Difference between HP Model Names

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard Steinfeld
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Richard Steinfeld

Hi, Bob and everyone with HP knowledge.

HP has used different series names for their inkjet printers. I'd
appreciate being told what these words really mean. For example, there are:

Deskjet
My 970c marked "Professional Series"
Officejet
DeskWriter
Business Inkjet
Thinkjet
(and whatever I forgot)

In the case of my "Professional Series" printer, it looks just like my
Deskjet 940c. Bob's said that it's faster. Is that it?

In a field that I'm familiar with, audio, when the word "professional"
is written on the front panel of a product, this is an instant red flag
that not only is the product _not_ capable of professional use, but even
worse, that it's a flimsy piece of junk. For example, I acquired a
cassette deck at my favorite thrift shop that I only use for automatic
spoken-word radio program recording. It's a Radio Shack product --
absolute bottom of the barrel. It's marked "professional." It was the
only RS cassette model that year that was marked "professional." This is
fairly typical.

Is this the same with printers?
 
[This followup was posted to comp.periphs.printers and a copy was sent
to the cited author.]

Hi, Bob and everyone with HP knowledge.

HP has used different series names for their inkjet printers. I'd
appreciate being told what these words really mean. For example, there are:

Deskjet
My 970c marked "Professional Series"
Officejet
DeskWriter
Business Inkjet
Thinkjet
(and whatever I forgot)

In the case of my "Professional Series" printer, it looks just like my
Deskjet 940c. Bob's said that it's faster. Is that it?
Click to expand...

The 940 and 970 were basically the same, but the 970 was faster and
rated for higher use. I'm don't remember if it's the 940 that was host-
based or not. The 970 was full-featured, and you could send text, PCL,
and HPGL to it. Host-based usually only understands some low-level
graphic commands, and maybe could to basic 10cpi text. The print driver
did all the fancy work.

Much of the naming is marketing. OfficeJet's are usually multi-function
and typically include fax. The software often includes more business
oriented junk and you can get basic feature drivers, and it's usually
more network and Citrix friendly. Home-oriented devices include home-
oriented junk (picture management software, etc..)

ThinkJet's were the original inkjets. DeskWriter's were just DeskJet's
designed for the Mac (serial interface instead of parallel.)

The Business Inkjet's were rated for heavier use, and I think used
separate heads and ink tanks. They were also very fast.

You forgot 'PhotoSmart', which usually just include some card reader
slots and maybe an LCD preview screen.

The underlying engine for many models is often the same. Just look at
the cartridges used. Often, speed differences for the same engine (the
940 and 970 are the same engine) is pretty much just firmware
programming and nothing to do with different parts or tolerances.
 
HP has used different series names for their inkjet printers. I'd
appreciate being told what these words really mean. For example, there
are:

DeskJet
My 970c marked "Professional Series"
Officejet
DeskWriter
Business Inkjet
Thinkjet
(and whatever I forgot)
Click to expand...

The Thinkjet was HP's first consumer inkjet printer, introduced in 1984. It
was a mono printer, and the competition was dot matrix printers.
The Quietjet (wide carriage) and Paintjet (color) were later models based on
this technology. Later the DeskJet series was introduced, starting in about
1988. At some point (Maybe 1993?) the DeskJet line diverged a bit, with
lower performance models such as the 600 series and higher end office models
such as the DeskJet 1200 and 1600. Eventually HP gave the "Professional
Series" designation to the higher end models, which were based on a
different printhead technology the the older 600 series. These printers
were designed for higher duty cycles and gave better speed and print
quality. These started with 800 series Deskjets, followed by the 900 series
Deskjets. Eventually the prices for the Professional series dropped, and
customer expectations for even low end machines were raised in terms of
image quality and speed that HP dropped the "professional series"
designation. The DeskJet series continues, with models ranging from very
low end to units rated at 5K pages per month and print speeds above 30PPM.

The Business Inkjet series is based on a different technology, with separate
printheads and ink tanks. They also have individually replaceable colors
(like the DeskJet 1200 and 1600 a decade earlier...). These units were
aimed at business applications, with higher cost printers generally rated at
higher speeds and duty cycles than most of the Deskjets.

The Officejet printers are all-in-one units with printing, scanning, copying
and possibly fax functions. The lower end counterparts for consumers were
the PSC (print, scan, copy and sometimes fax) units.

The Photosmart printer line started with a dedicated six ink photo printer.
Later additional features such as card readers and LCD screens were added.
Eventually the photo printing capabilities of the DeskJet and Business
Inkjet models improved to the point where nearly all models were photo
printers. Currently most HP all-in-one printers are Photosmart branded.

Officejet and Photosmart printers were generally built from a printing
mechanism based on DeskJet or Business Inkjet printers.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
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