Epson Stylus Office BX305FW
The entry level office all-in-one in Epson’s range, this machine has most of the design features of its bigger siblings. The signature curved top provides a 30-sheet ADF and although the control panel only offers a two-line, mono LCD, it’s sufficient for most tasks. The only feed tray is a 120-sheet, near-vertical one at the back and that feeds to a telescopic output tray at the front. I saw nothing like Epson’s claimed speeds, clocking 3.6ppm and 1.3ppm for black and colour; both very slow. Black text quality is noticeably jagged, though colour graphics are bright and photos presentable. Page costs using high-yield cartridges are 2.6p and 9.6p, with the colour cost being high.
Reg Rating 60%
Price £100
More info Epson
Epson Workforce Pro WP-4525DNF
This hunky all-in-one sits in the middle of Epson’s Workforce Pro range. It has a 30-sheet ADF and a 63mm colour LCD in the centre of a well-organised control panel, which includes a numeric pad for fax. There are USB and Ethernet sockets, but no wireless connection. A 250-sheet front paper cassette and an 80-sheet rear tray for special media provide comprehensive paper handling. The printer offers 13.6ppm in black and at 8.5 sides per minute duplex, as fast as a budget laser. Print quality is excellent, from a newly designed print engine, and running costs can be as low as 1.1p for ISO black and 4.3p for ISO colour. An exceptional all-in-one, available online for about £80 less than the RRP.
Reg Rating 90%
Price £263
More info Epson
Next page: HP Officejet 4500
COMMENTS
So... can these devices print the entire surface of a sheet of paper (i.e. without non-printing margins)? The (photoshopped) imagery for most of them appears to imply that they can.
summery?
For something like this, remember, it's spread over 5 pages.
Would it be so much to have a little data table at the end, where we can see the facts again, but in a format that allows comparison?
Also, the cost average, is that average for this batch of 10, for all printers, or just printers of this rough class-range?
Would have liked a "does it scan without ink cartridges" option
As I had a HP which was PURELY purchased just for ADF and sure enough, one cartridge went "dry", the printer failed to do anything demanding I purchase another cartridge (rinse and repeat).
@Audrey S. Thackeray. Re: Disappointing review
I think that with a 10 product round-up it is fairly clear that unless the author were to write a humungous review (after spending a couple of months trialling all of them) it was always going to be 3 - 4 paragraphs or so per product. Surely the use of such "portmanteau" reviews is to enable the reader to pick out one or two products for consideration followed by a bit of googling to see if there are any more extensive reviews of the individual product available out there?
Disappointing review
I can't imagine using this review in any purchasing decision, there's just not enough info - it would be good as a minimum to include the dimensions of the device and some samples of the printing / scanning. Also would want to know if the print cost figures have been calculated from actual use or (as I suspect) quoted from manufacturer's specs.
I quite like this quick round-up style for reviews of toys and gadgets but it needs more depth for things like this.
