60,000 heads, 70 Pages a Minute

April 13, 2007: That’s the kind of speed HP is boasting with its new Edgeline Inkjet printers, and not only that it’s also promising cheaper printing to boot.

That’s right, Inkjet. The new CM8060 and CM8050 multi-function printers from HP use so many heads the entire width of a page is covered, enabling ink to be sprayed onto the page as it passes underneath, improving speed and according to HP, cutting the cost of colour printing by 30%.

HP claims that this stationary head method of printing uses less ink and reduces the amount of complex moving parts and by default printing costs. This simplification also increases print speed to a level that gives laser printing a run for its money.

The company boasts a maximum page per minute (ppm) speed of 70 to 71, with an average of 60 ppm for black and white and 50 ppm for colour.

HP also says that output quality is almost on par with laser technology, and while drying and smearing can be issues with inkjet printing, the company says that it has added a bonding agent and fast-drying ink to reduce these issues.

Both models are aimed at larger offices, with the base units including a 100-sheet duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF), a built-in print duplexer for printing on both sides of the page, an 80-page multipurpose feeder and three 500-sheet input trays. A 4,000-sheet input tray upgrade is available, as is a four-bin job separator for output and a multi-function finisher for stapling and stacking of print jobs.

The CM8060 and CM8050 are priced at US$23,530 and US$18,930, respectively, with the main difference being the CM8050 churning out pages roughly 10ppm a minute slower than the CM8060.

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