Deskjet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
DeskJet is a brand name for inkjet printers manufactured by Hewlett-Packard Company. These printers range from small domestic to large industrial models, although the largest models in the range have generally been dubbed DesignJet. The Macintosh-compatible equivalent was branded as the Deskwriter and competed with Apple's StyleWriter.
HP developed thermal inkjet technology in 1979 and launched their ThinkJet in 1984, with color following in 1987 thanks to the PaintJet. The first DeskJet printer, with a black ink cartridge followed in 1988. Priced at $1000, it was claimed to be able to rival laser printer quality. It was the least expensive non-impact printer on the market at the time it was introduced, when most small non-laser printers were still impact-based and laser printers remained relatively expensive. The first color DeskJet, the 500C, launched in 1991.
Over time, through innovation and large scale production, the price was brought down considerably, being less than half by 1993, by which time inkjet technology and color printing were increasingly popular with consumers and DeskJets had both black and three-color cartridges installed simultaneously.
DeskJets are unusual amongst consumer-level inkjet printers in featuring an inexpensive, disposable print head built into the cartridge itself. This allows consistent print quality since the head is replaced frequently, along with the ink. Under some circumstances it may also reduce the need for frequent head-cleaning cycles, which consume ink. This business model of proprietary cartriges has proven very profitable for HP.
The DeskJet developed into HP's current DeskJet, DesignJet, PhotoSmart and Professional Series printer lines, all of which are based on thermal inkjet technology. The latest photo printers use several shades of ink to produce a wide color range.
[edit] See also
- CMYK - the three-color plus black "color model"
