DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY NEWS

Epson Introduces "Artisan" Line of Premium Inkjet All-In-One Printers

NEW FLAGSHIP LINE OF PREMIUM INK JET ALL-IN-ONES THAT COMBINE POWER AND PERFORMANCE WITH SLEEK AND CHIC STYLING

The Artisan 800 and Artisan 700 are Advanced Yet Easy to Use All-in-Ones That Enable Users to Express Their Creativity in Virtually all of Their Printing Tasks

LONG BEACH, Calif., Aug. 27, 2008 /PRNewswire/ — Epson America Inc. today introduced the Artisan™ 800 and Artisan 700, two new all-in-ones that are likely to become the envy of the industry based on their superb performance, highly sought-after features and stylish piano black finish. The Artisan series is perfect for the modern household where many users can share a single product and fits well in a living room or home office environment.

"The Artisan series basically gives users everything but the kitchen sink in terms of features and performance," said Steve Semos, product manager, consumer ink jets, Epson America Inc. "More importantly, these benefits enable users to express their creative side in ways never before imagined. At Epson we've built our reputation on giving our customers the industry's best image quality, and this flagship line is a key milestone in that tradition."

Beyond its creative applications, the premium Artisan 800 features Wi-Fi®, Fax, an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), and Ultra Hi-Definition photos. Its elegant 7.8" smart touch panel and 3.5" LCD lights up only the buttons necessary that brings essential controls to users' fingertips for easy selecting, copying, enlarging, rotating, cropping, and printing photos all without a computer. The Artisan 800 also has the exclusive ability to turn photos or drawings into personalized coloring book pages and make personal notepaper with a photo as a background.

Epson provides additional value to Artisan customers with its new Epson Preferred(SM) program, which includes a two-year limited warranty, toll-free telephone support, access to the exclusive MyEpson.com Web site that features a series of online tutorial videos, and more¹. Registered Artisan owners also receive, free lifetime phone support with no additional charges, even beyond the warranty.

Both the Artisan 800 and 700 feature six-color Ultra Hi-Definition Claria ink to create vivid, true-to-life photos with smudge, scratch and water resistance², as well as fade resistance up to four times longer than photo lab prints³. Working in tandem with Claria ink, the "smart nozzles" in Epson's exclusive MicroPiezo® print head with DX5™ technology deliver up to five ink droplet sizes, as small as 1.5 picoliters, producing smooth gradations, accurate skin tones and sharp, grain-free prints.

Both models feature Epson's auto photo correction technology. This intuitive feature allows users to preview corrections on the built-in LCD to ensure the very best prints, rescuing photos that they might have otherwise passed over or discarded. Users can also remove red eye from their photos automatically.

Other useful features on the Artisan 800 and 700 include turning plain paper into college-ruled, wide-ruled and graph school paper, and creating photo layouts with various size photos on a single sheet of paper. Users can even print and copy images directly onto ink jet printable CDs and DVDs.

Both Artisan models complete printing tasks faster than competitive printers in their class, producing prints and copies in black and color in up to 38 pages per minute (ppm), 4" x 6" photos in as fast as 10 seconds, and an 8" x 10" in as fast as 50 seconds⁴. The Artisan 800 adds full-featured, high-speed fax with a 30-page Automatic Document Feeder for copying, scanning and faxing stacks of documents effortlessly.

Standing a mere 5.9" tall in a sleek, compact design with an easy-to-view tilt 2.5" LCD, the Artisan 700 offers outstanding features and functionality inherent in the series for everyday printing, copying and scanning, making it the ideal solution for a range of personal and creative needs that don't require faxing. Additional features and performance in the Artisan series include:

• Full-Featured Scanning and Copying: The Artisan 800 features 4800 dpi resolution (48-bit color) and the Artisan 700 features 2400 dpi resolution (48-bit color), for high quality scanning of images and documents with brilliant clarity and accuracy. Both all-in-ones also offer standalone, one-touch color and black and white copying with a wide range of easy-to-use options such as the ability to scan to a computer, memory card or USB flash drive, easy photo reprints and enlargements up to 400 percent, and a convenient fit-to-page printing feature. They even offer background removal for crisp, clean copies of text documents. Both models include OCR software for converting documents into text users can edit.
  
