A printer is provided comprising a pagewidth inkjet printhead for printing bi-level dots of ink onto print media at a resolution of 800 to 1600 dpi and controllers for controlling the pagewidth inkjet printhead. Each controllers comprises a buffer for receiving and storing compressed page data, first and second decoders for respectively decoding compressed contone and bi-level image planes in the received compressed page data at a resolution of up to 320 ppi in each contone plane and 320 to 1600 dpi in each bi-level plane, a half-toner/compositor for halftoning the decoded contone planes and compositing the decoded bi-level planes over the halftoned contone planes to create a composite image, and a driver for outputting the composite image to the printhead. The controller is configured to send current page data to the decoders from the buffer whilst subsequent page data is received and stored in the buffer.