The three new ink jet printers Epson are offering are the WorkForce 600, WorkForce 500, WorkForce 40 and WorkForce 30. Epson has announced that these new ink jets are designed specifically to meet the needs of micro-businesses which it defines as businesses with fewer than five employees, including freelancers and home based small business owners.

The top of the range model is Epsons WorkForce 600, which they claim is twice as fast as competitors models priced under $199. The printer has laser quality black text at up to 27 ppm, and colour text at up to 19 ppm in the standard printing mode. The printer has similar features to the recently launched Artisan range, with an integrated 2.5 inch LCD tilting screen. A built in auto sheet feeder allows for the quick and easy scanning and copying of documents, and it can fax at speeds up to 3 seconds a page, even for colour documents. High volume printing is a major consideration in the design of the WorkForce 600 with it using the Epson extra high capacity black ink cartridges. US customers will be given a limited two year warranty and those who register the product will get free lifetime telephone support.

The WorkForce 500 ink jet printer is aimed at the micro-business that needs both high volume printing and good quality photo printing. Like the WorkForce 600 it has a thirty sheet document feeder and can print, copy, scan and fax. It also has a 2.5 inch screen which enables viewing and editing of images using Epsons built in PictBridge technology. PictBridge allows users to print directly from cameras without the need to use a computer. The camera is simply connected directly to the printer using a USB port and various editing options can be used via the integrated screen. The printer also has a number of built in memory slots to allow users to edit photographs directly from memory cards.

The WorkForce 40 is a single function printer without built-in scanning copying and faxing. Its primary function is as a high volume printer with high speed printing capabilities, which are twice as fast as current competitor models. Default printing options are for 27 ppm black text and 19 ppm colour prints. The printer can operate in wired mode and also wirelessly.

The WorkForce 30 is similar to the Workforce 40 with 27 ppm laser quality black text but only 11 ppm colour text. It includes a black cartridge system that uses dual black ink to produce twice as much black printing.

All of the WorkForce printer range are Energy Star compliant providing energy cost savings of up to three times in comparison to a standard laser printer. The printers also have a money saving cartridge arrangement, with individual colour cartridges so that only the specific cartridge that has been exhausted need be replaced. All of the printers use Epsons DURABrite Ultra Ink which is designed to be both water and smudge resistant with laser quality images. The ink also has improved fade resistant technology.

All of the models are now available in the US and will be hitting stores world-wide soon.