An Interesting Printer

The Memjet printer has printer heads spanning the width of the page, prints 60 pages per minute, and comes from a company founded by a person who has 1452 approved US patents.

It is predicted to improve rapidly, as "...company executives said they plan to increase its output sixfold in two to three years, to a theoretical output of 360 pages per minute from an ordinary printer."

This tech product is either remarkably innovative or a pleasant-looking mirage.

The leap from a single print head to a whole row of print heads is an example of what high-volume production and a new perspective on design can bring to consumers. With, of course, a dose of clever engineering, lots of testing and a willingness to educate the market.

One of the reasons myDigitechnician recommends HP printers is because they use ink cartridges that have ink heads in them. Each time you replace the cartridge, you replace the ink head. Clogged heads are pretty much a non-issue with HP printers.

An important question for potential buyers of Memjet printers is, have the Memjet designers delivered a robust method to either prevent clogged heads or to easily and reliably clean them. Getting a million Memjets in the market will very quickly give the answer.

If the Memjet heads stay unclogged, and systems that deliver ink to the heads are reliable, this new printer design can have a huge impact for consumers. In a catalyst fashion similar to what Gmail did for Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail users, HP, Canon and all the other printer manufacturers will be forced to improve their printer designs.

Two tech questions are prompted by the Memjet article. Why do I have to wait so long for my computer to boot when I can get a 30 page report printed in less than a minute? And what will people do when they unintentionally start printing out a long document at more than 100 pages per minute?

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