Designjet 4000 and Indigo 1050 From HP

HP has introduced its new HP Designjet
4000 printer series. Primarily geared for
the technical market, the 4-color (CMYK”?
black is pigmented, CMY are dye-based)
Designjet 4000 is designed to handle line
drawings, graphics, maps, renderings,
and presentations for medium and large
businesses.

A 42-in. wide inkjet printer, the Designjet
4000 offers a print speed of up to
1000 sq ft/hr and resolution of up to
2400 x 1200 dpi. The printer uses HP's
new “Double Swath” technology, comprising
a pair of staggered printheads for each
color, which generates a wide print swath
and higher firing frequency (and is leveraged
from the HP Business Inkjet 3000
printheads with some electrical differences
and different mechanical keys).
The result, says HP, is faster performance
without sacrificing image quality, and
twice the performance of earlier Designjet
models. It also features an embedded
Web Server that allows for remote queue
management, remote preview, supplies
and printer status, and error notification.

HP notes that new media was not created
specifically for the Designjet 4000.
The printer will support a wide
range of existing HP media, including
bonded, coated, durable media
as well as vinyl and digital fine-art
papers.

Estimated street price: $9995
(Designjet 4000 base model),
$12,495 (4000ps, includes
embedded RIP, Adobe PostScript
Level 3). Prices include 1-year, onsite
warranty.

In addition, small- to mediumsized
commercial printers can
now add digital short-run color
and variable-data printing capabilities
with the new HP Indigo 1050.

Replacing HP's Indigo 1000, the
1050 offers several enhancements
that allow it to increase productivity
and reduce costs. It features
paper sizes up to 12.6 x 18.2
in., resolutions up to 800 x 2400
dpi (in High-Resolution Imaging
mode), and liquid HP ElectroInk.
The new printer offers standard 4-
color (CMYK) inks, as well as the
optional HP IndiChrome 6-color
(CMYK violet, orange). In addition,
users can mix custom spot colors
with HP's ink-mixing system, and
also utilize its special inks: invisible
red ink (for Track & Trace security
capabilities), and fluorescent yellow or
pink inks. Its speed also has been ramped
up: Where the 1000 press offered 1980
pages/hr, the 1050 can print up to 8000
single-color pages/hr (two-up) or 2000 4-
color images/hr (two-up).

The Indigo 1050 is packaged with HP
Indigo Yours Truly software, which provides
full personalization and imposition for variable-
data printing. Other upgrades include a
more powerful computer, a large job-file
capacity, and simultaneous batching/printing
ability. To create a complete end-to-end
workflow solution, users can add a Duplo
near-line CD-645 XY cutter, Duplo near-line
PDC booklet makers, and Dorn off-line UV
coater.

Optional equipment/configurations
include HP IndiChrome 5- and 6-color
printing, ink-mixing system, and upgraded
server/RIP. List price on the Indigo
1050 is $159,000.

HP's Indigo ws4050 now offers white
ElectroInk for use by label printers, especially
those in printing healthcare and
cosmetic labels. The addition of white
gives the customer many options
because the press operators can choose
which order the inks will be deposited
onto the substrate, HP reports.

In other HP news, HP has agreed to
acquire Snapfish, the online photo service
based in San Francisco. Snapfish
offers various photo products and services,
including free online photo sharing,
photo storage and management, free
editing tools and software, online print
ordering, wireless imaging, and more.
Snapfish, which has more than 13 million
members, will remain in San Francisco;
Ben Nelson, president of Snapfish, will
lead the new division within HP. Snapfish's
80 employees will be retained. The acquisition
was expected to close in April.
(Snapfish: www.snapfish.com) (Hewlett-Packard: www.hp.com)