The Advantages of Solid Ink Sticks

As opposed to ink cartridges used in an inkjet or laser printer, solid ink sticks are just that – solid. When the printer warms up it also warms the ink stick and applies a thin layer of ink onto the page where it then cools instantly. All of this usually takes place in five seconds or less.

One of the major advantages to having a printer that uses solid ink is that it reduces the waste that is produced by traditional ink cartridges because it is sold with very little packaging. Since solid ink sticks do not come in ink cartridges, they are made to be handled directly and are therefore nontoxic, as demonstrated the Tektronix CEO when he swallowed a piece of solid ink. Also, solid ink sticks are easier to produce and therefore spill less CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

Another advantage to solid ink sticks is how easy it is to put new ink into the printer. When the printer alerts the consumer that the ink is low, they can simply open the top of the printer. The instructions are clearly displayed and if the right type of ink was purchased, it should be the only kind that fits into the specific slot in the printer. Solid ink sticks are very purposely manufactured to be different shapes and sizes so it is nearly impossible to load the wrong kind of ink into the printer.

Finally, printers with solid ink sticks are made to be shared, and would be good for an office or public setting due to their high print speeds and quality. Although the printer may take a little longer to warm-up at the beginning of the day than some printers, after that it prints high quality pages from the very first time. Even with the high print speeds, solid ink sticks are very competitively priced and will last for a long time.

These solid ink sticks are among the most sophisticated Xerox ink products that the company produces. You’ll find this technology within the popular Xerox Phaser 8560 and most recently the Xerox ColorQube 8570 model printers.

Xerox Phaser 7760 Printer Review

If you are in the marketplace for a printer with the wow factor, then the Xerox Phaser 7760 is the printer for you.  The type of office this printer will naturally find a home is in a creative one, where bulk documentation is printed out on a regular basis as the duty cycle is an enormous 150,000 pages per month.  There are a distinct range of software options with many different types of colour enhancement tools including the PhaserMatch 4.0 colour management and calibration tool.  The Xerox toner on this model are manufactured in a high capacity to take the hassle out of changing toners on a regular basis and even though this is an A3 printer, the machine is relatively compact and will not dominate the office space it resides in.

Xerox Phaser 7760 Printer

The Xerox Phaser 7760 does not need constantly nursemaiding and it is a relatively simple matter to change the Xerox 7760 toner.  These have been manufactured into astonishingly large capacities, with the black toner giving 32,000 page yields at 5% coverage and then the cyan, magenta and yellow Phaser 7760 toner giving 25,000 page yields at 5% coverage.  The standard paper capacity is 650 sheets with options to add in an additional 500 sheet tray, then a further 1,000 or 2,000 sheet trays depending on the model you pick.

Everything about this machine is exceptionally compliant when it comes to setting up onto your network, PC or Mac and the installation CD makes this a breeze to install.  The CD is worth an extra look because there are a host of extra software enhancements for both administrators and colour management and calibration tools.

The important part of this machine … how does it perform as a printer, does not disappoint.  Printing speeds are 35 pages per minute for colour and 45 minutes per minute for black and white.  The resolution is 1200 x 1200 dpi and Xerox also have a tool for ‘trapping’ blacks, to make sure the text stays crisp and the colours unsullied.

The printer can have the memory taken from the standard 512MB right up to 1 GB of memory and the processor is 800 MHz.  If you regularly print out documents in-house, you may want to invest in the professional finisher, which gives stapling, folding, stitching and stacking options.

Printer Overview
Printer Type: Colour Laser
Duty Cycle: 150,000 pages per month
Dimensions (w x d x h): 644 x 724 x 493 mm weight: 92kg
Memory: 512 MB / 1GB
Print Resolution: 1200 x 1200 dpi
Print Speed (Colour): 35 pages per minute
Connectivity: USB 2.0, 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet
Paper Capacity:  650 sheets