Lab Test Report
Contents
1. A BLI Lab Test Report A Comprehensive BLI Laboratory Evaluation MARCH 2008 HP Designjet Z6100ps Wide Format Color Inkjet Printer HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ReaD an a a ebattuan suaitese wager suas ESCO ASSEMDIY aaraa e e a Excellent Ease of NetWork SOTUD iescesatavasuatensenmesransennases Excellent Paper Handling eea a E Good Ease or USE a ae aaa a a Very Good Administrative Utilities aa scctnsasetasneens cteest aceasta Excellent Fel OLE FAY gs ee eee E Very Good Feedback to Workstations 0 cssssssssssssesssesen Very Good Applications Compatibility Excellent Color Management eaire e sectat ae Excellent Color Pint QUANT araea Very Good Black Pont Qualy aeee crete dee ttae Good Clr Pint ProdUCTVIIY oaea a Good Black Print Productivity eoresri nenene Good FeO lesions a E catinteneratcit nec Very Good vaU a ere ee ee en ee ea Good PERFORMANCE SUMMARY p Targeted at the high quality fine arts and graphics markets as well Rating scale as technical customers the HP Z6100ps 42 inch wide format color Excellent Very Good Good Fair and Poor inkjet printer which also comes in a 60 inch version performed im pressively during its two month evaluation The Z6100ps features the HP Vivera pigment based eight ink set which includes cyan Test duration magenta yellow photo black matte black light cyan light magenta and light gray which produced the widest color gamut2. Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps O The disk will run only on computers with an available DVD ROM It will not work in a CD ROM drive User s who don t have a DVD drive can download the drivers from HP s Web site The Easy Printer Care utility offers a Network Settings tab which links users directly to the embedded Web server Here users can locate and or modify network ID and TCP IP settings An Authorization button allows an administrator to set or change the administrator password which is used for protection of network settings PAPER HANDLING GOOD O The Z6100ps supports one paper roll Maximum roll width is 42 inches minimum width is 24 inches HP states that the next firmware upgrade will support rolls as small as 9 inches in width Additional spindles are optionally available for multi roll users There are 59 different media types selectable in the Paper menu of the control panel Each selection has its own ICC profile and ink and dry time are optimized for each A useful feature of the HP Z6100ps printer that is not found on other wide format printers is that once a paper type is selected on the printer it is conveyed back to the print driver where it cannot be modified by the user This eliminates the chance of making an incorrect paper choice from the driver Users are also able to add or delete third party media types in the Custom Paper sec tion on the control panel
3. a Cet Cole Laver 1 1len Bei Wikenin Fede v i HP Larae Pin gay Chall Lawe Friisi 1720n nm d Ofca Pro KHO gap Del Coker Laver Miken ab ACOH Ahoy MP 3800 Be FUJI RERIN Apo otl D SHARP MORIN IE Abc DCE PS CE DOANE AR KOTE OC Cea DOL IED Arai GORE EA HORE i r ECAN ETE T Tes es T eo sib i 182 168 36 12a 15 168 3 20 122 a 12 12160312 dbhi dbhi dhame HPC Tia AMPLED IED ECs dhihin 12 14 36 1S TES J 132 168 35 106 OSs 168 37 153 132 18h as diihi Hooocecoocoeeceo00e0s Tisu Config Asti Groups Met Suppi Stoge dpolicstiona Detaled indo Cacebdtier Troubleahoot Firme S H bse Ejip Subscipbon Template Ca ert hitoy HP Web Jetadmin All Devices Tab HP offers easy to use accounting features with the Z6100ps that are more extensive than other wide format devices evaluated to date In the Accounting Cost Assign ments tab of the Web utility users can enter their actual cost for ink and all media types The cost of the job is automatically calculated and is broken down between cost of paper and cost of each individual color ink This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404
4. in Easy Printer Care s Color Center Once the function is initiated the HP Z6100ps prints an ICC profiling color target and automatically scans it with the spectrophotometer The process lasts approxi mately 15 minutes and can be conducted for any media type Once a profile is created it is stored in both the printer and in the system folder on the computer and can be used with any software application that has ICC profiling capabilities BLI technicians were impressed with the hands off approach to creating both the paper calibration and ICC profile with the HP Z6100ps since typically standalone spectrophotometric devices and additional software solutions are needed to per form these tasks ICC profiles that have been generated elsewhere can be imported for use with the HP Z6100ps by selecting Install ICC Profile in the Easy Printer Care Color Center Manual color adjustments can be made in the More Color Options selection in the Color tab There are four sliders Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black that can be used to increase or decrease the amount of each ink used on a printed image When choosing Printer Emulation in the Color tab of either print driver users can emulate the color output of older HP printers namely the Designjet 5500 dye and UV ink series and the Designjet 1000 series printers The PostScript driver features a PANTONE selection that enables emulation of PAN TONE colors depending upon
