Fast, reliable colour printing for the workplace
Leading Colour Laser Printers Compared
Office printing is frequently one of those things you only really consider once its gone – the printer is down, the toner is out or the paper is jammed. Unfortunately this doesn't do the office printing space justice. Great advances in reliability and quality have lead to a new range of highly-efficient colour laser printers that help improve business productivity with large automatic document feeders, quicker initial print times and faster, highly consistent quality output that can rival that of inkjet photo printers at a fraction of the running costs.
Today we're reviewing three colour laser printers with high dpi (dots per inch), duplex (two-side) capability and full network functionality. All are from leading brands – HP, Fuji Xerox and Konica Minolta - and all come with offers of extended warranties direct from the manufacturers for on-site or return-to-base support.
HP CP2025DN LaserJet.jpg)
With the HP colour LaserJet CP 2025 printer series, you can enjoy colour printing with great speed, quality and reliability. It's nearly three times faster to produce the first page with Instant-on technology than other LaserJet printers, with its fast black and colour print speeds of up to 21 pages per minute (ppm).
The included HP Toolbox FX software provides easy access to printer settings, status information, the user guide, and self-help and troubleshooting tips. It has its built-in Ethernet and Fast Ethernet networking, so you can easily share the printer and efficiently maximize resources.
Fuji Xerox C3300 DX DocuPrint
Running at up to 30 ppm, this printer is highly recommended for fast-paced and demanding office environments. Full duplex printing and a 700 page capacity feeder that comes standard and allows for not only long multi-page documents but also to minimise queuing at the printer. Helping to make the workplace run smoother and letting you and your co-workers get back to work quicker.
Superb print quality is a hallmark of this line of Fuji Xerox printers, and it rivals that of inkjet photo printing but with all the cost savings and efficiencies of an office laser printer. The Fuji Xerox also comes with enterprise-level network compatibility as standard, which allows easy rollout for printing in Citrix and SAP environments in addition to being platform agnostic and being at home in Windows, Mac OS or Linux.
Konica Minolta MC5670DN Magicolor
The Konica Minolta MC 5670DN is a massive colour laser machine, weighing in at 45kg that means serious business. This powerhouse laser printer is at home in small and large businesses alike, with a similar print quality to the Fuji Xerox C3300DX but lower ongoing running costs. The Magicolor 5670 DN delivers pages with a speed of up to 31 ppm – one page per minute quicker than the Fuji Xerox - with a first page out in 16 seconds and exceptionally sharp colour printing output.
The Konica Minolta also comes with Gigabit Ethernet as standard – the fastest network speed we've seen on a printer and is platform agnostic offering integration with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
|
HP
CP2025
|
Fuji Xerox
C3300DX
|
Konica Minola
MC5670DN
|
| Warm up time |
- |
30 seconds |
47 seconds |
| Print Speed |
20 ppm |
30 ppm |
31 ppm |
| First Page Out |
18 seconds |
13-16 seconds |
16 seconds |
| Resolution (dpi) |
600 x 600
|
600 x 600 (multi level)
1,200 x 1,200 (two-level) |
9,600 x 600 equivelant
600 x 600 x 4-bit contone |
| Standard Capacity |
250 sheets |
700 (1,250*) sheets |
500 (1,600*) sheets |
| Memory |
128mb (384mb*) |
256mb (768mb*) |
256mb (1,024mb*) |
| Monthly Volume |
40,000 pages maximum
2,000 pages recommended |
70,000 pages maximum
5,000 pages recommended |
120,000 pages maximum
|
| Standard Warranty |
1 year return to base |
1 year on-site |
1 year on-site |
| RRP |
$1,179.00 |
$1,648.90 |
$1,998.99 |
| Our price |
CP2025 Latest Price |
C3300DX Latest Price |
MC5670DN Latest Price |
* = Requires optional upgrade or additional part.
All of these offer great value to businesses that require low cost, quality documents from a reliable machine.
Photo Printers
In March we looked at Epson's new A2 printer – the Stylus Pro 3880. This month we're going to take a step down to the A3 range for a closer look at Epson's new Stylus Office T1100. Where the 3880 and its little brother the Stylus Photo R2880 are clearly focused on the professional photography market, the T1100 aims to bring A3+ printing into the office. With 5 colours (including dual blacks), the T1100 offers lower running costs and high speed printing. This is the perfect printer for architectural or graphic design offices where A3+ prints are required, but photographic quality (and the associated running costs) is not on the agenda. The dual blacks make this machine perfect for busy offices, and at just over $300 the T1100 is also the perfect household printer for printing of text documents, graphics, posters and homework. To boil it down, the T1100 offers laser speed and efficiency, combined with the low price point and versatility of an inkjet.
