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Epson will kill off laser printers by 2026

by on28 November 2022


Will save the polar bear 

Epson announced this month that it will end the sale and distribution of laser printer hardware by 2026, claiming that it will help save the planet. 

According to the company, inkjets have a "greater potential" than laser printers to make "meaningful advances" when it comes to the environment.

Epson sales and marketing manager Koichi Kubota claimed that inkjets use less energy and fewer consumable parts.

"Laser printers work by heating and fusing toner to a page, Epson's Heat-Free inkjet technology consumes less electricity by using mechanical energy to fire ink onto the page. Our printing business will from now put the focus on inkjet," added Kubota. A 2019 Epson blog post claimed its inkjets consume 85 percent less energy than similar-speed laser printers.

He also claimed that inkjets produce up to 85 percent less carbon dioxide, apparently equating to the absorption capacity of six cedar trees for a laser, compared to one for an inkjet.They also have 59 percent fewer replaceable components – just the ink and waste ink box, compared to lasers that must have toner, drum, developer and fusers.

However, there are some alarm bells ringing about the statement. Epson has also introduced business inkjet and multi-function printers that can crank out 40 to 60 pages per minute – addressing one of inkjets' key weaknesses. The ink for inkjets costs a fortune in comparison to lasers.

Ironically Epson has been caught out bricking its own still-functioning products forcing whole Epson's L360, L130, L220, L310 and L365 models to be scrapped. The company cites print quality and performance for its reasons in bricking the machines -- so much for polar bears then. 

 

Last modified on 28 November 2022
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