5. ment a message appears on the front panel to alert the user When a job is printing the control panel displays the print status job name and time remaining to print the page Walk up users can delete a job from the control panel immediately by pressing the red X button Users are not prompted to confirm the deletion which would be preferable Confusingly the Paper Advance Calibration is located in the Ink menu of the control panel not in the Paper menu This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps Loading rolls of ordinary paper types like bond and coated papers is an easy process The spindle on which the roll is placed is located in the front of the printer and the roll s lead edge is fed through the front of the printer unlike with many wide format printers which are fed through the back Users must use extra care when loading thicker media as these can be more difficult to load than the ordinary papers Occa sionally during this evaluation HP s Matte Litho Realistic and Professional Matte Canva
6. idin Paan 33 HP Danat zos a Photo he nomen E som Cunmr semnge support A Compatible Previers aen Semegs Tine Other Printers Oerice N Cartage buous hems Needing Antentior d war 7610ps in Presiens Oetectes Dengrat 21 gt Prcective Suspert a not evatied os you system more nfo HP Easy Printer Care Overview Tab HP Web Jetadmin available as a free download provides network administrators with a comprehensive set of tools for managing output devices on the network HP s as well as other vendors products Using Web Jetadmin administrators can configure printers set up alert notifications check device status and monitor supply levels Device Management is Dhvanit fe All Devices 1 of 33 Selected bi Dhana blida AE ab Del Lovet Prie 172i Ener Devices 20 Wareg 0 ni E Da Lee Pine Siia 7 Hew miae EE IF dirkie 152 160 3 200 152 168 36 207 152 168 Be IF Regi hioi ET Oe sed EMPLIS Himin Saiit HAC M 40 DE ae a Igor AL g RICOH aio HE SD He Ungecuned Derice 1 PEST Deoovey E a Copiar g iarr Ts a Da Las Pr s 172i Ga KOMA HIN LTA mape 2 HF ChSIG0 MFP with Ed Fey Sey S045 me FICO Anco SP DOH U Canon matti 13216 3a i ERA E AF 19716A 2 10 152 1 EH 1S 1636 Pa Tz WE G12 182 168 E n diham paaa mri PID SOE TCG ANPTALYE TUORE Tima OIE Crea ht m f DAIR kE MENITA KEHF DOS Pearse rats k Supokee
7. in over 10 000 square feet e Effortless calibration and ICC profiling using the built in spectrophotometer e Excellent color consistency over the course of the test e Excellent image quality using high quality paper e 575 foot roll maximum media capacity e High capacity 775 ml ink cartridges e Straightforward paper loading from the front of the printer e Wide range of compatible media e Broad halftone range and consistent fill e Optional take up reel for long unattended print runs e Accounting capability offers cost per page based on media type and ink usage e Versatile Easy Printer Care Utility e Widest color gamut generated to date by a wide format device on high quality media e Job storage and retrieval on printer s 40 GB hard drive e Media saving barcode feature e Windows and Mac compatible e User installable no dealer required e Easy ink cartridge and printhead replacement WEAKNESSES e No cut sheet capability e Inability to use the printer during lengthy automatic preparing to print and checking printer operations e Control panel keys not clearly labeled e Curled prints in collection bin e Incorrect Arch C and D size rotation using PostScript driver e Incorrect print quality displayed in Job Queue e No discernible differences in image quality on the premium papers tested at the higher print quality settings despite increased ink usage and print times This report has been reproduced with the writ
8. or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps APPLICATIONS COMPATIBILITY EXCELLENT The HP Z6100ps performed well in BLI s application compatibility test successfully handling all the file formats used DWF DWG PLT and CALS via the HP GL 2 driver and PS PDF TIFF XLS PPT and JPG via the PostScript driver A job stream of mixed file types including DWF PDF PLT and TIFF formats all of 36 inches Arch D size were output without a problem No file transmission errors were encountered nor were any problems noted in the output compared to the digital files COLOR MANAGEMENT EXCELLENT With a built in spectrophotometer the first printer BLI has evaluated with this fea ture the HP Z6100ps can easily be color calibrated for all media types According to HP Color calibration improves color consistency between prints and between printers Users can expect to get identical prints from any two different printers that are situated in different geographical locations under different environmental con ditions An alert will be posted in Easy Printer Care indicating when to perform a color calibration with status indicated as Pending Recommended Obsolete OK or Disabled BLI observed that a calibration became obsolete for the media used during this evaluation after approximately one month at which time a new calibration was performed The calibration
9. party security features NO Unauthorized copy prevention secure watermark No USBblock SS db Via Jetdirect 635n card Via either Jetdirect 630n or 635n card This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com A BLI BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet Z6100ps VALUE GOOD With an MSRP of 12 495 the 42 inch HP Designjet Z6100ps is approximately twice as expensive as competitive models The competition however does not offer the built in sopectrophotometer and profiling tools which can easily make up the cost difference between printers The 42 inch HP Designjet Z6100 without the PostScript option lists for 9 995 This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps SUPPORTING TEST DATA Test Enviro
