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Model: Minolta MagicColor 2300 Product Website / Spec/PR / Availability: See Website MSRP: $699 Amazon Price - NA Even though I need to do a lot of color printing I'd gotten really tired of the cost of inkjet cartridges and shifted over to an old bw LED. But once you've had color you really can't go back, and I don't know about you, but I've gotten used to doing my own in-house printing, whether it was layout proofs for articles, transparencies for meetings, colored newsletters or even business cards. And of course, since I've got a home office, real life tends to creep in from time to time...and who has time to run over to Walmart to take advantage of their 24 cent 4x6? So, when Minolta asked me if I wanted to test their $699 laser printer I didn't have to think too hard before saying yes. After trying setting it up, which was as simple as promised thanks to the preinstalled supplies, it didn't take me long to be impressed either. The 2300 isn't intended to replace your photo quality printer with its 1200x600 dpi resolution, but for 90% of your printing, it will. Not only am I using it for color layout proofs and general documents, but I've been printing out lots of digital photos for casual distribution. Considering that the cost of a 5x7 is somewhere around a nickel, and that you don't need special stock, it makes the slight difference in quality pretty tolerable. The colors are both color and waterfast, which I tested by putting up reward posters around the neighborhood after my wife's bike was stolen. We didn't get the bike back, but though after a week of summer sun and rain the heavy cardstock I printed it on was the worse for wear, the colors were still looking great. There are two different cartridge sizes, and while it's no surprise that the unit ships with the smaller size, it's not like they're shortchanging you - the starter cartridges are rated for 1500 pages. I like the way the unit powers down when you're not using it, though that means it takes about a minute to print the first copy. The color speed of 4 pages per minute for multiple copies is a lot faster than your inkjet, though not blazing for a laser. The real difference between the two is that if you walk away from an inkjet running a big job the odds are pretty good that it will have jammed by the time you get back. With the well engineered paper path and plain paper stock, you can trust the 2300 to finish the job and wait patiently for more work. This unit isn't networked, but you can easily share it through any Windows PC with MS Networking, so that's hardly worth the extra cost to install. The one thing that may surprise you is it's weight, nearly 75 lbs. as shipped. Though Minolta shows it perched on a desk and is proud of it's 14" footprint, that doesn't take the side loading paper tray into account. I turned the test unit sideways, which makes it 19" wide and obstructs the toner cartridge, but I plan to change paper a lot more often than toner. If you want, you can add a duplexer and high capacity tray, but I'm happy with the standard 200pg feed, at least for now. I'm keeping my high-res color printer around for the occasional photo that really matters, but if I didn't have it, I'd wouldn't be running out to get one. The QMS 2300 handles enough of my color needs that I'd be happy to send out for the few prints that need more quality. If you wonder what your pictures would look like, go ahead and send them a file to print (test drive details). Seeing is believing. |
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