The small print

Pro

1 April 2005

Small businesses and home workers are starting to swap out their printers and copiers for all-in-one devices that ultimately take up less office space. Market research firm IDC figures show a growth of the market for MFDs in Ireland from 2003 to 2004 of 17 per cent. With such strong growth, the manufacturers are trying to fill the need with a variety of options. Three in one MFDs that encompass scanner, copier and printer are common but four-in-one scanner copier, printer and fax are now widely available. However, most of the four-in-one units do not have a telephone handset and
so can send and receive faxes but cannot handle voice calls.

Greg Tierney, product marketing manager with Dell Ireland, recognises the strength of the market. ‘With entry level inkjet MFDs available from €74, what small business would not consider a multifunction device?’ But as Tierney also points out, these devices are not aimed exclusively at the traditional document printing: ‘A major growth area is photo printing for the small or home office.’
With laser and inkjet print MFDs available, there are variations in performance and consequently intended use. ‘With entry-level devices, you do get some limitations for colour,’ notes Tierney.

However where pure photo printing is not required, businesses
are taking advantage of cheaper colour print processes and the improvements in performance, especially on plain paper, making mixed media documents easy and economic to produce.

For this Best Buy, the test criteria replicated a fairly typical usage routine for the MFD in an office environment. Tests were based around timed print, scan and copy runs for plain documents, including a two-page mixed content black and white document and a 10-page text document. A colour 300dpi JPEG and a full detail TIFF
capture tested the colour photo capabilities; a 2 by 2in photo was used for scans. Mixed content HTML web pages were also printed to round out the tests.

Samsung SCX-4216F
Price: €428

The Samsung is a nicely packaged piece of kit. Being a four-in-one, it does quite a lot in a neat package but is quite heavy. Despite that, it is very quiet and would not disturb you while it works away on your desk. Set up was smooth, the only thing worthy of note being that a USB connection had to be specified to the TWAIN
software, which was supplied. What was not supplied was either a USB cable. Why, when paying this much for a device, would it not be included? Alas, this is fairly typical with printers.

Being a laser printer, the Samsung did not print colour, but it did provide colour scanning and faxing up to 24bit. The print resolution of 600 by 600dpi means high quality in scans and printing. The zoom function of up to 400 per cent would also be of benefit in pure copier mode. Printed text was crisp and near perfect as one would
expect from a laser printer. And while that quality carried through to the copying aspect, copies are almost always of a lesser quality than originals. However, the fax quality certainly benefits from the printer capabilities. The menus accessed through the LCD screen are laid out such that the basic functionality is easily accessible
without reference to the manual — a sure sign of good ergonomic design.

The Samsung is one of those deceptively simple devices. It does a lot without any drama so it is destined to be an unsung workhorse.

Canon SmartBase MP370
Price: €222

The Canon MP370 takes its styling cues from the home appliance market. Sporting black and metallic greys, it definitely does not take the beige box approach. Sleeker and small, it has a neat footprint for easy desk placement. However, the space saving may be at the expense of fax capabilities.

The software bundle is impressive boasting PhotoStudio for photo printing, which the MP370 is easily capable of, aided by the addition of PictBridge technology for direct camera printing. Though photo quality on plain paper suffered slightly, the glossy prints were excellent. In mixed modes on plain paper, the performance was better. An inkjet based machine, it prints full colour boasting 24/48 bit modes with separate colour and black cartridges. Speeds were competitive in normal settings for colour and mono.

The interface is very good with basic navigation trouble free. Mode buttons let you easily select the operation, with the copy buttons labelled for mono and colour to make things easier. Scan speeds for full A4 colour were impressive, as were the results, at 300dpi. Mono
scans were even better with crisp fonts and preserved white spaces.

Despite the lack of fax capabilities, this is no stopgap machine. The office documents are crisp and the colour capability is more than worthwhile. The MP370 is an affordable alternative to laser based machines.

Olivetti Jobjet M400
Price: €399

The M400 is a good package, employing HP parts internally. The M400 enjoys many of the same features as the HP model tested here including a sheet feeder and multi-language console fascias. Though not as highly featured as the HP on test, the Olivetti
still shows very well with print speeds of 19 pages per minute for mono in draft modes. Print quality was very good with documents appearing crisp for an inkjet with little evidence of feathering characteristic of the print process. Scan speeds are particularly competitive for the M400 and the quality too was very good particularly in full colour. The scan speed translates into fax performance too and the M400 has a 33.6Kbit/sec fax transmission.

The document feeder is good but its capacity is a little low for the office environment, but this minor shortcoming is mitigated by features like the 25 to 400 per cent enlargement capability. While unlikely to set the world afire, the Olivetti is a good performer at a reasonable price compared to other similarly specified machines.

Brother MFC-3220C
Price: €160

The compact Brother MFC-3220C offers a lot of bang for your buck. A four-in-one, it is styled in the long tradition of business peripherals, though it does at least forego the beige for smart grey and slate tones. An inkjet-based machine, it uses a four-colour
ink tank system. This means that the print heads are part of the machine as opposed to part of the cartridges. This usually means good durability and quality as they are designed to last the lifetime of the machine.