10. to be used in a production environment BLI perceives this as a drawback because even production users will likely require printing on cut sheets at some point during usage This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps O BLI does not recommend roll paper that is taped to the core for use on the Z6100ps as it caused a jam during the BLI evaluation when the tape did not break away from the core This caused the control panel to read Possible paper jam 81 01 Press OK to learn how to clear a paper jam Pressing the OK button did not resolve the prob lem or remove the error Only a complete printer shut down eliminated the error The paper collection bin is made of sturdy canvas and is situated approximately three feet below the printer s exit Lighter weight media such as plain 20 lb bond tend to curl as they fall into the bin after they are cut making retrieval of more than just a few at a time difficult Other wide format devices with shorter exit drops pro vide for more orderly print retrieval A 42 inch take up reel is optional
11. On the installation CD the User Guide and assembly instructions are available in 21 languages in PDF format EASE OF NETWORK SETUP EXCELLENT One DVD is provided with the HP Designjet Z6100 It contains not only the PostScript and HP GL 2 print drivers but also helpful selections for users to access training documentation and links to HP s Web site for various support options Driver installation is highly automated requiring nine clicks to fully install the Post Script and HP GL 2 drivers Note To install the HP GL 2 print driver users must select Custom Installation instead of the HP recommended Full Installation Users are prompted to install the Easy Printer Care and HP Color Center utilities after driver installation An additional six clicks are required to complete this installation The printer port is created automatically during driver installation Standard connectivity for the HP Z6100ps is a 1 Gigabit Ethernet port An IP address can easily be assigned directly on the printer s control panel and remotely in Easy Printer Care This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB
12. aper Quality Features Color and Services Most settings for typical jobs can be found within the main Paper Quality tab This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps HP Designjet 76100ps 47in Phata PS3 Document Properties fA HP Designjet 76100ps 42in Photo HPGL Document Properties Advanced Piinting Shortewts Paper Qually Festaes Coke Services Advanced Printing Sheetcute Piaper Tusbly Feahees Colo Servicer f laper Upbons Document sige 24 x J5 inches I age 24 Mi inches Margins ayot Custom Currently loeded paper HP Super Heavyweight Plus Matte Paper 42 Rol 1 HP Super Heavyweight Ph Matte Paper 42 ete Printed on 24 x 36 inches ee Fisted orc H 36 ches C Show prewew before panhng O ihaw parvis behan pining Pork Quality Pied Qualy Standad opborrs 2 Standard optin Onertahor Potten C Larndecage HP Designjet Z6100ps PostScript Print HP Designjet Z6100ps HP GL 2 Print Driver Driver From the Printing Shortcuts tab in either print driver users can create templates for frequen
13. can be initiated from the control panel or either util ity Once initiated a color calibration chart is automatically printed and then scanned by the embedded spectrophotometer HP recommends conducting the calibration procedure directly before printing any job in which color consistency is vital The procedure takes approximately eight minutes HP Designjet Z6100ps 42in Photo 192 168 36 106 Calibrate Your Printer Step 1 of 3 Paper ame 2 Professional Matte Canvas i sti Current Papers and Calorates Status E Sonn ana Coated Pager Photo Paper L Prootng Paper E Fre Art Material HP Professional Mate Canvas HP Artist Matte Canvas HP Universal Matte Canvas HP Aquarem Art Paper Load the paper and Click the Text HP Z26100ps Printer Calibration This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps While ICC profiles for the 59 preset media types are provided ICC profiles for addi tional media types can easily be created using the built in spectrophotometer by selecting Print target and create ICC profile
14. ch translates to 46 7 pph which is average for similar models tested to date Productivity Note The Designjet Z6100ps displays Preparing to Print and Check ing Printer messages on the control panel for each job The Preparing to Print mes sage was timed to take between 10 and 25 seconds while the Checking Printer message was timed between 33 seconds and 1 minute 34 seconds According to HP these are automatically conducted printhead servicing and nozzle drop detec tion procedures which provide for optimal image quality without requiring user inter vention The productivity times referenced in the report include the time required for these operations Black Print Productivity GOOD O To assess black print productivity the same 12 page DWF file was used This file was printed using the PostScript driver set for plain paper grayscale In default Normal Fast mode the document printed in 15 minutes and 51 seconds which translates to 45 4 pph which is average when compared with similar models tested to date O The same file was also printed using the HP GL 2 driver set for plain paper gray scale In default Normal Fast mode the document printed in 15 minutes and 32 seconds which translates to 46 4 pph which is average when compared with similar models tested to date AEO FEATURE SET VERY GOOD O BLI evaluated the 42 inch PostScript version of the Designjet Z6100ps printer A ver sion that does not support Po
