A printhead system to reduce peak energy usage, the printhead system comprising: a printhead including an expansion mask being a selective choice of a pattern used to fill a pixel and a plurality of primitives, a primitive being a group of nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) on the printhead, where the printhead has the electrical capability to fire a limited number of nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) per primitive at any instant in time, and each nozzle (150-1 - 155-5) in a primitive being given an address; and a printhead control module configured to control an electrical frequency at which nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) are fired as the printhead prints on the print media such that the electrical frequency is twice a fluidic frequency of any given nozzle to increase printed pixel resolution, the fluidic frequency referring to how often a single nozzle is fired as the printhead prints on the print media, limit the number of droplets that is fired in each pixel to 50% of the electrical opportunities to fire drops into a pixel so as to reduce peak pixel fill density for print media, and control the printhead such that all addresses on the printhead that share electrical power routing lines do not fire at the same time so that all the nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) with a same address generally disposed in a column do not fire at the same time. a printhead including an expansion mask being a selective choice of a pattern used to fill a pixel and a plurality of primitives, a primitive being a group of nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) on the printhead, where the printhead has the electrical capability to fire a limited number of nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) per primitive at any instant in time, and each nozzle (150-1 - 155-5) in a primitive being given an address; and a printhead control module configured to control an electrical frequency at which nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) are fired as the printhead prints on the print media such that the electrical frequency is twice a fluidic frequency of any given nozzle to increase printed pixel resolution, the fluidic frequency referring to how often a single nozzle is fired as the printhead prints on the print media, limit the number of droplets that is fired in each pixel to 50% of the electrical opportunities to fire drops into a pixel so as to reduce peak pixel fill density for print media, and control the printhead such that all addresses on the printhead that share electrical power routing lines do not fire at the same time so that all the nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) with a same address generally disposed in a column do not fire at the same time. control an electrical frequency at which nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) are fired as the printhead prints on the print media such that the electrical frequency is twice a fluidic frequency of any given nozzle to increase printed pixel resolution, the fluidic frequency referring to how often a single nozzle is fired as the printhead prints on the print media, limit the number of droplets that is fired in each pixel to 50% of the electrical opportunities to fire drops into a pixel so as to reduce peak pixel fill density for print media, and control the printhead such that all addresses on the printhead that share electrical power routing lines do not fire at the same time so that all the nozzles (150-1 - 155-5) with a same address generally disposed in a column do not fire at the same time.