today introduced its new flagship all-purpose inkjet printer, the Epson Stylus C84, which uses Epson's renowned DuraBrite ink for long-lasting output. It offers up to 22 ppm black and up to 12 ppm color print speeds, borderless priting, 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi with three-picoliter ink droplets, and a "new engine and mechanism for this printer, which has resulted in quieter printing of output from the start to the finish." It is available now for $100 before a $20 mail-in rebate.

The new Stylus inkjet utilizes DuraBrite inks for brighter, more saturated colors and water-resistant durable output: "Because DuraBrite inks are pigment-based inks, output from DuraBrite inks can be submerged in water without the ink coming off the page, unlike dye-based inks, which typically run and smudge." Epson also says that DuraBrite inks also have a light-resistance rating of up to 80 years on certain specialty media and an "unmatched" 70-year rating on plain paper; it also notes that bleed-through is reduced because DuraBrite inks rest on the surface of the paper.



The Stylus C84 can print on many different types of media ranging from ordinary plain paper to DuraBrite Ink Glossy Photo Paper, the newest paper from Epson. This new paper was designed especially for use with the latest formulation of DuraBrite ink to create bright, borderless glossy prints that are water-resistant, light-resistant and smudge-resistant. DuraBrite Ink Glossy Photo Paper will be available in two sizes -- 4"x6" (50 sheet packs) and letter size (20 sheet packs) -- for $10 and $13, respectively. They will be available at the end of September. The printer also supports a variety of other Epson specialty media including Epson Premium Bright White Paper, Glossy Photo Paper, Matte Paper Heavyweight, Glossy Photo Greeting Cards and Ink Jet Transparencies.



Along with the new DuraBrite ink formulation, a new cartridge design adds improved printer performance, but it is not backward compatible with the Stylus C82 and Stylus C80. The Stylus C84 includes four separate "snap-in/snap-out" ink cartridges to maximize ink yield -- one extra-large black ink cartridge and three color ink cartridges (cyan, yellow and magenta). Each cartridge contains a chip that relays ink level information on screen to the user via the printer driver, while self-sealing valves preserve the inks up to six months once removed from the printer.



The printer's paper input tray holds up to 120 sheets of 20-lb paper and has the capacity to print as many as 5,000 sheets per month. Additionally, the Stylus C84 offers both USB and parallel connectivity as well as an optional 10/100 Ethernet print server (Stylus C84N) and an optional wireless Ethernet 802.11b WiFi print server (Stylus C84N). Epson also offers Bluetooth capability for the Stylus C84 through an optional interface adapter available for $130 that simply plugs into the printer's parallel port.

by MacNN Staff