Showing posts with label Toshiba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toshiba. Show all posts

LeanPrint Reduces Ink Use by 40 Percent


On Monday, March 5 Adobe announced a new service that is designed to reduce the amount of ink used when printing. It is being called LeanPrint.

According to Adobe, LeanPrint will save up to 40 percent of the toner that would normally be used when printing something. It is able to do this in certain modes like “SuperSaver” and “TonerSaver.” The basic idea of LeanPrint is that it will work to squeeze more onto a page and reduce the amount of toner used on prints that use a lot of ink. This will help to not only save on ink but paper as well.

Now, when you think about it, this new software seems like it would be undermining printer company’s plans to sell you a cheap printer that must be replaced with expensive toner when the ink runs out; however, Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) is the first printer maker to endorse and promote the new LeanPrint software. According to Adobe, Toshiba will be available to distribute LeanPrint to its customers across the continent.

Adobe said that LeanPrint is targeting both large companies as well as individuals. Those who are interested must purchase a license from a company that is partnering with Adobe, like Toshiba. Customers can either sign up for a 30-day free trial or pay $99 for a one-year subscription.

"Adobe has always prided itself on environmentally conscious behavior, from its LEED Platinum certified buildings to its carbon offsets," said Raman Nagpal, the senior director and general manager of Adobe Print and Scan Business. "With LeanPrint, we are bringing together our commitment to the environment and a deep understanding of the print industry to further drive down printing costs. Adobe is excited to launch LeanPrint with a like-minded company like Toshiba, who will help distribute this technology throughout North America."

All of this news is not good for printer companies like HP. During a second quarter conference call, the chief executive of HP, Meg Whitman, discussed the current shift of corporations and individual consumers towards printing less.

"We faced a number of challenges and the printing market is more mature and more mature markets tend to be governed more by macroeconomic forces," Whitman said. "I am convinced that a number of our challenges do relate to the macroeconomic challenges, weak consumer demand, weak small office, home office demand. The sell-through of ink in particular is at pretty low levels and it's not just our ink, it's industry ink."

This really could pose an issue to printer companies in the near future; however, it also might help to reduce the inflated pricing of toner. It will be interesting to see how printer companies react.

Sources: PCMag - Adobe 'LeanPrint' Claims to Cut Ink Use by 40 Percent and Tom's Guide - Adobe Releases LeanPrint Software to Save on Ink, Paper


Toshiba Introduces Tiny Enterprise Hard Drives

Toshiba MK01GRRBToshiba's Storage Products Business Unit has just announced a high-capacity 2.5" high-performance enterprise-class drive. Known as the Toshiba MK01GRRB/R series, this drive supports the exacting requirements for compute-intensive environments witha 15,000 RPM spin speed, a 6Gb/s SAS interface and a maximum capacity of 300GB1. In addition to that, this drive also offers drive-based encryption in order to help companies manage data security.

According to Vice President of Marketing at Toshiba's Storage Products Business Unit Joel Hagberg, "Enterprise customers are increasingly satisfying their performance and capacity needs with power efficient small form factor drives. Enterprise drives with the latest self-encryption features are helping data centers to more cost-effectively achieve compliance with information security mandates. Toshiba small form factor enterprise drives deliver the performance, capacity and security features IT administrators require for today's mission critical server storage and cloud appliance markets."

The third-generation 2.5-inch 15,000 RPM enterprise drives leverage an enhanced power condition state that reduces the spin of your hard drive in idle states. In addition to that, it also significantly lowers power consumption which also means lower heat dissipation, increasing system stability and less energy usage. As a part of Toshiba's commitment to improved security, this drive also features self-encryption technology that is designed for the Trusted Computing Group "Enterprise SSC" specification.

According to John Rydning, IDC's Research Vice President for Hard Disk Drives, "Increasing the capacity of the 2.5-inch enterprise class HDDs is expanding the market opportunity for this form factor given its inherent power and data density advantages as compared to 3.5-inch models. Toshiba's new MK01GRRB/R series drives give server and storage system customers the capacity they want with the performance they need, as well as the ability to secure data on the drive with Toshiba's SED technology option." Shipments of the Toshiba MK01GRRB/R Series are scheduled to begin in volume in Q1 2012.

Source: Engadget - Toshiba introduces tine enterprise hard drives with big speed and big storage


Computers for Windows 7

Computers for Windows 7
The long awaited Windows 7 operating system is here and rumor has it, Microsoft will soon announce several new computers that are designed specifically to run the new OS. However, several computer manufacturers have beat Microsoft to the punch by releasing information about their own new models that will feature Windows 7. Several of them are specially designed to use the OS's touch-screen features.

Hewlett-Packard has four new computers, all with touch-screens. The cheapest of the bunch is the TouchSmart 300, a 20 inch screen desktop that will retail around $900. Next is the TouchSmart 600, also a desktop, sporting a 23-inch screen, and that will sell for about $1,100 (though for $500 more, you can get the version that is able to show video at 1080p resolution). For those not looking for a desktop, there is the TouchSmart tx2 - a tablet computer that will start around $800. And if you happen to be looking for 42-inch touch screen, the $2,800 LD4200tm is your computer.

If you're looking for super-cheap, Compaq (owned by Hewlett-Packard) will be releasing the CQ61z laptop, a 15-inch screen notebook. It doesn't have a touchscreen but it will sell for $399 until right around Christmastime when the price is expected to rise to $499.

Toshiba will release two new Satellite laptops, both with touch-screens. The M505 has a 14-inch screen and should sell for around $950, while the U505 13-inch screen with a "textured finish" will sell for about $1,050.