AcuLaser CX11NF Laser Printer user reviews

5.0 stars

"excellent all in one" on October 29, 2005 by cedarky

Pros: office level machine at a home office price. photos are best of all the multifunction; better than inkjet and nearly filmlike. backlit high-res lcd screen controls.

Cons: setup is less than smooth. tip: use their short usb cable or the printer drivers may not properly load. cheapest high capacity toner not at staples but online at epson!

Summary: this is an amazing accomplishment for epson. its a pc mag editors choice and it deserves to be. i did a lot of research and thinking about this and maybe you can benefit from it.

first, i debated between an all in one and a mix of a color laser, the minolta 2450 and a canon 2750 laser fax all in one. problem there is that you can't make the occasional color copy when you need it. also it takes up more space. in the end, i liked the elegance of having everything tightly integrated.

machines i reviewed were the all in ones by hp, canon, epson, and brother. i tested the machines not be having the machine generate a test page, but by taking an hp brochure and having each machine print a color copy, its most difficult task. i could not find the canon unit to try, but online consumer input has not been good for that unit.

the hp performed mediocre. good layout of controls, but the machine shakes and rattles as it prints. and, the print quality was poor: there was banding in the photo, a dark line right down the front of the photo. i switched to photo mode and this diminished the banding but left a magenta cast over the image. 4 out of 10 stars.

the brother multifunction bested the hp in print quality. no banding, good color correction, and a reasonable build quality. i must add that the controls seemed mediocre and not always intuitive. by the way, i'm a bit biased against brother since i'm trashing my brother multifunction after less than a year. that said, if the epson didn't exist, i would have purchased the brother. 7 out of 10.

however, the epson does exist and its a clear winner. the build quality is what you want for a business, solid fit and finish. the center lcd is welcome, with its eight lines easily readable. the menus are logical and easy to use. from a hardware standpoint its the best i've seen.

but the money is in the printing and this machine clearly bests the brother. on the brochure test, the smallest print was crisper and the photo was positively photographic.

documentation is adequate but i would go to support.epson.com if you hit any glitches. i spent almost an hour looking for a reason that the printer drivers would not load. turns out that that i needed a short, 6 ft usb cable that comes with the unit. my cable, a bit longer was losing some of the signal. i swapped out the cable and the driver loaded at once. good thing this was right in the FAQs online. it would be nice if the printed the FAQs and answers in the back of their setup manual.

consumables are cheapest at epson online. staples only carries the low capacity toner cartridges which are ludicrously expensive. buy the high capacity ones from epson and the printing costs are in line with the brothers. yes, the brother is still a bit cheaper to operate, but the print quality is so superior from the epson that it is definitely worth the little extra that it costs to operate.

my hat is off to the folks at epson. job well done.