Imaging and Printing leader Hewlett-Packard has announced improvement in the quality of laser and inkjet printer consumables as well as a broadening of its ink cartridge portfolio, seemingly designed to woo customers away from refilled and remanufactured supplies.
LaserJet print cartridges with the new energy-efficient toner promise savings of up to 35% on every page, while the ColorSphere Toner for new LaserJet 4525 printer assures delivers 40% higher gloss and 158% wider colour gamut ( the range and shades of colour). The monochrome LaserJet CE278A manages to reduce the printer footprint by making the toner cartridge smaller, Nitin Hiranandani, HP India’s Director Managed Enterprise Solutions, for Imaging and Printing told media at a PrintWatch seminar, this week.
The newly launched HP LaserJet Pro M1136, M1213nf and M1216nfh Multi Function Printer series includes a feature that provides better print , crisper quality for Indian ( devanagiri) fonts, he added. On the inkjet front, HP, has gone further down the route it took 3 years ago, when it created more affordable “Simple Black” versions of monochrome cartridges for select models, in price sensitive markets like India. It has now created S and L versions of some cartridges, giving users the choice to opt for low volume or high capacity. New HP 802 ‘S’ Ink Cartridge delivers ultra-low purchase price for customers who require low volume printing( Rs. 425) while the 818 ‘L’ Ink Cartridge delivers up to 33% cost-per-page savings as well as a lower upfront purchasing price.
To support its claim that original cartridges outperformed refilled nor remanufactured ones, HP shared results of some recent third party studies. Ken Weilerstein, Research Vice President at Gartner and a printing specialist, suggested that enterprises should “buy from strength” –that is buy printers and consumables competitively, demanding assured print yields and image quality if they chose thierd party consumables. He suggested that on average printers would cease to be cost effective after 3-5 years. 
Sep 29 2010