15. er HP Matte Canvas Matte Litho Realistic or Instant Dry Photo papers Contrary to the results BLI tech nicians expected to observe at least minor differences in output generated at the different settings Consequently users may find the print quality settings misleading Since job accounting confirmed that each increasing quality setting in the driver uti lized a greater amount of ink and also took longer to printer BLI suggests that users of these particular papers restrict their output quality setting to Fast for cost and time savings This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps When sending either Arch C or Arch D size documents to the PostScript driver the prints incorrectly rotate 90 degrees resulting in wasted paper This did not happen with letter size documents To remedy the problem a user can choose rotate by 90 degrees in the driver s Features tab HP recognizes this shortcoming and explains that it is a constraint inherent to the Adobe PostScript code and cannot be modified by HP The HP GL 2 driver did not exh
16. f test Meter count end of test period 10 000 square feet Total misfeeds misfeed rate 1 1 per 10 000 square feet Total Service Calls PRINT DRIVERS HP Designjet Z6100ps Print Driver Features Features PostScript Collate Sets Mirror Image Negative Image N Up Printing 2 to 16 Paper Gauge Quantity Selection 1 to 9 999 1 to 9 999 Reduction Enlargement 25 to 1 000 25 to 1 000 Print Quality Fast Normal Fast Normal Best Fast Normal Fast Normal Best Printing Shortcuts Save Settings 9 preset choices 9 preset choices This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com BLI BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps PRINT QUALITY Color Print Quality Plain Paper Instant Dry Photo Gloss Paper Photographic Images N A Excellent AEC Graphics Good N A Business Graphics Good Excellent Color Readings Plain Paper ae a ee a s a s e s e s 0 EMEEN E E Color Density Readings Instant Dry Photo Gloss om 2 n 2 a 2e s 28 o Cwen 1s a te s r AO E E E Note Color density readings were measured on solid color patches and at 50 dot fill density f
17. ibit this problem The drivers are Windows certified FEEDBACK TO WORKSTATIONS VERY GOOD An administrator can use HP Easy Printer Care to enable both printer and job alerts Printer alerts include immediate attention required e g out of paper out of ink or paper jam or attention required soon e g ink low Job alerts include job finished job canceled job on hold and job aborted When job alerts are enabled a pop up alert is displayed at the workstation for each condition Alert settings can be conve niently changed directly in the pop up message KJ Easy Printer Care Alerts HP Designjet 2610098 lt 2in Proto HPGL2 X HP Designjet Z6100ps 42in Photo HPGL2 View Printer Status Paper path out of paper Supplies Ordering gt Troubleshooting and JAaintenance Easy Printer Care Alerts Through the embedded Web server an administrator can configure e mail notifica tions to be sent to up to 20 destinations The notifications can be configured to include up to 11 different supply alerts four different paper path alerts and four mis cellaneous alerts in any combination required This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17
18. intain up to 15 supported HP networked printers A list of Supported printers can be found on HP s Web site O Another utility the HP Printer Utility which offers many of the same features as the Easy Printer Care utility is not available on the installation CD but is downloadable from HP s Web site When attempting to print using the HP GL 2 driver the following message was displayed HP Printer Utility is not installed To take advantage of the full feature list of your printer please install HP Printer Utility which was eliminated after the utility was installed It would be preferable for users to be prompted to install this utility The embedded Web server accessible by entering the printer s IP address from any Web browser allows users to obtain printer information manage settings and pro files and troubleshoot problems It also allows service engineers to retrieve internal information that helps diagnose printer problems This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps Easy Printer are wi My HP Printers G MP Oergrje D00
19. llent image quality on HP s Matte Canvas Matte Litho Realistic and Instant Dry Photo Gloss papers at the default driver settings Colors appeared vibrant with high contrast and high density and images were sharp though with a slightly reddish tint On plain bond paper the HP Designjet Z6100ps produced a typical gamut for a color inkjet printer There was no visible loss in gamut size over the test period as mea sured by BLI s test instruments O At the driver s default setting of Normal Fast color charts architectural plans and maps printed on plain paper displayed good image quality Fine lines and curves printed distinctly though colors appeared somewhat flat and with slightly less than normal contrast Black Print Quality GOOD Black and white photographs exhibited excellent image quality on HP s Matte Canvas Matte Litho Realistic and Instant Dry Photo Gloss papers at the default driver settings with fine shadow and highlight detail observed At certain angles slight bronzing was observed on the Instant Dry Photo Gloss paper Black print quality on plain paper was rated Good overall Characters appeared dark and fully formed but displayed below average sharpness Some ink spray was visible but only under magnification Circles were cleanly formed Diagonal lines however exhibited more than average stairstepping Halftones appeared smooth with average banding observed while grayscale was clearly visible fro