Epson's multifunction inkjets also performed strongly last month. With a lineup bolstered by the recent additions of the Stylus Photo TX710W and TX810FW offering excellent quality prints and armed to the teeth with features such as LCD screens, memory-card inputs, wireless networking and even auto-duplexing. These bad boys even feature cutting-edge Italian design, so you can print, scan, copy and look cool while you’re doing it! Although Epson isn't the only game in town for multifunctions, and we've been moving a lot of the latest Canon Pixma MX860 all-in-ones, featuring many of the same great features at a low $200 price point! That's five individual cartridges, auto-duplex and double-sided printing and you can print, scan, copy and fax with the one great device.
View our entire photo printer range or go back to the top.
Specialist Printers
This April we expect to see Canon's 12 colour ImagePrograf machines such as the IPF5100 continue to lead the field in wide-format photographic printing. With an enormously wide colour gamut, plus built-in colour calibration and nozzle cloggage detection, the Canon range appear to be untouchable.
The new kid on the block this month is the HiTi range of plastic card printers. The HiTi CS310 and CS320 card printers are here to stake their claim in the card printing market. At the same price-point as the perennial favourites, the Zebra P110i and P120i, the HiTi printers offer vastly superior image quality. Where the Zebra machines were best suited to text based plastic cards such as retail gift-cards, library cards, etc., the CS310 and CS320 offer edge-to-edge photo quality prints. We're currently offering starter-bundles on Hot.com.au which include everything you need to get started (card-printer, software, a colour print ribbon and 500 plain white cards). The only thing you need to worry about is whether you need single-sided printing (CS310) or double-sided printing (CS320). These starter-bundles and easy-to-use software put in-house photo ID card printing in the hands of organizations who previously had to outsource. Schools, businesses, sporting clubs and organisations of all sizes can now produce top-quality plastic cards for identification, loyalty programs or special uses without breaking the bank!
View our entire specialist printer range or go back to the top.
Laser printers
We've got two great new laser printers this April!
Konica Minolta (considered only second to Xerox in terms of image quality in the colour laser printer market) has come out with a very affordable, low running cost colour laser printer. The Konica Minolta 4650EN is equipped with Emperon technology and a 500 MHz processor, the magicolor 4650 series boasts a first-page output time of 14.5 seconds. It quickly delivers 24 pages per minute and a monthly duty cycle of 90,000 prints – colour or monochrome – making it the perfect printer for any productive workgroup or office. It even features a low acoustic noise level to further maximise work levels. The magicolor 4650 series has an impressive 9600 x 600 dpi-class contone colour and eAIDC automatic colour calibration, which ensures high quality prints, project after project. It employs PhotoArt contone technology to deliver crisp detail, smooth gradients and accurate colours; whilst conserving toner up to an impressive 60%. We currently have a great web price on the Konica Minolta Magicolour 4650 EN - so make sure you have a look if you think this could be your next laser!
We have quite a few customers asking for an A3 Colour Multifunctional solution (Scan, Print, Copy and Fax). Until now it has been hard to get a solution for under $10,000.00 but thanks to Oki we do have a very good solution that has been selling very well in the business sector. The MC860 is the perfect multifunctional device for A4 and A3 output, tailored to the needs, floor space and budgets of workgroups and small businesses. The MC860 sits comfortably on or next to any desk and is so affordable that users can print, scan, copy and fax without breaking their budget. The Oki MC860 is currently selling for just over $7,400.00 INC GST. For further information please contact us.
View our entire laser printer range or go back to the top.
Projectors
Sanyo's new premium data projector the PLC-XU116 is definitely a class leader. Following on from the very popular PLC-XU115, the XU116 boasts an amazing 4500 ANSI lumen output, multiple PC inputs including DVI. Network integration with LAN connector and an integrated Wireless LAN are just a few other features that come standard with the Sanyo PLC XU116. It still uses the small and compact design of the previous model and maintains Sanyo as the no 1 choice for data projectors.
