Exotic EPSON MicroPiezo® TFP® print head

[bill t.]

What does this mean?  The title alone will touch a nerve for some.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Pro/SeriesSureColorTSeries/Overview.do

[Schewe]

This is a 5 color (X2 channels for a total of 10 channels for speed) printer designed for plotting for science and engineering use, not image printing...not likely to be of interest for fine art printing.

[bill t.]

But it does suggest some work on print head design.  Not to say that would useful, or even needed, heavens to Betsy no!  But one can't help noticing that such a big part of the overall pitch is for the heads, almost as if there was some sensitivity there.  Or maybe I'm just reading that into it.

[Atlex.com]

That is pretty much correct as these are the newer models to match Canon and HP's technical printers.  The hardware and printheads are more updated to give a better quality as well as the nice size cartridges available.  There are 3 size inks to use with the printer which can be interchanged depending on the colors used the most.

You could use these for photo printing, but the color gamut won't be as high as using a 9-12 ink printer.

Atlex.com

[Schewe]

Or maybe I'm just reading that into it.

The main new thing here is using the 10 channel head similar to the 9900 and sending two lines of each ink to double the amount of ink laid down per pass giving, I assume a 2X speed increase. I'm not sure there is anything groundbreaking in these heads above and beyond that (although incremental improvements over the 9900 head are possible). The other interesting thing to note is that they are releasing three sizes; 24", 36" & 44". The 36" carriage width is, I think, new for Epson.

[Schewe]

This is also new (I think):

Internal Print Server

"This internal 250 GB capacity print server boosts workgroup productivity by quickly transferring print jobs to free-up computer workstations, adds print job queue management, as well as print job save and reprint functions to the SureColor T-Series printers."

[Schewe]

And the fact it has both Photo  & Matte K inks/lines which means no swapping (I'm assuming the printer will only use either of the blacks not both at once) so actually, it's a 4 color printer.

[enduser]

The "exotic micropiezo tfp print head" in these units are the same ones described in Epson's press release of 2007,   http://www.designsupply.co.uk/weblog/2007/07/epson_launches_new_printer_wit.html

[bill t.]

Sorry guys.  Classic case of recycled marketing.