1) The print head is composed of an array with a large number of nozzles. The rows of nozzles are partially redundant, so heads in alignment with the damaged one(s) can fill in, controlled by the printer (i.e. not your hosts' CPU).

2) Can anyone explain how this is different to Xerox's Phaser printers? The head arrangement, filling in for damaged nozzles, etc. seem similar, and the solid ink is effectively the same as that in an ink jet once vaporised. Xerox Phaser's don't seem to have many problems with reliability, judging by the low price of the support agreements.

Case in point one useless all-in-one inkjet with zero print function after many DIY head cleaning attempts and so on.

What is an inkjet printer head the size of a sheet of paper going to do? Strikes me there is just more of it to go wrong and it only takes one part of the print head to foul up for the whole kit to be useless. Statistically it must reduce the lifespan of the inkjet and they are already short enough, if it gets any shorter they will stop working before they are made.

Toner does not dry up so you dont end up throwing the printer etc away because the ink screwed up. Seperates and a laser are cheaper in the long run for a home work_surf_n_play station.

Eco-snag is its cheaper to get a new printer than replace toner. Even with half measures.

Printer market is a mess of proprietary profit mongering and toner just doesnt cost that much to make so something has to give.

Blame the 'high cost of consumables' on retailers/consumers wanting lower HW prices, low print volumes and frequent HW replacement.

Inkjet and low volume lasers HW&consumables are priced according to typical/expected usage (average of all users) to cover total cost of HW & consumables.
In an effort to reduce the upfront cost of the hardware they offset the per unit loss by charging more for consumables. The more you pay for the initial HW - the cheaper the consumables.

The system tries to encourage sales and spread the cost to consumers over a longer period of time.

The print head might be larger but the ink deposited on the page is till the same quantity and price.

Inkjets are crap.

and expensive to run crap at that...

better off with a pencil and paper...

Or a colour laser, phaser or dye-sub.

Inkjets are the printer equivalents of floppy disks...slow, of limitied use, inconvenient and ultimately a bit pointless....

We can all moan about the cost of replacement ink jet cartridges, but for most printers, that also means a brand new head. A fixed for life, full width head may be blazing fast, but what do you do (or how much do you spend) when it clogs or otherwise misbehaves?

Dear Mr Anonymous,
I bought a laser printer (Lexmark c522n) a year ago for printing charity related documents and my general home printing.
The problem is that instead of wasting £20+ pounds on a single cartridge, I ended up selling £60+ PER TONER and when all the toners become empty at the same time, this got really expensive
I have now become fortunate that my local council gave away printers to charity, which I now use for that work.

However, if low-cost ink supplies are not offered along with such printers, then they might prove ruinously expensive to run. But then again, Hewlett Packard, the very expensive ink company, must be fascinated by the prospects of this technology to make it obscenely rich.

This is why I' saying a BIG SCREW YOU! to all Inkjet Printers, and upon my next purchase of a printing device, I plan to go Laser!

I sick and tired of wasting +30€ per cartridge just to print something (mostly CV's), to let it sit 'round for a few months just to have the feckers dry out on me. =(

I sure Inkjet and Photo Printers have there place, but for a simple Home Office Laser, although it has a steeper base cost the TCO is much cheaper in the long run...

I'll echo Pete's comment about a long time coming but it does offer exceptional print speeds, both simplex and duplex, and noise reduction for home based printing. There's an impressive video of home office and photo printing at the memjet web site: -

http://www.memjet.com/pages.aspx?id=b_home_office#

George

I've been waiting for over a year for this technology to emerge. It's going to lay waste to all printers using standard inkjet technology.