Epson AcuLaser 2600N Review Manuale

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Epson AcuLaser 2600N

some ideas are good, some ideas are genius.

mark Webster seriously lasers some paper

pson's new laser printer is quite

something. It ships as a mono laser

printer, but it has four toner slots

– this means you can put four black toner

cartridges in for four times the black

output (about 20,000 pages!) before

changing toner or – and this is the 'genius'

bit – you can put a cyan, magenta and

yellow toner into the additional slots and

voila! you have a full-colour laser printer.

Like most laser printers, it's a heavy

beast and takes two people to get out of the

box and into place.

Once set up, I followed the pictographic

guide, which does take close attention. I

persevered and made the grade, as the User

Guide PDF takes up after you've set the

printer up using the pictograms.

I turned the 2600N on and it prompted

me, via the built-in LCD, for a toner

cartridge. One after the other, cartridges

were inserted. Remember; shut the cover

each time so the printer can 'charge' it,

then the built-in LCD prompts for the

next (the toner slots are colour-coded and

rotate to present themselves in the correct

sequence). In about 12 minutes I had a

fully operational colour laser printer.

Being connected to my G5 tower by a

USB cable (not supplied) meant I could

dispense with any of Epson's networking

software or ethernet cables, as OS X allows

you to share any connected printer (sure

enough, all four Macs on my local network

could use the AcuLaser effortlessly).

Of course, you have to load Epson's

driver, which comes on a CD. With

that done, I was a little mystified that I

couldn't print in colour from a Adobe CS2

applications, although the built in OS X

apps had no qualms.

So take note and do this immediately if

you install one of these printers: open OS

X's Printer Setup Utility (Applications>

Utilities), choose Add Printer, allow a few

seconds for the utility to find the AcuLaser

driver (AL-2600), select it then click the

ColorSync (sic) icon. This will boot OS X's

ColorSync Utility.

Under Devices>Printers you should see

the AcuLaser driver. Select it, then click

the Profiles icon at the top, open Other in

the left-hand pane, select the Epson AL-

C2600 profile there and voila! Close the

utility and you're in business.

And what business!

This laser is something else – it must be a

long time since I looked at a laser printer

because this thing prints in incredible detail,

in black and white or colour. I was staggered

by the fine tonal gradients and minutiae

replicated on even plain A4. The 2600N can

print on stiffer photo paper too, but make

sure you load it into the side 'MP' tray as the

lower tray only handles standard copy paper.

Printing a photograph on the finer settings

throws your computer into some extended

cogitation while it and the printer do the

maths, but once that process is complete, the

print spits out in one go. Confusingly, the

bottom tray prints on the tops of the sheets

and the side-tray on the underside ...

Colour – because it's fused toner – is never

going to be as intense as the colours on

good glossy photo stock. That's a given, but

crikey, it's very impressive all the same. The

2600N prints at 600dpi, but using Epson's

RIT (resolution improvement technology)

it achieves more like 2400dpi. Combined

with Epson's proprietary PGI (Photo and

Graphics Improvement) screen, grey scale

and colour gradations are smooth as silk.

Verdict

An excellent, small laser with amazing

capabilities at an outstanding price. You

have to get paper loading right, and it

really didn't like getting sent a job set to US

Letter, for example, when the paper stock

loaded was A4. This resulted in a paper jam

necessitating paper removal and a panel

being opened and closed before everything

would work properly again (I suspect this

issue may be ironed out in later software).

review

But with a fast 30ppm throughput in

black and white, the ability to load two

trays full of paper and with its very useful

colour (7ppm)upgradeability, not to

mention the 2600N prints in exquisite

detail, this is a breakthrough product.

If I was running a small business, I sure

would want one of these.

Epson AcuLAsEr 2600n

rrp (monochromE upgrAdAbLE to

coLour) $1575 or (coLour) $1800.

tonEr $124 (bLAck, 5000 pAgEs),

coLour $281 EAch (5000 pAgE yiELd)

or $163 EAch (2000 pAgE yiELd)

Description

small footprint, colour-

upgradeable, high capacity and fast

black and white laser printer

system requirements

mac with a usB

connector and/or ethernet, running

mac os 9.x or osX 10.1.2+ (Windows

98/me/Xp/2000/server 2003, nt 4.0).

Very useful capabilities

small, fast, powerful

Amazing definition

particular about paper size

in print jobs

noisy (like most lasers)

Aesthetics

new features

stability

Value for money

overall

Available from all good computer outlets/

Apple resellers. For more information and

specifications, contact www.epson.co.nz

Jan / Feb 06

7/10

10/10

9/10