20. ly available with the 42 inch printer for unattended document output It comes standard with the 60 inch printer EASE OF USE VERY GOOD Like other HP models evaluated the printer s control panel has a small 8 x 2 black and white display There are 11 keys on the panel most of which are labeled with icons that are not intuitive to new users O When the printer is idle the default screen of the control panel displays a graphical depiction of the eight ink cartridges and the amount of ink remaining therein The control panel will warn when the ink level is low in a cartridge This information is also transmitted to the Web Utility and Easy Printer Care Ink replacement is simple The process is initiated by selecting the ink icon on the control panel then selecting Replace ink cartridges The eight 775 ml ink car tridges which include magenta light magenta photo black matte black yellow light cyan light gray and cyan are located on the left side of the printer Each car tridge is slotted differently so it cannot be loaded incorrectly and each is secured in place behind a blue lever Printhead replacement is also a simple process and is initiated from the same loca tion on the control panel There are eight staggered dual printheads Each contains two different colored inks The printheads are automatically tested at regular inter vals and automatically serviced when necessary When a printhead requires replace
21. m the 1 to 100 dot fill levels a much broader range than would be expected from a 600 dpi engine PRODUCTIVITY Color Print Productivity GOOD The Z6100ps wakes from power save mode almost instantaneously After a week end of non use a D size PDF file was sent to the printer which awoke in less than two seconds It began to print 46 seconds after the print was initiated from the driver In a fully warmed state the printer awoke in the same amount of time and began to print after 39 seconds O To assess color print productivity one 12 page Arch D size DWF file was used This file was printed using the PostScript driver set for plain paper color In default Normal Fast mode the document printed in 15 minutes and 41 seconds which translates to 45 9 pph which is average when compared with similar models tested to date This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps O The same file was also printed using the HP GL 2 driver set for plain paper color In default Normal Fast mode the document printed in 15 minutes and 26 seconds whi
22. might experience in a real world multi user environment All of the files are submitted to the controller in default mode Normal Fast in a specific order and sent to the printer as a group at which time the stopwatch begins timing ends when the last page of the last file exits the device 12 Page D Size DWF Document Using the HP Z6100ps PostScript Driver Print Driver Quality Setting Actual Time Min Sec Calculated Pages Per Hour Fast 13 04 55 1 Normal Fast 15 41 45 9 Normal 24 31 29 4 Best 30 43 23 4 The 12 page DWF test file was printed using the plain paper color setting of the HP Z6100ps PostScript driver The actual time indicated is the time it took to RIP image and deliver all pages of the test document to the collection bin 12 Page D Size DWF Document Using the HP Z6100ps HP GL 2 Driver Print Driver Quality Setting Actual Time Min Sec Calculated Pages Per Hour Fast 12 44 56 5 Normal Fast 15 26 46 7 Normal 24 11 29 8 Best 29 57 24 0 The 12 page DWF test file was printed using the plain paper color setting of the HP Z6100ps HP GL 2 driver The actual time indicated is the time it took to RIP image and deliver all pages of the test document to the collection bin This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecu
23. nment The product has been tested in BLI s 10 000 square foot test lab in an environment monitored by a Honeywell Temp RH chart recorder which replicates typical office conditions Test Equipment BLI s dedicated test network consisting of Windows 2000 servers Windows XP and 2000 workstations 10 100BaseTX network switches and CAT5 cabling Test Duration Wide format printers are tested for two months with the durability portion of the test lasting one month For 60 inch printers a volume of 12 500 square feet is run For 42 and 44 inch printers a volume of 10 000 square feet is run For 36 inch printers a volume of 7 500 square feet is run and for 24 inch printers a volume of 5 000 square feet is run All print volumes are evenly divided on a daily basis over the course of the test Tested Configuration HP Designjet Z6100ps 42 inch wide format inkjet printer Test Procedures The test methods and procedures employed by BLI in its lab testing include BLI s proprietary procedures and industry standard test procedures In addition to a number of proprietary test documents BLI uses an industry standard Katun test original for evaluating black image quality and test suites to evaluate applications compatibility In addition to a visual observation color print quality is tested using the ANSI standard IT8 Color Test Target which is read using the Minolta CM5031 Spectrophotometer and samples are analyzed using the CIE XY Chromatici
