Issue #0521/1 - Another budget desktop A4 colour MFP hits the market at a very attractive price.
Scrabbling to be present in the market early enough to lay claim to a healthy market share, printer manufacturers are launching desktop A4 colour MFPs thick and fast.
Epson AcuLaser CX11NEpson’s model, recently launched, is the CX11N, a Print/Copy/Scan device with 10/100 Ethernet capability as standard out of the box and printing at 5ppm colour and 25ppm mono. The range also includes a version with fax, CX11NF – a first for Epson! Available as a separate model is a version with printer cabinet, CX11NFC.
With this launch, Epson is not the first to market but does now command the lowest purchase price (£503) in the UK. Unfortunately this is not the case in Europe where the list price of €829 is beaten by Hewlett-Packard, with a price of €815 for the LaserJet 2820.
There appears to be distinct confusion over pricing of the Oki C5510MFP in the UK. Although the press release referred to “under £700”, the latest price list shows the price as £869 – the price originally declared prior to launch. Pricing used in these comparisons is, therefore, according to the price list which is confirmed as being correct (see comments in TCPglobal Issue #0516, "… and HP makes three", regarding relative pricing around Europe).
However, Epson does currently command the highest mono print speed in the group at 25ppm. Colour print speeds are slightly more confused by the differences in engine configuration between the various products on the market.
Epson’s CX11N, at 5ppm in colour, is a 4-pass machine while Oki’s C5510MFP is a single-pass machine printing at 12ppm in colour. The difference here is that the Oki is limited to that same 12ppm for mono printing. Xerox’s solid ink WorkCentre C2424 is billed as 24ppm in both colour and mono but this is a draft print speed (as with liquid ink jet printers) and the machine ships in 12ppm normal print mode – meaning that in reality its speed specification is comparable with the Oki.
Only the Hewlett-Packard Colour LaserJet is designed with the same laser 4-pass configuration as the Epson but the Epson is one page per minute faster in colour and six pages per minute faster in mono.
So, it could be argued that the CX11N has the best speed ratings in the group for the target market.
A fully configuredXerox WorkCentre C2424
is priced at £2,949
It should be remembered that the Xerox WorkCentre C2424 is largely included in the cost comparison here because there are so few products on the market at this early stage. With its 85,000-page duty cycle, automatic duplex, duplex ADF and £2K price tag, it does not really compete directly with the Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Oki machines.
However, at 45,000 pages per month, the Epson is no light-weight for the small office market. Nor is it poorly specified. Fast Ethernet interface as standard, scan to network capability and a suite of creative and utility software, are all valuable assets in the small office and represent excellent value for money in the CX11N.
Hewlett-PackardColour LaserJet 2820AiO
Neither does the Oki machine have an expansion paper feed, though its standard feed can hold up to 400 sheets from two sources. The LaserJet 2820AiO has the smallest paper capacity at 125 sheets standard, expandable to 375 sheets.
Oki C5510MFPBoth the Epson and Hewlett-Packard machines are compatible with the Macintosh environment as well as the PC environment, as is the more expensive Xerox - Epson’s CX11N has its own ESC/Page-Colour S while Hewlett-Packard’s LaserJet 2820AiO has both PCL and PostScript 3 and Xerox has PCL5c emulation and Adobe PostScript 3.
Oki is the machine that stands out on this score. As a GDI, host-based, machine only, it has the lowest specification.
Epson is aiming to “be recognised as a leader in the colour MFP market” with the CX11N, a goal that is driving the competitive pricing. Pushing users towards in-house document production, as is Oki, Epson is shipping colour document template software with the device.
In design terms, integration of the scan module with the printer base unit is not as smart and tight as either the Hewlett-Packard or Oki but that is not to say that it is unattractive.
|
UK A4 colour MFPs |
Purchase | Print Speed |
Nominal CPP |
Mixed mono/colour CPP over 3 years |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epson AcuLaser CX11N | £503 |
Mono Colour |
25 ppm 5 ppm |
1.43 pence 8.22 pence |
3.85 pence |
|
Hewlett-Packard Colour LaserJet 2820AiO |
£569 |
Mono Colour |
19 ppm 4 ppm |
1.48 pence 7.33 pence |
3.66 pence |
| Oki C5510 MFP | £829 |
Mono Colour |
12 ppm 12 ppm |
1.22 pence 7.52 pence |
1.22 pence |
|
Xerox WorkCentre C2424 |
£1,999 |
Mono Colour |
24 ppm 24 ppm |
1.06 pence 7.44 pence |
5.20 pence |
EpsonAcuLaser CX11N
Note that for this level of machine, the mixed mono/colour CPP over three years shown in the accompanying table is calculated on the basis of 2,500 pages per month using maximum capacity toners and takes into account any standard, or starter, toner cartridges shipped with the printer and includes the purchase price.
Overall, the Epson AcuLaser CX11N looks to be a very capable, well specified machine, at a competitive purchase price. Long term costs, at 3.85 pence per page, are very much middle-of-the-range and do not look quite as competitive as the Hewlett-Packard offering. The high specification will certainly make the CX11N attractive against the Oki, due to its low purchase price, even though the long term CPPs of the two machines are comparable.
~End~
