Kodak printer gives images protective coat; aimed at pre-press, presentation markets. (XLS 8600 PS dye-sublimation printer) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)

This week's Seybold San Francisco will be the stage for Eastman Kodak Co.'s debut of the Kodak XLS 8600 PS, a $9,995 dye-sublimation printer that is three to five times faster than its predecessor and can print full-bleed letter-size images with a protective coating.

Based on a proprietary engine, the printer uses a 33-MHz MIPS Technologies Inc. RISC processor and a PostScript Level 2 controller. It comes standard with 32 Mbytes of RAM and can be expanded to 64 Mbytes of RAM.

Kodak is aiming the 8600 PS at the business presentation, pre-press proofing and scientific imaging markets. The 300-dpi printer has a maximum imaging area of 8.5 by 12 inches when printed on 9.5-by-14-inch coated paper. It can print a nonlaminated CMY page in 1 minute, 20 seconds and a transparency in 3 minutes. The company said these times are more than three times the speed of the XLS 8300, the model the 8600 PS replaces.

In addition to using traditional color dye-sub ribbons, the printer accepts Kodak's new XtraLife ribbons, which coat the colors on the paper or transparency medium with a protective polymer. According to Kodak, this ribbon technology is twice as resistant to fading from exposure to sunlight as other dye-sub prints and resists fingerprint damage. Unlike other dye-sub output, these laminated prints ...