24. or in the Color Center utility After adding a paper users are prompted to calibrate the paper advance and are then taken through the automated process of performing a paper calibration and ICC profile creation using the unit s embedded spectrophotometer The entire procedure takes approximately 23 minutes O When a new media roll is installed in the printer a short paper advance calibration is automatically performed According to HP this is the Optical Media Advance Sensor OMAS which adjusts the rate at which the paper is advanced during printing pur portedly to aid in providing optimum image quality This typically takes no more than 30 seconds to complete With thicker media such as the matte litho realistic and professional matte canvas that BLI utilized during this evaluation the printer s cutter is automatically disabled so as to avoid damaging it Users are not given any indication that the cutter has been disabled however which could be cause for confusion The Z6100ps is the only wide format printer evaluated by BLI that supports a roll length of up to 575 feet This will be useful to users wishing to print long run lengths unattended Some users might find the weight of such a roll prohibitively heavy to handle however and prefer shorter lengths The Z6100ps is also the only wide format printer BLI has evaluated to date that does not support cut sheet media HP states that this is because the printer is intended
25. or plain and Instant Dry Photo Gloss papers at Fast Normal Fast Normal and Best quality settings Black Print Quality Plain Paper Black Density Plain Paper Normal Fast 99 to 1 02 1 15 to 1 19 1 36 to 1 40 1 33 to 1 37 Note Solid black density measurements are based on eight readings corresponding to eight different solid black locations on the output This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps Print density for inkjet based printers tested to date 1 15 to 1 40 Halftone range Grayscale is clearly visible from the 1 to 100 dot fill levels with distinct transitions between levels and consistent ink coverage within levels Typical halftone range for color inkjet printers From the 1 to 97 dot fill levels PRINT PRODUCTIVITY Color Print Productivity Job Stream Mixed File Types Same Size Sets Actual Time Min Sec Calculated Pages Per Hour 1 24 48 46 0 BLI s job stream includes PDF TIFF DWF and PLT files totaling 19 pages This test indicates the type of traffic a typical wide format device
26. rs Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com CERTIFICATE OF RELIABILITY Awarded to Hewlett Packard Company for the performance of the HP Designjet Z6100ps in BLI s in house durability test MARCH 2008 DATE Tard LWA ANTHONY F overtone MANAGING DIRECTOR This is to certify that when subjected to a 10 000 square foot Buyers Lab durability test the HP Designjet Z6100ps proved to be a highly reliable product BUYERS LABORATORY INC THE LEADING INDEPENDENT OFFICE PRODUCTS TEST LAB AND BUSINESS CONSUMER ADVOCATE 20 RAILROAD AVENUE m HACKENSACK NJ m O76O1 m 201 488 0404 m www BuYERSLAB COM COPYRIGHT 2008 BUYERS LABORATORY REPRODUCTION WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF BLI IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN
27. s media required two attempts at loading rather than one A convenient media saving barcode feature can be enabled from the Paper Handling options on the control panel Once this feature is enabled users are given the option to select a preset length install a specified length or select unknown length for the roll being loaded The length is counted down as the media is used and is reported on the control panel in Easy Printer Care and in the Web utility During the unload ing process the media type and remaining length are automatically printed both in barcode and in text on the edge of the roll before it is removed When the roll is reloaded the media type and length are automatically recognized and reported HP provides a User Maintenance Kit for general preventive maintenance so that printer components can be routinely cleaned and lubricated by users A small instruction manual is also provided During routine usage the printer conducts inter nal parts performance monitoring and will display warning messages in advance of a needed preventive maintenance visit for servicing Twelve languages are available on the control panel display ADMINISTRATIVE UTILITIES EXCELLENT A major strength of the HP Z6100ps is its Easy Printer Care utility This versatile utility offers a multitude of advantages including supply monitoring job queue monitoring and various color management features Easy Printer Care enables users to track and ma
28. seen to date on premium paper for any wide format printer evaluated by BLI Of fering a diverse selection of color management tools including the industry s only embedded spectrophotometer this robust printer produced high quality output that remained consistent throughout the course of the test and will likely satisfy most color critical users Overall ease of use is another key strength of the HP Z6100ps From paper loading to job accounting to creating color ICC profiles this unit is exceptionally user friendly and its 575 foot roll and optional take up reel will allow for long unattended print runs that will be welcome in production environments Although it does not support printing on cut sheets the HP Z6100ps is a stand out performer that BLI highly recommends Two months including a 10 000 square foot durability test completed in BLI s dedicated product testing facilities For test protocol details see Test Procedures This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps STRENGTHS e Highly reliable only one jam recorded
