HOW MUCH PAPER DOES ITHOLD?
The CM1015 provides more than enough paper capacity. Thestandard input tray holds 250 sheets and there is an additional 125 sheetmultipurpose feeder. Should there be a need for even greater capacity amadditional 250 sheet is available as an option at additionalcost.
WHAT’S ITS SIZE ANDWEIGHT?
At a weight of 21Kgs the CN1015 is relatively light fora colour laser MFP. With a footprint of 43.75 cms wide x 50 cms deep and anoverall height of 51.75 cms The unit is compact enough to fit into a smalloffice. However, it is possibly too large to share a desk without feelingdominated.
HOW EASY IS IT TO SETUP?
Setup is similar to most low end colour laser printersand is relatively straightforward. Unpack the unit, load the paper tray, plug itin and switch on the power, run the fully automated software, connect the USBcable and you are ready to go.
HOWDOES IT PERFORM?
If high output speed is a criterion then the HP CM1015will disappoint. However, if you are stepping up from an inexpensive inkjet anddipping your toe in the water with colour laser printing it will give a similaroutput speed. HP’s low end colour laser printers are known for being slow andthe CM 1015 is no exception. It is slower than most other colour laser printersand even slower than some high end ink jet printers’ such as HP’s Officejet ProL7680 MFP. But in fairness the HP L7680 is promoted by HP themselves for itslaser beating speed. On the plus side is the output quality. It is anoticeable step above ink jet output in text, and is well up to expectationsfrom laser printers. The graphics and photo quality is typical of a colour laserprinter. It is possibly only perfectionists inthe most demanding desktop printing applications who could find any fault withthe text output quality. The text is easily readable at font sizes as low as 4point so at 8-12 point body text it presents no problems at all. The graphics quality is more than suitable for anyinternal business need and, for the Small Office/Home Office user is suitablefor most all round applications including PowerPoint handouts. For most, except thosedemanding the very highest of standards to quality is good enough for even gatefold brochures.
Like nearly all colour laser printers with the exceptionof the very high end, the CM1015 gives only average photo output. Objects withsimilar colours next to each other have a tendency to merge into each other.Even though it is short of quality photo output it is more than capable ofprinting all types of images in such things as external newsletters, web pageswith photo images as well as bulletin boards and notices for the fridgedoor.
CONCLUSION
If you’re looking to get into colour laser printingto move into the area of colour laser printing and would like a little morefunctionality then just printing, then the HP CM 1015 is well worth more than apassing glance. What it lacks in speed it more than makes up for in text andsimple graphics output quality. Althoughit lacks some functionality, such as a fax/modem and an ADF, it may well be thatprinting, copying and scanning is all that you need in anMFP.
Laserjet CM1015MFP Supplies
Canon MP600 All inOne Multifunction Centre
Canon is well known forproducing good quality and compact printers for the smaller budget, and thistime they haven’t let us down either. The device combines a printer, scanner andmedia card reader at a price of $299, the down side is though that it doesn’tcombine a fax or a film scanner. The printer does make up for this with goodpaper handling and high quality prints. The control panel is easily one of the best featuresof Canon’s new printer. It comes with a 2.5” colour LCD screen that flips out ofthe way when not in use. The menu interface is navigated via an Ipod style jogwheel and will let you scroll through a preview of your images from your camerasmemory card. You can also perform a variety of editing tasks prior to printing.
What's in theBox
Canon MP600 All-in-One printer
Five ink cartridges(CLi-8 Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and PGi-5Black)
(All inks are available in Canon original andcompatible cartridges.)
Setup software &users guide CD-ROMs
Fold-out Easy SetupInstructions + Quick StartGuide
Cosmetically the MP600 is astunning machine, it is very well designed with panels hiding most of itsfeatures. The media slots are well hidden behind a door on the right hand frontside of the printer. The printer accepts most types of media cards but you’llneed an adaptor to read XD Picture, Memory Stick Duo and Mini SD cards. It doesfeature Direct Print which will let you print directly from a PictBridgeequipped digital camera using the cameras screen and menu. Should you have anIrDA port on your mobile phone or PDA you can print directly to the printer. Themajor down side however is that the MP600 doesn’t support printing from USBflash drives.
The MP600 take 5 ink tanks,one each of the primary colours and two black ink tanks, one of which is apigment based ink which gives clear crisp prints when printing on more absorbentpaper. On normal paper the MP600 tended to print quite well although the colourswere too bright and the skin tones off contrast. Put the photo paper in and whata difference! The MP600 excelled producing excellent prints that werebeautifully sharp and wonderful skin tones. As with most multifunction printersthe scanner is OK but not good enough for photo work.
The MP600 is an excellentmultifunction printer that delivers what Canon promises. If you don't need afax, film scanner and an automatic document feeder the MP600 is a good choicefor everything else that it does offer.
Canon PIXMA MP600 Supplies
Samsung CLP300Personal Colour LaserPrinter
Over the last few months the price of colour laserprinters has been dropping, $399 is still reasonably inexpensive. Unusually thisprinter isn’t being sold cheaply in the hope that the manufacturer will make upthe numbers with cartridges sales. The CLP-300 fits the mouldin everyway as a budget printer. A somewhat appealing cube with a curved frontand a very simple but easy to use control panel allows you to cancel a print joband to see when the toner needs replacing. Added to this is a 150 page papertray that protrudes from the base of theprinter.Theprinter is built around a carousel system that means that each colour is builtup on the surface of the drum before being transferred to the paper. This systemhas the advantage of keeping the costs under control but speed takes a back seatwhile the drum makes four revolutions per colour page. Underneath the front cover of this printer is whereyou will find four toner bottles, each about the same size and shape as a bottleof jam. The black toner bottle has been rated for 2,000 pages while the coloursshould be good for half of that. When you calculate the usage and the cost ofeach consumable, you have a page cost of 6c for black and 15c for colourprints.As we mentioned before as this is a carousel system theprint speeds do suffer with this printer, 10 pages per minute for black pagesand nearly four pages per minute for colour.
Overall this budgetprinter is well suited for school homework or the business reports and budgetsthat demand quality colour. However the colours print to vividly withphotographic images and the black is somewhat overpowering. Both of these issuescan be resolved by adjusting the settings through the printer driver.The CLP-300 Printer and all consumablesare available through Cartridges Direct. For a full listing please follow thelinks below.
Genuine and Compatible Samsung CLP300 PrinterSupplies