Konica Minolta Magicolor 2200

WHAT'S HOT: Pleasing print quality is a good thing; pleasing print quality from an inexpensive printer is cause for celebration. We really love this printer's text output--every letter looks clean and well balanced. The Magicolor 2210 GN also prints distinct narrow parallel lines (even when they're closely packed together), as well as smoothly shaded gray-scale graphics with good detail. Minolta-QMS provides an impressive suite of add-ons--for example, a 500-sheet feeder ($499), a 5-bin mailbox ($799), and a duplexer ($499). The printer also supports a color-copier attachment (also $499) with an optional 25-page automatic document feeder ($199).

WHAT'S NOT: This printer doesn't have a USB connection. It's unlikely you'd buy a printer like this to use solo, but if you did, you could only hook it up with a parallel connection. Also, the 2210 GN has no way to manually duplex, so you'll need to buy the duplexer if you require that functionality.

WHAT ELSE: The Magicolor 2210 GN's performance is nothing to write home about. It delivers a practical 10 ppm on text, and a mediocre 1.3 ppm on graphics. If you install the optional 2GB internal hard drive ($349), you can use the printer's driver's accounting feature to keep track of printer usage, such as individual or departmental print counts.

UPSHOT: Low cost-of-entry and high-quality printing add up to a good deal for a small office.

SUMMARY

Minolta-QMS Magicolor 2210 GN Rated 20 ppm monochrome/5 ppm color, standard 20MB of RAM, 1200-by-1200-dpi maximum resolution, 650 sheets input, 500 output. $1999 800/523-2696 www.minolta-qms.com/usa.html