The year of 2013 has come to an end. It was full of interesting events and pleasant surprises. However, according to specialists, no breakthrough technologies have been invented in the printing industry. Yet the year has its significant achievements: the last years’ technologies are now broadly available for users.

Inkjets became better than lasers. It was not true until this year, and it can be applied both for home and small office devices as well as for heavy-printing workgroups machines (thanks to the HP Officejet Pro X576dw, which print speed is laser-like). For example, in SOHO segment the color inkjet MFPs with scanning and copying capabilities can be found under the price of $100 with the high quality of color printing and reasonable operating cost. At the same time laser devices under this price produce only average-quality monochrome printouts.

This year wireless technologies and NFC were broadly implemented in ordinary machines for home use. Now wireless printing from a mobile, tablet or smartphone is almost an obligatory function in any new model of printer. HP has even launched special devices, designed to provide wireless printing to its former models (HP 1200w Mobile Print accessory).

The most adorable changes have touched the 3D printing segment. 3D printers penetrated many areas of everyday life: from printing food and cake decorations to printing toys and interior décor, and entered the general market with the significantly lower costs. Recently HP has announced of launching new technology based 3D printers in summer 2014, which will be more cost-efficient and speedy. We’ll be waiting for the new year the more delightful news to bring!