Straight from Japan came the PrePeat, a printing system that could potentially change the printer industry. No ink or toner is required, just specially-formulated reusable paper. A development that was unveiled a couple of months ago, during the Eco-Products 2009 convention, the PrePeat is basically a thermal printer that can “rewrite” on the special paper a 1000 times.
Not relying on consumables will definitely reduce operating costs, but the estimated 500,000 yen price point (currently $5,605.5) may turn off customers. The resuable paper is available in lots of one-thousand, and costs 300 yen a piece ($3.36) according to the video above, but “0.3 yen” according to the product page. It’s a bit hard to translate the “Engrish”, but the paper also seems very water-resistant, and will retain the print even when submerged in water.
Developer Sanwa Newtec seems aware that the PrePeat’s pricing puts it beyond the reach of the consumer market, and through a representative confirmed that they’re simply targeting “large companies that use a lot of paper media”. Perhaps they should come out with a color-printing system well, to appeal to creative agencies?










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i really think this write is amazing. no ink and it uses this paper which can be used like a thousand times. i love it.
RP-3100 II: La stampante che reclicla la carta…
RP-3100 II: La stampante che reclicla la carta…
830 days ago
[...] This just blew my mind- a thermal printer that uses no ink and is able to re-write using special paper. Sadly, the $5K+ price point simply won’t do! Maybe if this catches on, they’ll drop this thing into the low hundreds. Source [...]