Thursday, May 07, 2009

Xerox's ColorQube Promises Cheap Color Printing With Solid Ink [Printers]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/DVeD4NmZ3iw/xeroxs-colorqube-promises-cheap-color-printing-with-solid-ink

Xerox's new ColorQube printer promises to revolutionize the pricey color-printing game using a waxy ink that can reduce the cost per page by as much as 62%.

Like traditional multi-function printers, the ColorQube can print, copy, scan and fax—it can also be networked by several dozen people in an office. However, it's the crayon-esque ink that's the real star of the show. The ink is melted and sprayed onto a spinning drum which deposits the ink onto the page.

The goal here is to try to break the price barrier and get more customers to use color," said Ursula Burns, Xerox's president. "We're trying to replace a lot of black-and-white machines." Ms. Burns said that only 15% of the 2.25 trillion pages printed in offices world-wide last year were in color.

Sounds great, but the machine costs $20,000 ( Oooh...that's how they get you. Bastards). Still, serious office laser printers are not cheap to begin with—and this technology could mean big cost savings over time. [WSJ via BBG]