BIOS: Technology Means Business

Epson's new A3 colour laser printer claims to offer business users the lowest TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) in its class. Key features of the single-pass printer (678x631x473mm, 59kg) include a 600MHz PowerPC processor, 128MB of memory as standard (expandable to 1024MB), competitive colour performance of 24ppm (claimed time-to-first-page of 10.5 seconds), new AcuBrite toner which claims to provide high-quality output with uniform toner coverage, support for banner printing (up to 1.2m in length), a built-in 10/100Base-TX NIC, as well as USB 2.0 and parallel interfaces. The printer also comes with a standard input paper capacity of 650 sheets using two paper trays, although it does support up to 2150 sheets in total using optional trays. It is backed by a one year on-site warranty, with an option to extend to three years.

Pros: Prints up to A3; relatively fast; on-site warranty
Cons: No Wi-Fi, hard disk or security features; basic finishing options

Release: The Epson AcuLaser C9100 is a high-speed, A3 tandem colour laser printer designed specifically for the business workgroup. It combines high-performance with quality and efficiency. The laser printer produces up to 24 pages-per-minute in colour and has the ability to handle A3 and banner printing. It is ideal for printing high-volume colour documents in a demanding business environment.

Thanks to the Epson AcuLaser C9100, businesses no longer need to have two dedicated printers - one for colour and one for black and white, therefore saving space, time and money. It is now easier than ever to produce marketing, presentation and event collateral in-house. The AcuLaser C9100 provides mono printing at costs and speeds that rival some of the mono-only printers in the market today.

Vibrant and precise output is achieved using Epson's new AcuBrite toner and a tandem print engine. The AcuBrite toner features smaller toner particles to produce documents with fine detail, outstanding colour expression and uniform image quality. The Epson AcuLaser C9100 therfore enables businesses to print out important colour collateral quickly and confidently in the office without compromising on quality.

The AcuLaser C9100 has been designed to ensure it is easy to use. Live status information such as consumable levels is reported as text and can be viewed remotely via your computer or on the LCD panel on the printer. The intuitive printer driver ensures even novice users can print high-quality colour documents first time. For advanced users, there is a choice of further printing options for colour, print quality control, speed and page layout.

Neil Hartigan, business manager for Epson Products, Epson UK says, 'The Epson AcuLaser C9100 will help businesses make the transition from monochrome to an A3 colour printer. It's ideal for handling demanding business workgroup applications as well as the production of colour marketing collateral. Bringing professional colour to your business has never been so affordable and so easy.'

In addition to the standard AcuLaser C1900 there are two further models available: Epson AcuLaser C9100PS which includes Adobe Postscript 3 and an extra 128MB RAM (total memory 256MB) - RRP ex. VAT £2646. Epson AcuLaser C9100DT which includes additional 1500 sheet tray and duplex unit and 128MB additional memory (total memory 256MB RAM) - RRP ex. VAT £3473.

Links:
AcuLaser C9100 Web site