Best Products of 2012: Laser MFDs

Panasonic DP-MB300

Panasonic DP-MB300 is a monochrome printer, copier, fax machine and an ADF colour scanner. It can hold more than 500 sheets at once. The control panel along with the small display is placed on the front, right over the tray and cartridge box. DP-MB300 is a network device with USB 2.0 interface and is compatible with Mac OS 10.5, Windows XP, Vista and 7. The device impresses with crisp print quality and print speed of 32ppm at 2400x1200dpi. The scanner offers colour scans and at a scan resolution of 600x2400dpi, it allows scanned documents to be sent to a networked PC or email from the device itself. The copier reproduces at 32ppm at 600x600 and can copy both sides of a small ID or Business card onto a single sheet.

Bottom-line: This is a must have multi-faceted imaging device for SMEs who want instant outputs at extremely high resolutions of up to 2400x1200dpi.

HP LaserJet Pro M425

The HP LaserJet Pro 400 MFP M425 is very easy to install and ready to use. The printer is pretty fast with a printing speed of 31 ppm. It has the capability of automatic duplex printing and the best print resolution you get is 1220 x 1200 dpi. Its copy speed is 31 cpm with first copy in 9 seconds. It has a unique app, which downloads files through the Internet for printing straightaway without needing a PC or USB drive. It comes with HP's proprietary eprint facility and also facilitates wireless direct printing. The HP LaserJet Pro 400 MFP M425 also has the auto-on/off technology, and the printer is turned on only when needed.

Bottom-line: HP M425 is a brisk performer and ideal for SMEs with moderate printing requirements.

Xerox WorkCentre 3220

This compact LaserJet is an all-in-one printer, copier, scanner and stand-alone fax with a 250 sheets paper tray. The interface includes a control panel with buttons for fax, scan and copy along with number keys for fax and menu panel. Xerox 3220 is a network printer with auto-duplex. It churns out 26 print-outs in a minute at 1200x1200dpi with hardly any distortion in the text and image quality. The first page print takes 13 seconds, while in duplex the same command takes 20 seconds. The scanned file can be sent via email or saved on a USB drive. At a max resolution of 4800x4800dpi, it scans a file in 28 seconds. The copy speed is 28 cpm with first copy taking 9 seconds. A duplex copy takes 27 seconds.

Bottom-line: Xerox 3220 is offering everything that SMEs want, including a smart price. If only the speed was a little better!