HP Inc’s ultra fast inkjets take aim at enterprises

HP Inc has launched a new series of PageWide business printers, aimed at companies from small businesses to enterprises.

Unlike the company's iconic LaserJet printers, the PageWide series uses inkjet technology rather than laser printing. The company claims this not only cuts down on noise, but also reduces power consumption compared to a laser printer, without compromising on speed.

Derived from HP Inc's printing press technology, PageWide has printing nozzles that span the entire width of the page rather than moving back and forth across the page as with traditional inkjets. HP Inc claims this design not only means faster print speeds, but means there are fewer moving parts and thus less regular maintenance required.

The PageWide Pro 400 series, the 452dw sfp (single function printer) and the MFP 477dw are rated for 55 pages per minute and have a maximum duty cycle of 4,500 pages a month both specifications are higher than other inkjets aimed at business users.

Both models use four colour cartridges, print at 600dpi, support duplex printing and have a 500-sheet input tray. There's a touchscreen which can not only be used for retrieving documents from cloud storage services, but can also be used to input a security pin for local print jobs so that private documents aren't seen by random passers-by. Naturally, WiFi and Ethernet are built-in alongside USB. The 477dw multifunction variant adds a 26ipm scanner with a ADF and fax.

Aimed at small businesses and work groups, the PageWide Pro 400 series will arrive in April with prices starting at 399, though UK pricing is yet to be confirmed.

For bigger work groups, there's the PageWide Enterprise Colour range. The 556 sfp and MFP 586 are faster at 75 pages per minute and have a maximum monthly duty cycle of 15,000 pages per month. Like the 400 series, they print at a resolution of 600dpi.

Both PageWide Enterprise Colour models have Gigabit Ethernet, up to three extra input trays and a Kensington security slot. Both models can also be remotely managed and can accommodate an optional hard disk for increased local spooling.

The MFP 586 adds 70ipm duplex single-pass scanning. Some models even have a slide out keyboard so you can use that instead of the touchscreen when inputting passwords and accessing documents on cloud services.

The 556 single function printer will cost 727, while the MFP 586 will start at 1,922 - UK pricing hasn't yet been set. Variants with bigger capacity ink cartridges and automatic enrolment into Secure Managed Print Services - HP's suite of security software - will be available from resellers.

While all current PageWide printers are A4 only, HP Inc promises that A3 PageWide models are coming soon.