Stamatis Pagakis writes:
>Can the Codonics NP 1600 dye sublimation printer be used as
>standard b/w laser printer as well (using standard paper of course)?
>If so, is it still more expensive to run (using a color engine for
>a b/w job)? In other words, can the printer recognize the type of job
>and if it is a standard text file to act as a laser printer?
 
I know nothing about te Codonics in particular, but in general...
 
a dye-sublimation printer doesn't work like a laser printer at all.
It works in three or four passes (as colour laser printers or process
printing does, but differs in...), with a "ribbon" having an ink area
covering the full size of the page. The print head mechanically moves
across/down the page with a heating element being cycled to control the
amount of dye diffused at each pixel position on the page. Dye-sub is like
thermal-wax except:
    Thermal-wax mode uses dither patterns of pure CYM or K pixels, whereas
*each pixel* in the dye-sub process has its' own colour, depending on the
amount of each of CMY or K laid down at this position in the the four
passes.
 
The relevant point to this question though, is that the high cost per page
is (roughly) equally due to the expensive paper and the ribbon (one use
only). So no, you can't use them economically as an ordinary printer and
just use the proper paper for images. However the Primera does operate in
thermal-wax & dye-sub modes, so you have a choice in graphics quality.
 
In any case, while the diffuse nature of dye-sub 'pixels' helps produce the
photographic-like quality, it doesn't make for the sharp edges you want
with text.
 
cheers,
Danny Thomas