Hong Kong – Top-performing wide-format printers from Canon and HP were honoured today by Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI), the world’s leading independent evaluator of document imaging products and solutions. BLI’s semi-annual “Pick” awards are given to the hardware and software offerings that perform the best in BLI’s in-depth lab testing, which assesses a wide range of the most important features and performance factors for buyers.

The Summer 2011 wide-format printer “Pick” winners are:

Canon, Inc.
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF8300S
Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format Production Photo Printer

Hewlett-Packard Company
HP Designjet T7100 Printer
Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format Multipurpose Printer

HP Designjet T2300 PostScript eMFP
Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format MFP

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF8300S Provides High-Speed, Superior Image Quality

Based on its impressive overall performance, the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF8300S has been named a Summer 2011 “Pick” for “Outstanding Inkjet Wide-Format Production Photo Printer.” An exceptional choice for graphic arts and production print markets, this 44-inch, eight-colour wide-format printer distinguished itself in producing vibrant colour photographs with very fine detail. It also produced excellent black-and-white prints with neutral gray tones. Among the fastest printers in its class, the unit was also recognized for its outstanding productivity. “The Canon iPF8300S was able to generate 18 large-size (A1) very high-quality prints in an hour, which will be especially welcome in busy print shops,” said Joe Tischner, BLI wide-format printer analyst. Other features earning high marks for the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF8300S include the Free Layout image nesting function, its borderless printing capability, user-friendly Accounting Manager, straightforward media-loading procedures and the ability to replace inks while printing.

“We are very pleased to be recognised by BLI once again for our wide-format production technology. With its high speed output that’s approximately twice as fast as current models and savings on ink consumption of up to nearly 50 percent, the iPF8300S will certainly help our customers improve their business productivity, save time and costs,” commented Kazuto Akane, senior manager in Canon Singapore’s Business Imaging Solutions Division, South & Southeast Asia.

HP Designjet T7100 Offers Exceptional Versatility

Ease of use, productivity and administrative utilities were the stand-out attributes that helped earn the HP Designjet T7100 BLI’s Summer 2011 “Pick” award for “Outstanding Inkjet Wide-Format Multipurpose Printer.” This 42-inch, six-colour printer, which also comes in a monochrome version, supports up to three rolls—uncommon among competitors—and features three revolving roll bays for easy media installation and a movable media-collection basket that enables orderly stacking of prints. “HP has made roll loading a quick and easy process by employing screw-on end caps that hold rolls in place instead of spindles. At one time in BLI’s evaluation, three different media types were installed in the Designjet T7100, which enabled the lab staff to print maps, signs and higher quality photos without requiring a roll change. It’s a real time-saver,” remarked Tischner.

The printer produced above average image quality on several media types, demonstrating that it can ably suit a variety of print applications. In addition, it proved highly productive, delivering prints faster than most competitive models. Among the unit’s numerous utilities, BLI technicians found HP’s Instant Printing Utility and the HP Accounting Excel Tool very useful for direct printing and cost accounting, respectively.

“HP is pleased to be the recipient of the Buyers Lab ‘Pick’ award for ‘Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format Multipurpose Printer’ for the HP Designjet T7100, which reflects the positive feedback we have heard from our customers,” said Veronica Crespo, HP Designjet product manager. “The printer offers our customers a low total cost of ownership with an alternative to devices that print only in monochrome or colour and to LED technologies, which can be expensive to maintain and limited in terms of media versatility.”

Web-Connected HP Designjet T2300 PostScript eMFP Provides High-Quality Output, Unmatched Collaboration

Offering unprecedented collaborative capabilities for file sharing and printing, as well as very good overall print and copy quality and ease of use, the HP Designjet T2300 PostScript eMFP has been awarded a Summer 2011 BLI “Pick” for “Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format MFP.” Most notable among this winner’s features is the HP ePrint & Share utility. In addition to providing 5 GB of free file storage in the cloud for scanned or uploaded documents, this impressive utility enables users to access documents stored in the cloud from the control panel of the T2300 for immediate printing, thereby eliminating workstations and software applications from the printing process. The Designjet T2300 also supports direct printing via USB drive conveniently accessible from a control panel port.

Also cited for its very good image quality, “The T2300 produced numerous maps with fine detail and minimal graininess. Some areas depicting mountainous regions even appeared three-dimensional,” said Tischner. “The unit also generated fine lines with more precision than most competitive devices, which produce fine lines that often tend to blend together and become indistinguishable. The HP T2300 displayed very distinct, individual lines.” Additionally, the unit’s 36-inch integrated scanner produced copy quality that was rated very good overall, reproducing colours more accurately than most competitive scanners. Furthermore, the scanner’s grayscale setting generated neutral gray output with above average contrast and good tonal separation. The two-roll, six-colour model, which is also available in a non-PostScript configuration, features a newly-redesigned, intuitive control panel that enables ready access to all functions, provides helpful job previews on a colour display, and above all, enables one-touch entry to the cloud for quick and easy file storage and printing.

“With the ability to print and scan directly to the Web and driverless printing, the HP Designjet T2300 PostScript eMFP is much more than a printer, it is a tool to transform the design process,” said Anabela Lemos, HP Designjet product manager. “HP is excited that these advancements in the large-format printing process have been recognized by BLI with a Buyers Lab ‘Pick’ award for ‘Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide-Format MFP.’”

Stay tuned for upcoming Buyers Lab “Pick” award announcements in the following categories:

July 20: A3
July 21: A4
July 22: Outstanding Achievement                                                                                                                       

About Buyers Laboratory

For 50 years, Buyers Lab (BLI) has been the leading independent office-equipment testing lab and business consumer advocate. In addition to publishing the industry’s most comprehensive and accurate test reports on office document imaging devices, each representing months of exhaustive hands-on testing in BLI’s US and UK laboratories, the company has been the leading source of competitive intelligence for industry professionals on copiers, printers, fax machines, scanners, duplicators, wide-format devices and multifunctional products. The company’s databases cover almost 15,000 products globally and have a long-standing reputation for being the industry’s most trustworthy and complete source for specifications and side-by-side comparisons, all of which are available as part of bliQ, BLI’s web-based encyclopedic resource. Subscribers also have access to BLI’s renowned Lab Test Reports, First Look Reports, Solutions Reports, Environmental Reports, news articles and a complete library of manufacturer’s product literature, as well as valuable tools including a Product Configurator and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Calculator.

Buyers Lab also provides business consumers with How-To-Guides, a Needs Assessment Wizard and Free Vendor Quotes via its Buyers Lab Advisor website, as well as independent purchasing advice and consulting from its Buyers Alliance procurement experts. Business consumers and manufacturers can also select from a vast array of confidential for-hire private testing services that include document imaging device beta and pre-launch testing, performance certification testing, consumables testing (such as toner, ink and photoconductors) and software solutions and print media testing (including virgin and recycled papers).

For more information on buyers Lab, please call (852) 8200-4503, visit www.buyerslab.com, or e-mail loretta.pang@buyerslab.com.