The HP DeskJet 610C will carry a recommended retail price of R899, something the company expects may shake the market up a bit. "We are sure to start a price war," says Maurizio Bazan, Hewlett-Packard technical consultant.
The 610 will replace the DeskJet 420C and is aimed at first time budget-conscious buyers. It is not quite the latest and greatest, using the original Photo Resolution Enhancement technology (PhotoREt) instead of PhotoREt II and performing at only 5 pages per minute (ppm) for black text. But HP says the low purchase price combined with near-photo quality printing on normal paper should make it ideal for the home user. The 610 uses a pigmented black ink to provide better definition than traditional dye-based black and has a duty cycle of 1 000 pages per month.
The DeskJet 815C will replace the DeskJet 720C at the same time. At a more pricey R1 700 to R1 800 you get PhotoREt II, 7.5ppm black and Universal Serial Bus support. It is aimed at repeat buyers who want to upgrade and at students and adults with heavy colour requirements. Unlike its smaller brother it will have Mac support out of the box, indicating that lower-end graphic users may be interested.
HP has also changed the size of its ink cartridges. The 610 will hold only a 20ml black container and will not accommodate the older 40ml cartridge. This keeps the cost down and should suit low-volume customers, says Bazan. "You will eliminate the problem where you had a 40ml that lasts a year but dries up after nine months."
HP says it was losing ground against competitors with smaller cartridges when consumers compared prices without noticing the difference in volume. And of course the resellers will be happy with more people visiting their shops for replacements. "Everyone benefits," Bazan says. The product will ship with an 11ml colour cartridge, but the traditional 23ml can still be used.
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