As the demand for laser printing has been increasing steadily in recent years due to increased e-Learning activities, the Computing Services Centre (CSC) has planned to implement supplementary laser printing service for students in Semester A (Ref: Network Computing Issue 49 - September 2006). After testing the acquired printing solution for a period of time, the CSC announced the new fast printing service to all students on Jan 31 2007. This charged service is a supplement to the existing quota-based printing service to meet the following purposes:

1. Provides self-service printing in both Colour and in Black & White
2. Supports high-volume printing at fast speed
3. Provides low-cost printing when the allocated print quota is used up

The new printer is placed in front of the Service Counter. It supports both black & white and colour laser printing. Users can use the fast printer by submitting print jobs from any PC in the CSC Teaching Studios or the Library’s Information Space. The print jobs will queue up in the system and be printed only when their owners release them at the release station that is placed next to the printer. For security reasons, users have to key in their personal EID/password at the release station to release (i.e., to activate the printer for) their print jobs. The fast printing service is charged at the following rates and payment must be made by a Octopus Card:

- black & white printing – $0.3 per page
- colour printing – $3.0 per page
 

After launching the fast printing service for about two months, we see that it is well received by users based on the usage statistics. There is indeed such a need and we will continue to monitor and fine-tune the service for further improvement.

Users may read the posters and guidelines posted on the notice board and the printer for details of the fast printing service. More information (including policies, guidelines etc.) can be found at the following FAQ website: