Buyers Guide: A snapshot of vendors in the printer market

Canon

CP660

Canon's CP660 is an A3 colour and black-and-white printer designed for medium-sized corporate work groups. It features 600dpi with 256 gradations of colour/grey scale and produces colour output at 6ppm and economic black and white output at 24ppm.

Canon's ColorGear colour matching system manages colour accuracy while Visual Color Calibration handles consistency. A 3.2GB hard disk enables users to spool multiple print jobs, while a 3100-sheet paper capacity, electronic collation facility and seven sorting bins give finishing options.

Canon's NetSpot device management software simplifies installation, configuration and ongoing network management, while providing a consistent interface for all Canon peripherals.

The CP660 is also a black and white network printer, and an optional reader scanner transforms the machine into a multifunction, full-colour printer/-copier solution. It supports Ethernet and token ring configurations and is compatible with Windows 95/98NT 4.0 and Macintosh platforms.

Pricing: on application

Contact: (02) 9805 2000

www.canon.com.au

Fuji Xerox Australia

Fuji Xerox Australia has a range of networked departmental printers, from 17ppm to 40ppm in colour and black and white.

At 40ppm, the DocuPrint N40 produces one-sided documents and also two-sided documents with an optional duplexing module that prints at 32 impressions per minute.

Its features range from flexible paper tray options to complete finishing capabilities and tools to manage an entire printer enterprise; it also includes built-in Web-based management software.

Bundled with PrinterMap network software it offers a single view of multivendor printers on the network.

The DocuPrint C410 is an out-of-the-box solution for networked office colour. The C410 offers oversize A3 colour, with a 4800 x 600dpi resolution, printing at 4ppm full colour and 16ppm black and white. With integrated Ethernet 100Base TX and 10Base T5 as standard, it can be connected out of the box to a network.

DocuPrint N2125 is priced at $2495 ex-tax; DocuPrint N40 is $5750 ex-tax and DocuPrint C410 is $10475 ex-taxContact: 13 1412www.fujixerox.com.auGenicomMicroLaser printer Genicom's microLaser printer range addresses the spectrum of shared resource printing, starting from 17ppm for individuals or small workgroups up to 40ppm for large departments that demand multiple original copy printing.

Every microLaser printer includes added features as part of the standard model. Genicom developed the latest IntelliPrint controller architecture and teamed it with its high-performance 64- bit processor and gave its 32 and 40ppm laser printers memory to network interfaces and on-site warranties.

The microLaser range comes network ready including remote control software allowing configuration, management and monitoring of all printers from one location.

Contact: (02) 9889 1900

www.genicom.com

Hewlett-Packard

Color LaserJet 8550 Series

The Color LaserJet 8550 Series is designed to allow companies to develop their own sales and marketing collateral without having to rely on external print service providers. It features high-speed processors, advanced paper handling (including collators and staplers) and colour matching. There are five models in the range.

The HP LaserJet 8000 and 8100 Series laser printers provide 24ppm (LaserJet 8000) and 32ppm (LaserJet 8100) network printing for medium to large workgroups.

A multifunction peripheral upgrade kit is also available which adds photocopying capabilities to the printer as well as Digital Sending. The Digital Sender option, which allows users to take paper-based information and e-mail it directly to recipients using the company's internal e-mail infrastructure, is an alternative to fax.

Pricing for these products including sales tax is: HP LaserJet 8000 and 8100 series: $4849 (base model), $6999 (duplex and network model), $9949 (MFP upgrade kit - add to base model). HP Color LaserJet 8550 series: $11,329 (base model), $20,439 (graphics model), $24,990 (MFP model).

Contact: 13 2347

www.hp.com.au

IBM

Infoprint

IBM offers a number of networking printers with flexible paper handling in the Infoprint family.

Features of the Infoprint 20 include: output up to 20ppm, prints on multiple paper sizes, True Advanced Function Printing (AFP) and Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS). The printer can be set up for individual use or attached to a local area network. It includes Base Unit (PCL5e, Adobe PostScript 3, 8MB memory and Parallel Interface).

The Infoprint 20N is Ethernet-ready with an RS/6000 preferred configuration for medium-sized workgroups connected with 10BaseT Ethernet networks and includes Base Unit + 10BaseT/2 Ethernet. The recently announced Infoprint 21 is a high-quality, high-speed laser printer, designed for multiple platform environments and ready for the Web, and can be used for individual use or connected to a local area network.

Pricing: on application.

Contact: 13 2426

www.printers.ibm.com

Kyocera Electronics

ECOSYS range

The Kyocera ECOSYS (economy, ecology and system) printers were designed as an environmentally friendly printing solution that offers up to 65 per cent savings on cost of ownership compared with competitive products, according to the company.

Kyocera's range of laser printers offers capacities to meet business needs from the small office to the corporate network with outputs up to 36ppm.

Features include low, total cost-of-ownership, environmentally-friendly technology that produces less waste and cartridge free technology. Options include duplexing, high-capacity feeders and finishing choices allowing instant access to various paper types The printers areWindows compatible, and Mac compatible via Ethernet with optional print server card (SB-110). Optional multiprotocol, SNMP-compliant LAN interfaces are available. Kyocera Print Monitor (KPM) provides network management for both ECOSYS and other manufacturers' SNMP-compliant printers.

Pricing: ranges from $655 for 8ppm to $5920 for 36ppm and offers up to three years or 1.4 million page, on-site warranty.

Contact: 1300 364 429

www.kyocera.com.au

Ricoh Australia

Ricoh Australia is releasing two new high-end black and white laser printers. Printer models now range from 14ppm up to 45ppm for black and white and 4ppm to 10ppm for colour.