The control panel is laid out in a very straightforward manner and the main options of fax, scan and copy are presented on backlit buttons. All other functions can be accessed through clearly marked sub-function keys. The LCD screen is a bit basic being a single line monochrome unit.

Speeds on the Brother are very competitive, although the quality is a little behind some of its competitors. Black and white documents print well, with the document copying good too, though a little bit of the old inkjet feathering was detectable. In colour mode, the mixed content pages were handled competently and the full photo
prints were surprisingly good.

The Brother machine is very much an office-designed machine with good all-round performance, but the price works to make this a most attractive package indeed.

Epson Stylus CX6400
Price: €269

The Epson CX6400 looks compact until you extend the feeder and output trays and all of a sudden a lot of your desk real estate is gone. However, it is worth it as the CX6400 is very capable machine. A three-in-one inkjet based machine, it features Epson’s DuraBrite photo ink printing. Shown to be durable, this process has shown excellent UV resistance making photo printing for mounting or presentation easy.

With a small monochrome LCD screen, the CX6400 is laid out on a par with the other machines here with clear function keys showing the way. Installation is simple and a USB cable was provided, a rarity for sure.

Speeds are good, with quality at normal settings. Quality was very good across the board with only slight feathering visible on the text fonts. Full quality colour printing was a little slow but the colour quality on plain paper was very impressive.

Supporting USB 2, the USB cable was curiously routed under the main cover into a small compartment with its own door; odd, but functional. The scan door not only has extensible hinges to allow for easy scanning of thick objects, it also removes and replaces easily for when awkward things need to be scanned. Interestingly, the CX6400 lets you scan directly to a memory card. A useful
feature when the machine is used in standalone mode without a PC.
With an impressive range of features, the CX6400 makes up for the lack of fax capabilities with good all round performance and innovative features.

HP OfficeJet 7140 XI
Price: €655

One of the more expensive models in this group test, the 7140XI provides a high level of capability. With a similar form factor to the Olivetti, the HP OfficeJet 7140 XI boasts a more impressive specification. Offering up to 22ppm in black and white and 15ppm in colour, this is a high throughput machine.

Set up is the usual affair, with little more than the inserting of the CD and connection of the machine. The high tray capacity really sets this machine apart as a dedicated office appliance. The HP also has accessories for duplexing and digital collation. But the real office-oriented feature is the network-ready Jetdirect system. For the small office environment this is a great feature that goes some way to justifying the price of the HP OfficeJet 7140 XI.

The HP is certainly a quick printer too but in normal testing did not quite reach the estimated 8ppm for black and white and 7ppm for colour. In the group test, it did perform very well though and was among the fastest without any loss of quality.

Noticeable though, was a tendency to shake a little during prints, especially on single page runs. The HP’s impressive specification plus its network ability sets it out as a machine for the office short on space as opposed to the proverbial small office and as such its price tag reflects its capabilities. The HP seems to be bridging the gap
between what has traditionally been the MFD stall and the lower rungs of the enterprise markets.

Lexmark X215
Price: €370

The second laser-based machine tested, the Lexmark X215 targets the upper end of the MFD market but still manages to keep a good price for the features provided.

Monthly throughput is a good 10,000 pages per month compared with the 5,000 found on most inkjet-based MFDs. The X215 is very fast too with well under 20-second prints available from first print.

Enjoying the benefits of lasers, the fonts were crisp and prints perfectly dry on output, even on large coverage areas. Even in mixed document tests, the blended greyscale showed good definition meaning that, while no colour is available, documents need not be without graphics from the X215. Faxes too benefit from the laser and there are noticeably better results with less dotting and
tracks in the outputs.

With its capacity, the X215 is aimed in the same territory as the HP Officejet 7140 XI though the network connectivity here is an option, not standard. Relatively small in footprint, the X215 is a very reasonable desk feature, as the straight paper path means
extensions beyond the main unit for trays are not necessary.

For the office that needs documents printed quickly, with very high quality and light graphics, the X215 is a relative bargain in the laser market and has enough features to ensure it justifies its place in the busy office.

PC Live! Best Buy

Lexmark X6170
Price: €255

The Lexmark X6170 is a large unit. It put me in mind of the New York Guggenheim; it’s got a large pedestal type base with tiers spreading out above it. In dark metallic greys, it isn’t going to save you any space, but it is certainly striking. With blue backlit keys, it certainly stands out from the crowd and performs well in this group test.

Tending to be slow, in both mono and colour modes, the stated speeds are impressive but they refer to draft modes.
Featuring a 100-sheet paper tray and a document feeder, this is a serious business machine that also has the ability to produce quality photo prints.

Quality in documents was notably inkjet and did not trouble the laser printers but was comparable with other inkjets. Employing only a two-cartridge system, there is an estimated 600 pages from the black and 450 from the colour is creditable.

The device is user-friendly and its ergonomics are excellent. The clear major function keys of copy, scan, fax cover the basics with the sub-function keys providing the rest with little need to dig through sub-menus.

Destined to be a workhorse, the X6170 provides good office performance with a useable if slow colour capability. It’s the winner of this particular group test for it offers the best blend of office-oriented features and an affordable price tag. Combining real office four-in-one capability with photo quality in an attractive package at a middle ground price makes
it the best all rounder.

27/09/04

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