next
4. A dialog box pops up with an empty field. Enter this: FILE: (Print to File) and click OK
5. Printer manufacturer: Generic
6. Printer Type: Generic / Text Only
7. Select No for default printer
8. Do not share the printer
9. Select Yes to print a test page
10. Click Finish to complete the process of adding a Ptf printer to your list
Remember that Ptf works only on printers that are connected to the traditional printer ports and not the USB ports.
Let us know if you have more tricks up your sleeve regarding Ptf, we would love to share it with others.
by Abhinav Kaiser on November 23, 2008
Kodak’s much publicized fourth printer in the ESP series, ESP9 was touted for its low cost per print, and the host of features that the printer has to offer. Capabilities on this printer make it apt for homes as well as offices.
This Kodak inkjet printer is priced at £150 and comes with wired and wireless connectivity. It prints and scans over a network as well as a USB connection, and it works as a standalone copier and fax machine. Photocentric features include PictBridge, memory card and USB ports along with a 3” LCD screen.
Quality of prints for monochrome text prints turned out well with a good number of font sizes easily readable; not quite comparable to a laser output but good enough for business use. Graphics output was average, nothing more nothing less. Graininess was clearly evident on all prints used for testing. Some lines which were prominent in the lighter gamut were also lost in the process of printing. Photo printing was comparable with Walmart prints. Monochrome photo printing lacked the intensity and the variations in grays.
Kodak claims that the printing speed is lightning quick at 32ppm for black and 30ppm for colour. But, in reality, it was seen that ESP 9 was able to print at 20ppm for monochrome and 17ppm for colour which is still highly acceptable. Each 4” X 6” photograph took around a minute to print.
Printing costs were on the lower side. Each monochrome print was estimated to cost 1.2p while colour prints at 2.6p. This is way cheaper than many other leading solutions in the market.
This is a good printer for the economy of prints it offers. With a moderate printing quality and great printing speeds, ESP 9 fits the bill for businesses, but, if you are looking to present a printed copy to a client, look elsewhere. Photo printing is above par and the wireless connectivity option makes it apt for homes.
by Abhinav Kaiser on November 19, 2008
The American major, Dell, is probably trying to take giant strides in the UK with the launch of a few massive laser printers at a price relatively lower than others in the fray. The new set of laser printers start with basic colour laser printers and shoots all the way up to A3 enterprise printers.
The basic laser printer from Dell, the 1320c prints at a best resolution of 600 X 600 dpi. Printing speed is average at 16ppm for black and 12ppm for colour. It’s an Ethernet printer and the major claims that it is best suited as a small office printer out of the box. This printer carries a price tag of £135.
At a slightly higher price of £150, Dell takes out the colour printing and Ethernet function and enhances the resolution and speed of the printer with 2330d. Best printing resolution is at 1200 X 1200 dpi and offers a printing speed of 35ppm. Networked variation of this printer is also available as 2330dn at an extra £10.
The one designed for large enterprises, 7330dn prints at a whopping speed of 50ppm. First page spits out in less than 7 seconds, as claimed by the manufacturer. It can handle paper sizes up to 11” X 17”. As expected, it features automatic duplex printing and two 500-page paper trays. Monthly duty cycle is massive at 300,000. With great features come a standout price and this feature rich printer is priced at £1600.
by Abhinav Kaiser on November 19, 2008
In a bid to take big strides in the recession times, Epson has launched an economical multi-function inkjet printer that can spit prints as fast as a laser printer, and can double up as a photo printer. The new Epson inkjet printer, TX600FW is aimed at SOHOs and SMEs and can additionally copy, scan and fax.
TX600FW leverages upon Epson patented DURABrite Ultra Ink technology that provides a resin coated finish which results in high quality prints. There are four individual cartridges (CMYK) on this printer; cyan, magenta, yellow and black, only the ink that runs out needs replacement. Epson claims that an intelligent ink cartridge system available on the printer can detect the exact levels of ink even if a cartridge is removed and reinstalled.
Printing speed is top notch at 38ppm for black and 19ppm for colour. Photo printing is the quickest we have heard of at 20 seconds per 4” X 6” photograph.
There are other additional features that go without saying such as a tilt adjustable 2.5” LCD screen and provision for hooking cameras and memory cards. Software provided with the printer contains several photo enhancement features which should gel well with home users in particular.
This feature rich Epson inkjet printer is priced just over £100 and the Epson ink cartridges are available in extra capacity variation as well.
by Abhinav Kaiser on November 18, 2008
Samsung is one of those companies that has the ability to spring surprises from time to time. They did it earlier with their piano styled black printers and the latest multi-function colour laser printer, CLX-3175FN has plenty to offer. For starters, its footprint is comparable to an inkjet printer rather than any other laser printer. Weight is also under control at just over 33 pounds.
This Samsung laser printer prints, scans and faxes, even over a network; additionally doubles up as a standalone fax machine, copier, and e-mail sender. Users can directly scan-to or print-from USB drives through a USB slot provided in the front portion of the printer. Surprisingly, the CLX-3175FN also features a PictBridge port which is an oasis for laser printers.
Output quality generally is good, but the monochrome output is below par when compared with other laser printers. Graphics output was better with fully saturated colour and solid fills. When observed carefully, white gaps were found between blocks of colours which can upset perfectionists. Photo printing was good enough for a laser printer but colour imbalances were observed on monochrome photo outputs.
Printing speed is below par for a laser printer. Samsung claims that the printer can output 17ppm for monochrome and 4ppm for colour. During the tests, the actual printing speeds were 13ppm and 2ppm respectively.
The printer is priced just over £200 and the array of features it offers, lures customers into buying it. Great features, yet ordinary outputs can eventually put off many potential buyers. At the end of the day, it’s the output from a printer that matters rather than all the other things that it can perform. A good blend of features and outputs would be ideal for any consumer.