Vibrant colour, mind blowing images, feature packed and the true definition of a home cinema projector is the only way to describe the new Epson EH-TW4500 projector. Backing up from the ever popular TW-4000, the new TW4500 has exceeded our expectations again. Even a lot of the main specs are the same, whatever they have done, has made a difference. To start, the motion shudder that appeared occasionally on the TW-4000 has been totally cleaned up on this new model. Images appear more vibrant and the black levels have to be seen to be believed. Offering a whopping 200,000:1 contrast, nothing else comes close. Those staggering numbers are clearly noticeable in the classy new Epson HD projector.
View our entire projector range or go back to the top.
Flatbed, Film and Document Scanners
The world of A3 scanning has a limited number of scanners to choose from. The Mustek A3 USB is the cheapest scanner @ $549.00, but really this is only suitable for customers who are scanning in black & white text. If you are going to do any colour scanning then you would need to jump up to the professional graphics arts machine the Microtek 9800XL. The Microtek 9800XL is a fantastic machine that graphic artists use and also doctors (but enough on the 9800 for this month, I'll try and expand on this great scanner next month!) The great news is that Microtek have produce a little 'classic' A3 colour scanner. The Microtek Filescan 1600XL is extremely quick with great colour accuracy. At 200 dpi, the FileScan 1600XL is able to process a colorful A3-format document in less than 3 seconds, letting you easily scan oversized originals, contact sheets, large pieces of art and mechanical blueprints, which dramatically increases your productivity at a reasonable price. Bundled with the newly improved ScanWizard DI program, the FileScan 1600XL offers you full document scanning tools and on-screen proofing, providing a host of features and image adjustment controls. Furthermore, contained with 800-dpi optical resolution, the FileScan 1600XL ensures that your scans will catch all the details and color fidelity presenting in the originals. Also, equipped with the Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0) interface, the FileScan 1600XL gives effortless "plug-and-play" connectivity. Please see the 1600XL A3 Scanner page for our everyday hot pricing.
Document scanning for customers working in a Mac environment has been notoriously limited in the past. However, Avision have managed to produce a few scanners that will work on both Mac and PC and (finally) the competition is heating up. The Avision AV122C2 sells for under $1000.00 including GST with Mac software. With its slender build, the Avision AV122C2 is ideal for those who want compact office equipment without sacrificing performance - offering outstanding quality in a small footprint suited to your desktop or the front-office environment. The AV122C2 scans in color, grayscale, and monochrome at speeds up to 25 pages per minute in simplex and 50 images per minute in duplex mode. The auto-paper feeder for the AV122C2 scanners can accommodate 50 sheets of paper at a time. This gives you a great advantage to continuously scan for a batch of 50-sheet document with no interruption to increase your efficiency. If you'd like further information please don't hesitate to contact us and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
View our entire scanner range or go back to the top.
Digital Cameras
Isn't technology great? As soon as we discussed the Canon IXUS 200IS Touch last month we start talking about the update version this April, the Black Canon IXUS 210IS! It's another great multi-touch digital camera, but they've boosted the functionality while keeping it nice and simple to use. They've bumped up the megapixels from 12 to 14, restyled it to look even more desirable and made the innovative touch screen half an inch bigger! The touch-sensitive LCD on the back is now a whopping 8.8cm and gives you more room to make various hand gestures. If you were tempted by the 200IS last month but thought it would need to be improved slightly before you took the plunge - make sure you have a look at the great new IXUS 210IS. We've also got the latest IXUS in Pink and Silver too.
Considering taking the upgrade to Digital SLR technology? Advances are making these top-of-the-line cameras, favoured by professionals, even easier to use! We've got a great introductory guide to help you work out if Digital SLR is right for you. In April 2010 we've also further slashed the prices on the introductory Sony A330 single lens kit and the Canon EOS 1000D single lens kit so you can be shooting like a pro in no time at all!
View our entire camera range or go back to the top.
Computers
First off, the Lenovo S10-3T we featured last month have been selling out fast. They seem to go like hotcakes as soon as any of our suppliers get stock! If you're keen on getting one of these new touch-enabled netbook computers from Lenovo, we suggest you place your order and we'll fulfil it as soon as the supplier gets stock. It's strictly first come, first served.
As for desktops, we think the HP TouchSmart 300 1060A is a great desktop computer. With a full 20" touch screen, and HP's next generation TouchSmart 3.0 software suite, you can easily interact with your computer. This is the premium 20" model with a 2.2GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, 500GB Hard disk and Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium as standard. Well worth looking into if you're after a new home computer or an office desktop with a bit more pizazz!
View our entire computer range or go back to the top.
