Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Jim Goshorn 
<jgoshorn@...> wrote:
>
> 
> On Feb 17, 2006, at 9:55 PM, scott_now_coming wrote:
> 
> > As far as "replacing" the current line, I would think it would be 
at
> > least a year (but you never know!). :>)
> 
> As I recall, the 76/9600 printers were around for about 2 1/2 
years  
> or a little more so I wouldn't expect to see an update to the 
78/9800  
> till sometime in 2008. The 4000 wasn't around as long before the 
4800  
> came along but now that it is on a par with the 78/9800 printers, 
I  
> wouldn't expect something there any sooner.
> 
> My .02 at this point is that the next round of printers will 
probably  
> involve adding more color inks to increase color accuracy and 
gamut  
> and that would involve a serious amount of work and redesigning.
> 
> Jim
>

Every time this comes up at different places I throw this out... How 
long was the 7/9000 out before Epson changed it to the 75/9500? It 
really only depnds on when Epson thinks they have something new to 
offer. Maybe the next thing is a 9 color haed, or maybe even a 12 
color head. Think of all the money from the cleaning cycles on a 12 
color machine...

It would be nice to see a redisigned print head that has at least 8 
colors, and that has the full black set apart from the other colors, 
and a separate ink pump for that black. Then you could swap between 
matte and photo black by only wasting the black ink. If you go with 9 
heads, one being for photo black, and one being for matte black, then 
you get people complaining that the black they never use still gets 
wasted from cleaning cycles. My advice has always been to stuff a 
cleaning cart in there, since cleaning fluid is cheap compared to the 
ink.

It's damned if you do, and damned if you don't!