With ink cartridge prices as crazy as they are, sometimes it’s just worth buying a new printer. The future is thus in inkless printing. Thankfully for Polaroid, we’re onto something.

Polaroid Research Labs has developed a technology that uses heat pressure on a certain kind of paper to produce the patterned colors we want out of printers. A company called Zink has jumped on that and has come out with inkless printers.

Not needing cartridges, heaters, ink reservoirs or even moving parts comes at a huge advantage i.e. these printers can be sized into much smaller proportions. Also in terms of printing time, these printers are reportedly 4 to 10 times faster than their ink jet counterparts.

First of all, let’s look at the paper; that’s where the secret lies. Each sheet is imprinted with three crystalline layers - yellow, magenta and blue. These colors will only become visible when a certain heat temperature is reached. As the recurring costs of printing is moved to the paper itself, this will become a much cheaper option. Zink has also claimed that they can manufacture paper at a cheaper cost then regular paper and ink. (Click on the thumbnail for a larger image)

As the printers are cut down in size, Zink has managed to fit them into digital cameras too. As of date, Zink is coming out with two products. The first is a small standalone printer retailed at $199, and the other is a camera with a built in inkless printer for 2 x 3 pictures or 4 x 6 printing capability (Price is TBD).

Product [Zink] Via [Crave]