Stories about: Laser

The Kyocera Mita Ecosys FS-1350DN monochrome laser printer starts off at a disadvantage because its list price of $699 makes it appear a lot more expensive than it probably is in stores. But even at a better price, this entry-level printer would still be slow and offer mediocre graphics quality. So why consider buying it? Because of its extremely inexpensive consumables.

Ricoh's Aficio SP 4210N monochrome laser printer is a decent performer with a somewhat high price ($649 as of May 25, 2009). The Xerox Phaser 3600/N, which carries the same sticker price, is better designed and easier to use, but the Aficio laser's extra-cheap toner could make it a better buy for high-volume offices.

The Lexmark E460dn monochrome laser printer has the speed and adaptability that a small workgroup needs, plus room to grow. At a midrange price of $599 (as of May 25, 2009), it holds its ground against more-expensive, high-volume competitors such as the Xerox Phaser 3600/N and the Ricoh Aficio SP 4210N.

The great big billy goat gruff of the three that also include the (relatively) little Xerox Phaser 3250/DN and the medium-size Xerox Phaser 3600/N, the Xerox Phaser 4510/N monochrome laser printer seems to have a mission in life: to print plain-text documents as quickly as possible. This it does--and very well, too--but we expected for more from a printer this expensive ($1929.95 as of June 25, 2009).

AMR Research released its annual "Supply Chain Top 25" list, and the top dog leading the supply chain pack this year -as it did last year - is Apple.

General Electric Global Research says it has figured out a way to put up to 500GB of data on a regular-sized DVD disc under laboratory conditions. GE says its breakthrough was achieved by writing 3-dimensional patterns that represent data onto a disc made of highly reflective material. The disc then acts as a mirror that makes it possible for a laser to pick up the entire piece of data. GE's process doesn't just put information onto the surface of the disc--as DVDs and CDs do--but etches the micro-holographic patterns below the surface of the disc as well.

Chinese manufacturers hope to sell hundreds of thousands of optical disc players for a locally developed next-generation disc format this year, a spokesman for an industry group promoting the format said Friday.

The Fuji Xerox Phaser 3435DN monochrome laser printer is fast and offers good security features, though the beige colour scheme will make it one of the drearier additions to your office.

Hewlett-Packard has warned owners of some of its laser printers to update their devices' firmware or risk having remote attackers access previously-printed documents.

Danish and Australian researchers have developed a chip that efficiently reads 640Gbps optical transmissions and could help pave the way to terabit Ethernet.