Formlabs' second-gen pro 3D printer is 50 percent faster
Formlabs' Form1 was a top dog among 3D printers when it first shipped, but others have stepped up their game in the past year. It's about time for an upgrade, don't you think? Appropriately, the company has just unveiled the Form1+ …
Context & Ripple Effects
Formlabs' original Form1 shipped into a desktop professional 3D-printing market where it was regarded as the machine to beat, but the competitive ground shifted over the following year — Engadget's framing, echoed in the company's own launch materials, is that rivals caught up and forced this refresh.
The Form1+ is Formlabs' first-generation answer to that pressure, led by a claimed 50 percent speed improvement. Same-day pickups across eight outlets including Gigaom, PC Magazine, Computerworld and TCT show the announcement traveled unusually widely for a desktop-SLA refresh, a signal the category had enough buyers watching by mid-2014.
First-order effects
- Formlabs buyers get a materially faster desktop resin printer, directly attacking the longest-standing complaint about stereolithography — build time — while existing Form1 owners face an upgrade-or-wait decision.
Second-order effects
- The competitors whose machines eroded the Form1's lead now have to respond on speed specifically, since a 50 percent claim resets the comparison table reviewers and prosumers use to rank desktop SLA hardware.
Third-order effects
- If each generation keeps trading resolution gains for throughput gains, desktop resin printing consolidates its position as a rapid-iteration prototyping tool for professionals rather than a hobbyist curiosity — pushing incumbents and startups alike to compete on cycle time.
The trend: Desktop stereolithography is entering a spec-race phase in which print speed, not just resolution, becomes the headline differentiator between generations.