The priciest model in Kyocera’s new series of
business laser printers, FS-4300DN, is a good option that can be expanded to meet
demand for the hardest tasks.
Kyocera
Ecosys FS-4300DN
The main unit comes with a 500-sheet paper tray
and a foldable 100-sheet multipurpose tray, bringing versatility to the device
when it comes to media.
You can considerably accelerate paper
handling of FS-4300DN by adding 4 more 500-sheet trays ($308 each), resulting a
maximum input of 2,600 sheets.
FS-4300DN is well designed, with a front
curved corner leading to a circular control panel. The latter is much more comprehensive
than many competitive printers, and alphanumeric keys are also included to use
with Private Print function.
You can plug in USB drive for printing
without the help of a PC but there will be no color screen for navigation. A SD
card reader is a custom supplement.
For those who worry about security, additional
customizations allow you to add a 32GB SSD, and, by using Data Security Kit,
help cleaning fragments of data.
USB 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet are included
as standards. While most offices still use landline networks, you can add Wi-Fi
as custom.
The device comes with Kyocera’s own
controller language, Prescribe IIe, but it can also emulate PCL 6 and
Postscript 3, along with other languages. Adding 500MHz CPU and 256MB of memory
– upgradable to 1280MB – makes this printer a fast and accurate one.
Obviously, Kyocera promise a speed of
60ppm. Our test results couldn’t support this statement – with a normal 10-page
document, we only saw 41.2ppm. However, it took around 6 seconds to print the
first page then increased the speed later.
A 20-paper document was printed at 45.4ppm.
We didn’t think you would exceed 50ppm even with a large print job, but Kyocera
was, of course, a fast printer.
Even in highest-quality 1200dpi mode, the
document didn’t appear as black as some produced by laser printers, though
characters looked clear.
We won’t recommend Kyocera if you desire in-depth
graphic work, though you don’t often use a mono laser printer for such purpose
in any case. As a document-printer, it suits the job and we have never seen any
faster model. Operating cost is also low. Kyocera’s drums are extremely durable,
thus common replacements are only applied on toner cartridges. They are quite
pricey, $150 (VAT not included), yet able to handle 25,000 pages. This lowers
the cost down to 4p per page.
It’s amazing economical, plus meaning that
Kyocera will quickly start make up for its large initial cost.
It’s
amazing economical.
Kyocera also has low power-consumption,
although it is not a quiet model. During printing, it exceeds 56dB, putting it
among the nosiest printers we have ever tested.
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Info
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RRP: $1146 (VAT not included); $1376
(including VAT)
·
1200dpi A4 laser printer
·
USB 2.0
·
Gigabit Ethernet
·
2600-sheet input tray
·
256MB of RAM
·
Auto duplex
·
380x416x320mm
·
14.6kg
Verdict
·
For frequent users, this Kyocera has options
for performance, features and upgrades to make it a good choice. Its extremely
low running cost is also excellent. If you can stand with a lower speed, FS-4100DN
is cheaper yet still a powerful option.
·
Design: 4/5
·
Features: 4.5/5
·
Value: 4.5/5
·
Total: 4.5/5
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