Ink jet printhead having four staggered rows of nozzles

A monochrome ink jet printhead having a high-density array of ink drop generators (165) capable of multi-mode operation. The printhead of the present invention includes the array of ink drop generators (165) arranged in at least three groups of nozzles (540, 550, 560) with each group staggered relative to each other. This staggered arrangement provides high print resolution at high speed. In addition, the multiple modes of operation provided by the present invention permits different print modes depending on the desired print speed, resolution and quality. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is capable of printing in a one-pass 1200 dpi mode at high speed, a two-pass 600 dpi mode high print quality and a one-pass 600 dpi mode at high speed. The present invention also includes a method of high-performance printing using the ink jet printhead of the present invention.