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What is Memjet Printer Technology?
Artist's renditions of Memjet printers.
© Luke Arnott 2009–2011
Since the mid-2000s, tech watchers and printer enthusiasts alike have been talking about Memjet printer technology, the brainchild of Silverbrook Research of Balmain, Australia. Memjet printers are said to blend the best features of both inkjets and lasers, with the potential to make conventional print technologies obsolete. Years of delays in bringing a Memjet printer to market have led to skepticism in the past, but in recent months it appears that Memjet printers are finally on the way. How Memjet is Different From Other Printers Unlike the print heads of regular inkjet printers, Memjet print heads span the length of an entire printed page. Each head is made up of a continuous row of 1mm by 20mm silicon print chips. Each of these print chips, in turn, consists of 6400 ink nozzles. Silverbrook estimates this gives Memjet heads a nozzle density 17 times greater than the conventional inkjets currently available. At the same time, since Memjet print heads remain stationary during printing, they allow for much faster printing speeds, approximately 60 pages per minute for letter-size sheets. Thus Memjet printers promise – in theory – to deliver inkjet-quality prints at laser-printer speeds. The History of Memjet Printer Technology Memjet has been in development since the mid-1990s, but it was only in March 2007 that Silverbrook began showing off the new technology to potential manufacturers. The industry buzz reached some consumers, who expected a Memjet-based product soon after. Since then, Silverbrook has been tweaking the technology, but representatives were tight-lipped about what company or companies were planning to incorporate Memjet technology into their consumer printing products in the following years. Will Memjet Be Revolutionary or Vaporware? Silverbrook showed off Memjet at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, and had hoped to have a Memjet printer to market at the end of 2009. But those plans were ultimately delayed. That, and Silverbrook's secrecy, had led some consumers to doubt whether Memjet printers would ever materialize. Veteran printer reviewer M. David Stone, an editor at PCMag.com, did confirm in August 2009 that the technology is viable. "I suspect there won't be any such announcement [about a Memjet product]," Stone wrote, "until a product is very close to being available, with the company possibly waiting until it's ready to ship the product on the day it's announced." This turned out to be wise move, as the release of Memjet technology was once again delayed. Yet there has been progress behind the scenes. In 2010, Memjet hired a new CEO and now features a much more robust website. In June 2011, Memjet teamed up with LG in the latest in a series of partnerships with global manufacturers, including Lenovo. Industry watchers like Jim Lyons had speculated that traditional printer manufacturers had been snubbing Memjet, and surmises that the company would focus on licensing instead have turned out to be true. Memjet's current strategy is to focus on professional, rather than consumer, printing markets, where print speed is often more important. If Memjet's potential is realized, the technology may well revolutionize consumer printing too. Having waited more than ten years to perfect their technology, it is perhaps understandable that Silverbrook and Memjet are proceeding cautiously. |