29. stScript printing is available as well both are offered in 42 inch and 60 inch widths Although not configured on BLI s test unit monochrome and color scan and copy functionality are available with the HP Designjet 42 inch scanner A 42 inch take up reel is optionally available with the 42 inch printer for unattended document output It comes standard with the 60 inch printer O The unit comes with 256 MB of standard memory A 256 MB memory upgrade is available for the Z6100 ps printer This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps SECURITY FEATURES NOT RATED AUTHENTICATION o LDAP authentication J S eaaa e w OOOO that are registered on the machine Number of codes S Restrict usage of color NS Authenticated printing o do o Common Criteria Certification NO Digital user signature ooo Encrypted PDF mode encrypted scanning NO Hard drive encryption o Harddrivelock oo db o 5220 22 M standard psec Oi MAC address filtering o Password protected mailboxes NO Port disablement NS Removable hard drive ON Third
30. ted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps Black Print Productivity 12 Page D Size DWF Document Using the HP Z6100ps PostScript Driver Print Driver Quality Setting Actual Time Min Sec Calculated Pages Per Hour Fast 13 06 55 0 Normal Fast 15 51 45 4 Normal 24 42 29 1 Best 30 44 23 4 The 12 page DWF test file was printed using the plain paper grayscale setting of the HP Designjet Z6100ps PostScript driver The actual time indicated is the time it took to RIP image and deliver all pages of the test document to the collection bin 12 Page D Size DWF Document Using the HP Z6100ps HP GL 2 Driver Print Driver Quality Setting Actual Time Min Sec Calculated Pages Per Hour Fast 12 24 58 1 Normal Fast 15 32 46 4 Normal 24 25 29 5 Best 30 07 23 9 The 12 page DWF test file was printed using the plain paper grayscale setting of the HP Designjet Z6100ps HP GL 2 driver The actual time indicated is the time it took to RIP image and deliver all pages of the test document to the collection bin Print drivers default mode This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buye
31. ten permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW and O represent positive negative and neutral attributes respectively RELIABILITY EXCELLENT The HP Designjet Z6100ps is certified highly reliable by BLI completing a one month 10 000 square foot durability test experiencing only one jam with no service calls required EASE OF ASSEMBLY EXCELLENT The printer is very easy to install HP provides step by step assembly instructions in English Spanish and French A screwdriver and all screws needed for assembly are provided The printer is shipped upside down in the box Once the stand is assembled two people are needed to secure it to the bottom of the printer which is top facing in the box Three people are then required to rotate the printer 180 onto its stand BLI technicians prefer this method of assembly over lifting the printer out of the box and placing it on a stand The manual that is included with the printer provides step by step instructions for initially loading the eight ink cartridges and eight printheads which is an easy pro cess
32. the paper in use According to HP when this option is selected for either PostScript or PDF files the printer extracts the PANTONE defini tions from the file and matches them with the closest CMYK colors The PANTONE swatchbook feature available in the Web server allows users to create and print a swatchbook of any of thousands of PANTONE colors to see how the printer will reproduce these colors on the media in use Also included in the print out is a measure of the color difference delta E between the printed color and the original PANTONE spot color PRINT QUALITY Color Print Quality VERY GOOD The HP Designjet Z6100ps displayed extremely high ink densities on HP Instant Dry Photo Gloss paper at the default print driver setting On this paper the unit pro duced a very wide color gamut the widest observed to date by BLI for a wide format printer There was no visible loss in gamut size over the test period as measured by BLI s test instruments This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps Color photographs exhibited exce
33. tings can easily be modified The preview selection within the embedded Web server and in Easy Printer Care displays an accurate preview of the first page of the selected document Typically found on most wide format printers the nesting feature offers media sav ings when enabled It allows for smaller documents to print across the width of a page utilizing as much of the media s width as possible before cutting If the nesting of jobs hasn t completed a user is able to print the jobs that have already processed by pressing the Form Feed and Cut key on the printer s control panel There is a nesting wait time of two minutes preset on the control panel If no jobs arrive at the device during that time the jobs that have already accumulated will begin printing after that time interval This setting can be adjusted from one to 99 minutes O An account ID can be required for each job to keep records of printer ink and paper usage by different users This function is enabled in the settings tab of either Easy Printer Care or the Web utility Once this function is enabled all jobs will require an account ID which is entered in the print drivers Features tab If no ID is entered a job alert will be displayed from which a user can select Enter Account ID This is not a security feature because any user can enter any account ID name number and he she will not be restricted from printing in any way A list of users and or accoun
