Tektronix To Unveil New Color Printer

Tektronix Inc. plans to introduce a new color printer for personal computers Monday that uses solid ink sticks rather than liquid in hopes of making printing faster.

The company said its “Phaser 340” will not require special paper to print high-resolution color text and graphics.

“You can write on just about anything - rice paper or Christmas cards or your letterhead or just about anything,” said Roy Barker, president of the company’s printer division. “You can hand feed all kinds of strange sorts of stuff through it and get great results.”

The new printer uses solid ink sticks that are dropped into the machine as easily as replacing staples in a stapler, Barker said.

“They’re like Crayolas. They look kind of like a crayon, the same consistency,” he said.

“There are no throwaway heads or anything else. You just consume the crayons.”