News - Lexmark to jettison inkjet printer business

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

In one way it's a shame to lose Lexmark from this market since for as long as I've had a PC they've been there. However, even now, printing something is the most stressful, irritating and unreliable thing I do with a PC, although thankfully I only need to print something every few months or so these days.

I'll be happy to see printers go the same way as the floppy disk, dial-up modem and CRT monitor.

Really?

High-end inkjet printers for photo prints are already a niche area, in much the same way that legacy floppy disk drives, dial-up modems and CRT monitors still perform legacy roles in niche areas. I'm simply looking forward to ropey inkjet printers not being mainstream anymore - moving with the times really.

That's no more selfish than wanting them to stick around for your own hobby

Like all the printers used for print work throughout the world?? The ones which cost tens of thousands of pounds.

Art galleries??

Conferences??

Archival use?

3D printing??

Circuit printing??

Other commercial uses??

Scientific use??

Printers are only a niche area for you,as you don't seem to realise what printing technology covers(groan). Hence you make a blanket statement as you think printing is only for printing a webpage off the internet or an e-mail or something like that. This is why printers will be around in one form or another adapting to new technology.

[HalloweenJack]

Really?

High-end inkjet printers for photo prints are already a niche area, in much the same way that legacy floppy disk drives, dial-up modems and CRT monitors still perform legacy roles in niche areas. I'm simply looking forward to ropey inkjet printers not being mainstream anymore - moving with the times really.

That's no more selfish than wanting them to stick around for your own hobby

so what do you suggest i replace my inkjet printers with since i printed 286 envelopes today.....

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

so what do you suggest i replace my inkjet printers with since i printed 286 envelopes today.....

You must be permanently stressed,having to print so much stuff daily??

Handwriting it seems maybe the replacement,but that is so yesterday. Mail is also so yesterday too - I hope you have the transporter active! If not invent one,man! Unfortunately all our power sources are so yesterday too. Fusion power might be fine,but wasn't that also around for decades in one form or another? That is so yesterday.

OTH,wasn't commercial electricity generation around for over a century?? That is so yesterday and electricity is so yesterday too.

I also think that the GUI,tablets,the cloud,desktops and laptops are so yesterday(as they have been thought of decades ago),that they should be ditched too.

It seems everything is so yesterday too!

Maybe we can all use talking butterflies instead. That has not been thought off!! Yay! That is so today.



Maybe,they are a calligrapher and hate the printer.

[kjlp]

Good riddance to Lexmark from the printer business - At last their rabid adherence to the ink cartridge cartel has bitten back.

I'll second AGTDenton's comment about laser/LED printers, it's the way to go and you don't have to worry about whether you'll have to spend 10 minutes on nozzle unblocking cycles when you need to rush out the door with a hard copy of something. Even colour lasers are more than affordable these days compared to most half-decent inkjets.

[kjlp]

so what do you suggest i replace my inkjet printers with since i printed 286 envelopes today.....

Dymo label printer, window envelope, laser?

[yefi]

I'll be happy to see printers go the same way as the floppy disk, dial-up modem and CRT monitor.

I'm all for a paperless existence, but that stuff really is necessary for certain things. How is a courier going to deliver your parcel if you didn't print out a shipping label? You going to sellotape a digital picture frame to it?

[crossy]

I'll second AGTDenton's comment about laser/LED printers, it's the way to go and you don't have to worry about whether you'll have to spend 10 minutes on nozzle unblocking cycles when you need to rush out the door with a hard copy of something. Even colour lasers are more than affordable these days compared to most half-decent inkjets.

I'll agree with you when colour lasers can be used to print photographs - unless you're talking about very expensive ones then I've not seen a home model that can match even an inkjet of 5 years ago.

And while it might be more convenient (laser warm up times?) I'll also argue (admittedly based on limited experience) that laser consumables are also pretty expensive. So when HP, Canon etc do an inexpensive (<£300) colour laser that can do good photo and doesn't cost £200+ in consumables a year then I'll consider ditching "old squirty" next to me - until then it's earning it's keep.

Best comment on this story was one of an acquaintance of mine - "Lexmark going? ... Good, it means more shelf space for decent gear"

[iiee]

Not to mention Lexmark printers are consistently some of the worst available

Amen! Anyone ever owned a good one?

I have. The lexmark x543dn is an awesome piece of kit for the money i paid (about £150 from printerbase). Its proved reliable feature packed and easy to use (although i could do with out the network scanning print outs) it is not however an inkjet. In my experience inkjets are useless whichever manufacturer they are bought from and are good for one thing and one thing only photo printing (even then they are an expensive way to do it). If you just want a document printer do yourself a favour and buy a laser printer.

[TheAnimus]

not an inkjet thou!