34. tly used jobs or use any of the preset shortcuts which include Photo Fine Art and CAD along with six others Paper size print quality and color management settings are the main selections available Once a combination of such settings is saved as a shortcut it is selectable with a single click of the mouse O When sending a non standard size document the paper size must first be set in the Paper Quality tab of the print driver BLI successfully printed a 10 foot PDF docu ment using these guidelines 129 inches is the maximum printable length indicated in the driver O There are four print quality settings from which to choose in each print driver Fast Normal Fast Normal and Best For higher quality photo papers a fifth option Max resolution is available These settings govern how much ink will be laid down on a particular stock how fast the job will print and ultimately the final print quality of the job The default quality setting for all media is Normal Fast When using standard bond and plain papers during this evaluation improved image quality and density were observed when the print quality was changed from Fast to Best in the print driver which was the expected outcome When printing on any of the three higher quality papers however this quality progression was not apparent There was no observable quality difference in documents that were printed using the Fast setting vs those printed using the Best setting on eith
35. ts cannot be pre configured Users can configure Easy Printer Care or the Web utility to send an e mail containing the account information to one or more specified e mail addresses E mail notification can be preset to take place between one to 60 days or after one to 500 jobs When jobs are printed using either printer driver and are then listed in the Job Queue after printing is completed they all display a quality setting of Normal even those that were printed at the Fast Normal Fast or Best setting The same jobs that are submitted through the embedded Web server however accurately display the Fast Normal Fast and Normal quality settings Jobs that are submitted using the Best set ting however have a quality setting displayed in the Queue as Null PRINT DRIVERS VERY GOOD Standard Windows print drivers for the Z6100ps printer include HP GL 2 HP RTL and PostScript which offer support for AutoCAD 200x and Citrix MetaFrame envi ronments In BLI s test the HP GL 2 and PostScript drivers were installed on a Win dows XP Professional platform Other compatible operating systems include Win dows 2000 and XP Home and a PostScript driver for Mac OS X v 10 2 8 10 3 and 10 4 is available as well The PostScript and HP GL 2 drivers are text based and very similar in layout which enhances ease of use in environments where both are used There are six tabs found within each driver Advanced Printing Shortcuts P
36. ty Diagram Density of black and color output is measured using an X Rite 428 Densitometer BLI utilizes each vendor s recommended premium media for high quality image assessment photographic image output and a generic 20 lb bond paper to assess the image quality of architectural diagrams and maps Buyers Laboratory inc Michael Danziger Lynn Nannariello Carl Schell Pete Emory CEO Asst Managing Editor Associate Editor Manager of Laboratory Testing Mark Lerch Marlene Orr Jamie Bsales Pia Beddiges COO Senior Printer Analyst Associate Editor Manager of Competitive Services Anthony F Polifrone Tracie Hines Lisa Reider Ken Nardone Managing Director Associate Editor Research Editor Technical Manager Field Testing Daria M Hoffman George Mikolay Marc Bussanich Anthony Marchesini Managing Editor Senior Associate Editor Technical Analyst IT Director T R Patrick Art Director 20 Railroad Avenue E Hackensack NJ O07601 E 201 488 0404 This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps RELIABILITY Service Calls Malfunctions Meter count beginning o
37. x17 or at info buyerslab com Q BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps Accounting Cost Assignments Tab HP provides very good diagnostic troubleshooting tools available in the Support tabs of both the embedded Web server and Easy Printer Care utility to address various printing problems In addition to increasing the print quality setting in the print driver which is always the primary recommendation HP offers printhead clean ing paper advance calibration procedures printhead alignment and color calibration procedures to remedy issues such as banding graininess poor line quality and inac curate color output The HP Designjet Z6100ps User Manual also provides additional troubleshooting suggestions for various print quality issues BoP oes Seger eS p p pe ey ET Easy Printer Care Support Tab This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc Any duplication of this report in whole or part in any form or manner without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc To purchase reprints contact BLI at 201 488 0404 x17 or at info buyerslab com Users are able to store jobs on the printer s hard drive using the embedded Web Lab Test Report HP Designjet 26100ps server Once stored they can be found on the server s Stored Jobs page Before jobs are reprinted their set
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