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I just hear about the Astro M1 today from a client who is going to buy one as soonas they are available! DPI is 1600x1600 and the speed is 3,600 per hour or 60 per minute.

This is a printer only capable of letter, and maybe legal, however it can also run labels, and envelopes and maybe a few other items. As of this time there is no cost per page available, nor is there a cost for the inks. There MSRP is $14,995 and pre-orders are for $13,995. Color is better than the Riso ComCOLOR (so I'm told) and images better also (so I'm told), the comCOLOR is only 300DPI,and thier printer version of A4 clocks in at $35K (so I'm told). I haven't seen any samples, I have a couple of video's which I'll try and post.

Would like to hear from others about this technology and what it means for us. Here's the link for the brochure.

http://www.astromachine.com/pdf/printers/m1.pdf
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The speed is definitely impressive. I too would like to know how this clocks in for cost of consumables and the ink's scuff resistance- especially for mailing applications.

I would have to see some samples to judge the print quality, but there are many companies who aren't too concerned about that when it comes to statement printing and certain direct mail campaigns.

Either way, I am sure there is a large enough market for it to be a successful product.
This is pretty impressive, but has been around for several years. There have to be significant issues that have prevented adoption. I suspect that clogged nozzles are a really expensive problem for intermittent use machines, and imagine the level of ink wasted keeping them fresh. Folks throw a fit about a $600 print head for a Canon plotter and it's guaranteed for a year. I see a limited market for this.
I see these types of products making a serious impact on our business. From what I see from the video, I can't remember ever seeing a color laser that would be able to output documents that fast, especially with the envelope output. It's the tip of the iceberg with probably faster products to come down the road.

Potential Users:

Churches
Colleges
CRD's
Print Shops

Anyone else care to add to the list of potential markets?

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