PaintJet

Code named "Squirt", the PaintJet was HP's first colour printer. The PaintJet had many limitations: it required special paper, its print cartridges required "priming and wiping" (with a pump and brush supplied with the product), its paper advance mechanism required a special size paper, in many regions it could not produce acceptable transparencies because of its limited operating humidity range (+20% to +50% RH). The PaintJet also had many strengths. It was fast with good print quality (180dpi). Unlike pen plotters, the PaintJet could print both text and colour graphics quickly on the same page. It printed transparencies using the same print cartridges used to print paper output. For the first time, the PaintJet offered users the ability to quickly and cheaply print high quality raster images. It would be another four years before HP produced a printer capable of higher quality colour output.