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Four-in-one multifunction devices are normally ugly, intimidating beasts.
Combined printing, scanning, copying and faxing functions usually cause them to be festooned with garish buttons and flaps sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb.
The PX800FW, on the other hand, is a triumph of minimalist design. Finished in glossy and matt black with a hint of silver-grey, its curves are all very pleasing to the eye.
Its unobtrusive, sleek appearance actually manages to blend in with its surroundings, which Epson hopes will be your living room or study.
Epson has hidden the 30-page automatic document feeder (ADF) from view when not in use a flap folds out on itself and forms an input tray while another retracts to allow space for paper to be ejected.
The usual array of controls, such as the numeric keypad used for dialling fax numbers, has been replaced with an illuminated touch panel.
When turned off, this remains dark and virtually invisible, but it lights up at the flick of a switch to reveal a selection of large touch-sensitive controls with a soothing amber glow.
Nestling seamlessly in the middle of this 19.8cm panel is an 8.9cm full-colour LCD screen that can be used to preview and edit of images.
A single, covered paper tray houses full-page and photo-sized paper, allowing you to swap between photo and document printing without reloading sheets and moving sliders every time. Direct CD/DVD printing is also supported via a special integrated tray that emerges at the push of a button.
The printer’s looks alone would convince some, but thankfully for the rest of us its performance is also extremely good. Rated at up to 40 plain paper pages per minute in colour or monochrome, our tests confirm the PX800FW to be one of the quickest we’ve seen this is a device capable of doing some serious work.
It supports high-capacity ink cartridges yielding between 540 and 1475 ISO standard test pages, depending on the colour. Standard cartridges cost £7.99 each while high-capacity versions cost £11.74 directly from Epson.
As a fully fledged photo MFD, it really shines when given quality paper and some decent images to work with. Epson’s Claria photographic inks are provided in six individual cartridges and, as we’ve come to expect from Epson, the PX800FW produces prints of an exceptionally high quality. They’re resistant to water and should last for up to 200 years. A 10x15cm print took just of 20 seconds to print at standard quality.
The PX800FW comes bundled with two software discs; the first is a copy of Abbyy Finereader OCR, the other is Epson’s own application suite. It’s good to see a single integrated installation program, but dialogues were often in poorly translated English, leaving us in some confusion as to what was happening. It’s also lacking the level of help inexperienced users may need and some of the fun creative utilities we’re now used to.
However, Epson does provide an easy photo print application that integrates into Windows Explorer, allowing you to print very easily from any folder on your PC containing images. Using this application, you can take advantage of the device’s built-in enhancement tricks, such as automatic red-eye removal, without the need of a standalone photo-editing program. Separate applications are provided for operating the scanner and for printing DVDs.
It’s one of the more expensive multifunction devices around, but the PX800FW manages to house a decent blend of style and performance.
All Multi-function Devices Tags: Epson
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