The Aficio AP4500 prints up to 45 (simplex) or 36 ppm (duplex mode). The AP 4500 is equipped with memory up to 72MB, and a built-in 1.7GB HDD.

Both the Aficio AP2700 and the AP4500 support PCL6 and Adobe PostScript 3 and are network-ready with an Ethernet 100/10 BaseTX card. They support standard network protocols (TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, NetBEUI, and AppleTalk) and Windows drivers (3.x, 95, 98, NT4.0). Aficio Manager, Ricoh's network utility, monitors the status of all the printers on the network.

The Aficio AP305 is a colour and black and white departmental print station for higher volume business graphics and colour printing up to A3. It offers 5ppm for colour and 17ppm in black and white mode with PostScript level 2 (Adobe PostScript on the AP505 model) and Ethernet (10BaseT/-100BaseTX).

Pricing: on application.

Contact: 13 1476

www.ricoh.com.au

Lextra

Optra T family

The Lexmark Optra T family of workgroup laser printers is a printing platform designed to enhance productivity and reduce costs for the smallest to the largest workgroups.

The Optra T616 laser printer features 15ppm to 35ppm, time to first print 10 seconds, up to 200MHz RISC processors and expandable to 208MB memory.

Optra T printers can be configured to requirements through a choice of paper handling options. OptraImage attachments allow users to turn their Optra T printers into a print, copy, fax and scan solution.

Includes a selectable resolution (300 to 1200dpi) to match print quality requirements.

Optra T network-ready models provide connectivity to Ethernet 10/100BaseTX networks standard.

MarkVision to easily manage your printers with optional flash memory, RAM and hard disk available.

Pricing: from $2606 to $5776

Contact: 1300 362 192

www.lexmark.com

Minolta

QMS 3260 and 4032 Print Systems

These systems have a 150MHz RISC processor for job processing and can print up to 200,000 pages per month; extras include job spooling and multiprotocol support. Both printers offer auto-installing software utilities which assist with a speedy setup. The QMS CrownView lets users check on supply levels and print job status through any Internet browser. QMS CrownView can also send an e-mail message when a printer goes offline.

Features include 32ppm (3260) and 40ppm (4032), 600 and 1200dpi resolutions, PostScript, HP PCL 5e/GL2 and HP-GL and standard network interface.

Pricing: from $6295 (ex tax) for the 3260 and $7395 (ex tax) for the 4032.

Contact: (02) 9884 9966

www.qmsaus.com.au

OKI

OKI is developing new technologies that can economically achieve 1200dpi high-resolution printing at speeds of 100ppm and above, company officials said, adding that OKI digital printers have a simple design that lends itself to greater consistency and reliability than laser printers. By eliminating the moving parts inherent in optical laser printers, OKI Data has been able to reduce both printer size and weight. A singles-pass colour system makes the digital LED printers twice as fast as conventional colour laser printers, officials said.

The toner chambers in an OKI LED printer are separate from one another and can be replaced independently.

OKI offers a digital printer series called OKIpage which ranges from 6ppm to 24ppm.

Features in this range include duplex printing standard, Macintosh-capable, 100-sheet through to 630-sheet standard - (1 expandable to 1790 sheet), 6.5 to 25 seconds to first print, and 600dpi to 1200dpi.

Also available is the OKIpage 8c Plus 8ppm digital colour printer featuring 500-sheet standard, colour tandem engine, 6000 x 600dpi, 25 seconds to first colour print.

Pricing: the OKIpage digital series ranges from the OKIpage 6w, 6ppm for $449 ex tax through to the OKIpage 24dx, 24ppm for $2599 ex tax. The OKIpage 8c, 8ppm digital colour printer is priced at $6,499 ex tax.

Contact:1800 800 140

www.oki.com.au

Panasonic

KX-P8420

Panasonic's network ready colour laser printer, KX-P8420, features Adobe PostScript 3, a print controller and 1200dpi laser engine, for print quality and productivity for printing text, graphics or photographic images.

The printer has a resolution of 1200 x 1200dpi and can also be set to print at 600 x 600 dpi. Maximum print speeds (at 600dpi) are up to 4.7ppm in three-colour mode (CMY), 3.5ppm in four-colour mode (CMYK) and 14ppm in monochrome mode.

The printer is supplied with 80MB of memory, with upgrade options of 16MB, 32MB, 64MB and 144MB, as well as 2.2GB hard disk. The KX-P8420 supports Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT 3.51 and 4 and Unix. Adobe PostScript 3 makes it cross-platform capable, supporting both PC and Macintosh environments.

Pricing: $6999

Contact: 13 2600

www.panasonic.com

Sharp

Sharp's range of printers offer productivity from 8ppm 100ppm with a multitude of functions.

The 33ppm (AR337), the 40ppm (AR407) and the 50ppm (AR507) models can each connect with an inexpensive cable to double productivity, they can scan to desktop, allow confidential printing where a five-digit code is required to release a print job, fax to e-mail, network to the most common networks including the Mac environment, have 5050-sheet paper capacity, and can multiposition staple.

The first of a range of highly productive colour printers is now available with 15ppm full continuous colour output (ARC150), compatible to all the most common of networks as well as networks that use multiple protocols, such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, Novell IPX, token ring and the like. Scan back and print at 600 x 600dpi are standard, 8.4 GB HDD for ripped documents, control via Web browser if required.

Pricing: on application

Contact: (02) 9830 4600

www.sharp.net.com