PUMPING OUT INKJET printers at a rapid clip, Hewlett-Packard is peppering the market with low-cost units designed for home and small-business users.
DeskWriter 600. Priced for home users, Hewlett-Packard's new $365 DeskWriter 600 is a monochrome printer that is able to print in color with the addition of the $49 Color Kit, a three-color (CMY) cartridge that replaces the single black cartridge. The DeskWriter 600 uses the same reformulated inks as the DeskWriter 660C (see New on the Menu, July '95, page 26) and offers 600-x-600-dpi black printing and 600-x-300-dpi color printing on glossy paper or 300-x-300-dpi color on plain paper. HP's ColorSmart and Resolution Enhancement technologies improve the appearance of color graphics and of black type and line art, respectively.
Faster than its predecessor, the popular DeskWriter 540, the DeskWriter 600 can print black at 4 ppm and color at 1 ppm in its ink-saving EconoFast mode; in high-quality mode, the print rating slips to 1 ppm for black and 4 minutes per page for color. The one-size-fits-all media tray accepts 100 letter-sized sheets (plain, premium, or glossy paper), 50 transparencies, or 20 envelopes. A serial port with an AppleTalk interface is included. A three-year warranty is standard.
DeskJet 850C. For small-business users, the new DeskJet 850C is HP's fastest inkjet printer to date, zooming along at 6 ppm (black) and 2 ppm (color) in 300-dpi EconoFast mode; print speeds for 600-dpi, high-quality output are 4 ppm (black) and 1 ppm (color). The printer includes HP's new Color Resolution Enhancement technology (C-REt), which modulates the printer-dot size, for smooth-looking images.
Paper capacity is 150 sheets of letter-sized paper (plain, premium, or glossy stock) or 15 envelopes. Two ink tanks -- a high-capacity black cartridge and a three-color cartridge -- are standard.
List-priced at $658, the DeskJet 850C includes both a serial and a parallel port, for connecting to Macs and PCs. As a bonus for the eco-conscious, the DeskJet 850C is manufactured with 25-percent recycled plastic. A one-year warranty is standard. 800-752-0900.
