Ricoh Aficio SP100e Review

The Ricoh Aficio SP100e is an entry level mono laser printer which at the time of writing is available for just £24 including toner and delivery.  A laser printer ready to go (well almost – you will need a USB cable) for the price of a couple of inkjet cartridges!

The specifications suggest that this is a bargain too good to miss:

• 13 Seconds First page
• 13ppm Mono Print
• Warm up 25 seconds
• 1200 x 600dpi Print
• 50 Sheet Input Tray
• Duty cycle of up to 10,000 sheets per month
• Weight 6.2kg
• Windows & Mac

Of course specifications only tell part of the story. What really matters is does it deliver?

Looks 

– slim, fairly attractive black and white styling that does not take up much desk space.

Construction
 – main body appears sturdy enough but the front paper output tray door does not open easily and feels like it could break if not handled carefully. When the paper tray is folded out it flexes too much and once again I would not have a lot of confidence in it surviving rough treatment.

Printing
– several tests were run using single pages of text of point sizes from 8 to 72 at the default settings. Characters were easily readable, clean and sharply defined. From a cold start each single page took on average 20 seconds. A single page windows document containing a 6×4 photo and text took a slightly longer25 seconds but the image printed remarkably well – good levels of detail and smooth gradation of tones, with no evidence of banding. A pdf containing 10 pages of mixed text and graphics took 75 seconds (including 25 seconds of warm up). Once again print was clean and sharp.

Ease of use – paper feed is vertical from the top and unused paper remains exposed when device is not in use. Paper feed is smooth and print is delivered through the front onto the fold-out tray and works well. Noise levels are quite acceptable given the amount of noise most lasers make during operation.

Conclusion.

Can you really buy a laser printer at this sort of price and expect it to deliver respectable results? In this case it appears- yes – you can. Setting aside some of the plastic construction issues, this printer delivered excellent results that most home and SOHO users would be very happy with. Actual long term running costs have yet to be established but based upon experiences so far, I certainly would have no problems in recommending it to a friend. I might just buy one myself.