Konica Minolta Magicolor 2300W Desk Laser 16ppm 110V (MINOLTA-QMS-5250214100)

Bottom Line
Freelance designers and other self-employed individuals who need inexpensive, proof-of-concept output and other casual color printing will love the 2300W.
Minolta-QMS Magicolor 2300W
Magicolor 2300W Desk Laser 16ppm 110V (MINOLTA-QMS-5250214100) Review, by Dan Littman June 19, 2003

WHAT'S HOT: $700 for a color laser printer will make you think a zero fell off the price tag. But the bargain price is for real--and even so, the Magicolor 2300W delivers extraordinary print quality, producing sharp, crisp black text and bright, accurate, detailed color photos in our tests. Gray-scale photos also showed good detail, though they had a somewhat dotty texture. Minolta-QMS clearly intends the 2300W for individuals; it omits a control panel LCD and on-board menus in favor of letting the user control the printer from their PC.
WHAT'S NOT: We don't like the 2300W's paper-handling features. For one thing, it has no auxiliary tray, so you have to unload paper from the main feed to swap paper sizes. You can put only 200 sheets in the main feed, which is a hole on the side of the printer instead of a removable tray. We found adding paper inconvenient, and reaching into the slot to adjust the paper guides was awkward.
The 2300W prints text at 11.5 pages per minute, about 3 ppm slower than the average of recent color lasers we've seen but still plenty fast for an individual user.
The company's documentation seems haphazard and somewhat slipshod. Written instructions aren't improved much by the dark, crowded illustrations in the spiral-bound setup guide, which neglects details on installing the drivers. The on-screen manual is more thorough but has organization problems--for example, instructions for installing the optional $400 duplexer are in the troubleshooting section. Also, a status monitor that you can't turn off pops up on screen every time you launch a print job, which grows tiresome if you're printing a series of documents.
WHAT ELSE: Because the 2300W has no network interface, sharing it with a workgroup would require an awkward peer-to-peer setup; you'd be better off spending an extra $100 for the company's network-ready 2300DL. The 2300W's dark-gray shell looks cool and stately without calling out for attention. Minolta bundles the printer with CorelDraw Essentials; few color laser units come with graphics software, so that's a nice bonus.
UPSHOT: Freelance designers and other self-employed individuals who need inexpensive, proof-of-concept output and other casual color printing will love the 2300W.
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Reviewed by: txaustin1
Strengths: Photo Quality is excellent - side by side with a Canon i950 is amazing - quite comparable - perhaps not the density of the inkjet but quite nice for book printing purposes (haven't tried coated stock)
Weaknesses: It does happen to make a bit of noise - almost funny actually - (clunk, zuuuum, tink tink, wong wong, clunk...)The driver install is dumb {as in not intelligent} (but workable) - more below.
Overall: I had read about these things being noisy, but in reality they are hilarious (if you have a sense of humor) - sounds come out of it which are just 'odd'. But hey, this thing prints! -- compared to HP color lasers the toner seems to be 'finer grained' - the result being a feel of being "in' the paper rather than 'on' it. Resulting prints look more like inkjet prints thans HP's raised super glossy 'on the paper' look. These are just nice and smooth, with oh so faint of a gloss, deep into the paper. Beautiful, actually. And for any book with photos it'll beat the inkjet hands down for costs. -- Very plesantly impressed. -- (I've tried various stock from heavy book/bond to everyday paper, natural to white, and the photos are virtually identical across the media -- haven't tried coated paper yet for a purposeful glossy magazine look.DRIVERS -- install driver from site or disk. Choose whatever USB port you wish (USB001, USB002, etc) PlugIn the printer, let XP find it. GO to Printers (control panel) and flip the printer from one port to the next until the Minolta Status monitor says the printer exists. --- They didn't build in a 'plug-n-play' port (USB controller) search into the driver - so I'm sure if you move it to a different USB port on your computer you'd need to do this again - if your computer had multiple USB controllers on the motherboard. --- other than that it's a cinch! and works great. VERY fast if you're used to inkjets. ~4ppm color is blazing compared to the Canon i950. --- btw. I paid $270 for this puppy, at Office *@#$%, since it's and older model and the 2400 is the main push now. FInd it cheap and it's a great DEAL! (BTW, it shares fine w/XP if you have a computer on your network to serve it)
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Reviewed by: Enthusiastic
Strengths: low cost, decent color printing, and low cost consumables
Weaknesses: Doesn't work with a print server, router/lpt combo.
Overall: You can tell from the measurements this printer sits pretty tall. Its design is a bit awkward in that you'll need 3 sides available so it cannot go in the corner. It's about 60lbs, heavy, though I was able to haul it from the store to the car and into the house without assistance. I have a router with a LPT port and was planning on hooking it up to that but this model WILL NOT work when connected to a router, only when connected directly to the computer via LPT or USB. I confirmed this by visiting their website. I was tempted to take it back but didn't feel like boxing it up and hauling it back to Staples and paying another $150 so there it sits. I've had it for about a month now and we use it as a family printer. Since all the computers have XP and are networked it works fine being shared through the computer its hooked to, though the computer has to be on.
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Reviewed by: bestreviewer
Strengths: Fast, great b/w & color quality, ink saver.
Weaknesses: Loud, paper jam if input too many papers in tray.
Overall: Pro:1. It's fast for both b/w and color printing.2. Great b/w & color quality.3. Took me almost 1 year to use up the first starter black cartridge.Con:1. It's loud every time it's printing.2. If you put too many papers onto the paper tray (e.g. more than 2/3 of space allowed), it will jam.
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Reviewed by: matlab
Strengths: Fast printing, nice printing quality
Weaknesses: A little heavy for personal use, a little expensive supplies, no network support.
Overall: If you want a really nice color laser printer, this is a nice one to get. It has nice quality in both color and black printing. It's kind of hearvy and large for personal use. Thus I had assumed it had network support so I can putit somework else instead of a place beside my computer. I still haven't figure out a good position to put it. But well, overall it's an excellent printer.
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Reviewed by: fireworks1972
Strengths: It works well!
Weaknesses: There is a long pause between two pages.
Overall: This is a great printer, drivers work well, no XP trouble. Prints slow with long pauses between pages, Print quality is excellent.It is good for home or home office.
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