  
• Standalone Photo Capabilities: Both Artisan models have card slots that are compatible with all popular memory card types⁵ for printing photos without a computer or transferring files to or from a computer. Plus, users can print directly from a digital camera or mobile phone with the PictBridge® connection. Additional photo printing options include print-by-date, custom picture packages, photo index sheets, and passport and photo IDs.
  
  
• Restore Faded Photos: Both Artisan all-in-ones can easily restore color to old, faded photos with or without using a computer.
  
  
• Creativity Made Simple: Included software allows users to create and print personalized CDs/DVDs, greeting cards, elegant invitations, beautiful photo calendars, photo books, and more.
  
  
• Shared Use at Home: Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking are built in for sharing with all users in the home. An optional Bluetooth® photo print adapter is also available for printing from cell phones and other mobile devices.
  
  
• Flexible Paper Handling: Both models print borderless photos in popular sizes, including 4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", and letter. They also feature a paper cassette with two paper trays that eliminate the need to switch between plain and photo paper. In addition, two-sided printing is built-in and can be automated with an optional duplexer⁶.
  
  
• Smart Ink System: The Artisan series feature convenient individual ink cartridges that can be changed in as little as five seconds and replace only the color needed. In addition, innovative technology conveniently combines color inks to produce black when black ink is low to extend printing. Cartridges are available in two sizes to match users' printing needs.

Artisan Series Pricing and Availability

With an estimated street price of $299.99 (Artisan 800) and $199.99 (Artisan 700), these products offer an array of features, benefits and services that consumers have never before experienced. The Artisan 800 and 700 are currently available for "pre-order" for a limited time online through Amazon.com, BestBuy.com and OfficeMax.com. In addition, both all-in-ones will be available in September 2008 through major computer, office and electronic superstores, a variety of retail stores nationwide, mail order, PC manufacturers, the Internet, and Epson's own retail site, www.epsonstore.com.

About Epson America Inc.

Epson offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the consumer, business, photography, and graphic arts markets. The company is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) printers and transaction terminals for the retail market. Founded in 1975, Epson America Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, a global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality technology products that meet customer demands for increased functionality, compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency. Epson America Inc. is headquartered in Long Beach, Calif.

Note: Specifications are subject to change. Epson, MicroPiezo and BorderFree are registered trademarks and Claria is a trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation. Artisan is a trademark and Epson Preferred is a service mark of Epson America, Inc. All other product and brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks.

¹One-year limited warranty to all purchasers; toll-free support and second-year warranty require registration within 60 days of purchase. With registration, Epson provides phone support without charge for the life of the product. Telephone toll charges may apply. Offer valid only in the United States.

²Water resistance on Epson Glossy Papers, Epson Matte Papers and plain papers, when using genuine Epson inks.

³Ink fade resistance ratings based on accelerated testing of unframed color prints on plain paper in indoor display conditions; claim that documents resist fading up to four times longer is based on accelerated testing of unframed color prints on plain paper in indoor display conditions. Actual print stability will vary according to light intensity, temperature, humidity, and other factors. Epson does not guarantee the longevity of prints. See www.wilhelm-research.com.

⁴PPM/CPM speeds measured after first page, based on black and color text patterns in Draft Mode on plain paper. Color photo in Draft Mode on Premium Photo Paper Glossy measured from start of paper feed. Additional print time will vary based on system configuration, software application and page complexity. See www.epson.com/printspeed for more information about print speeds.

⁵Adapter required for MiniSD™, MicroSD™, Mini DHC™, MicroSDHC™, Memory Stick Duo™, Memory Stick PRO Duo™, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™, Memory Stick Micro (M2) ™, MMCmobile™, and MMCmicro™.

⁶Two-sided printing available on the Macintosh® only with the optional duplexer.

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