Ricoh Americas Corporation, last week introduced the Ricoh Aficio MP 2550B/MP 2550 and Ricoh Aficio MP 3350B/MP 3350 Digital Imaging Systems. Ideal for small and mid-sized businesses, the MP 2550 and MP 3350 models have color scanning capabilities that produce clear images, store documents securely and boost productivity and efficiency.

The MP 2550/MP 3350 models are replacing the MP 2510 and the MP 3010. The Aficio MP 2550 and MP 3350 come standard with monochrome printing, copying and color and black-and-white scanning capabilities out of the box in two pre- configured models — the SP and SPF (the SPF includes faxing capabilities). The Aficio MP 2550B and MP 3350B come with copying capabilities and have a flexible upgrade path which includes monochrome printing, scanning and faxing that allows features to be added as users’ document management needs evolve over time.

The Aficio MP 2550B/MP 2550 and MP 3350B/MP 3350 improve overall productivity with a print speed of 25 pages per minute (ppm) and 33 ppm, respectively. Designed to make professional business documents easier to produce, the MP 2550 and MP 3350 models offer a 1,000-sheet booklet finisher and optional hole-punching — a Ricoh first for Segment 2 Black & White. These models also include special design features that provide ease of use, such as a Full-Color VGA Control Touch Panel, easy-access paper tray handles and animated menu guidance.

In today’s business environment, security plays a crucial role and with the MP 2550B/MP 2550 and MP 3350B/MP 3350, administrators can restrict access to the system to only authorized users. The Locked Print feature is another security function that protects confidential documents from being seen or accidentally picked up in the output tray. For the sake of highest security requirements, customers can also use the DataOverwriteSecurity System (DOSS) to prevent the possibility of reconstructing data from “latent images” on the internal hard drive.

To enhance organizational efficiency, the MP 2550 and MP 3350 models can store up to 3,000 frequently used documents in its Document Server, where they can be instantly accessed for reprinting, re-faxing or re-scanning. Furthermore, users can prioritize job lists by automatically moving the most critical jobs to the head of the print queue to ensure they are finished first.

The MP 2550 and the MP 3350 also include auto e-mail notification that sends a report to a designated e-mail address when the machine is not operating at optimum performance levels, maximizing uptime. In addition, the @Remote Intelligent Management System saves administrators time as it automatically places a detailed request for service when needed, eliminating the need for users to initiate service calls, which reduces the total cost of ownership.

The Aficio MP 2550B/SP/SPF models are available at the suggested retail prices of $5,085/$7,035/$8,130 and the Aficio MP 3350B/SP/SPF at $6,435/$8,385 & $9,480, respectively.

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“Middling in price, performance, and design, this color laser printer suffers from spotty documentation.”

This is a tagline of Melissa Riofrio’s reviewed of Ricoh Aficio SP C222DN Color Laser Printer for Washington Post. She says the Ricoh’s Aficio SP C222DN, being a lower-cost color laser printers, demonstrates some of the challenges of lower-costing. This midpriced printer performs adequately but could use some refinement.

First problems started with the installation. Instructions for physical setup are wordless (it’s comics-like poster) but pretty clear. It says to proceed to the “Software Installation Guide for Network Connection” for further instructions, but those are dreadfully inadequate, missing steps and key details. Worse, a document covering USB installation is available only on the included CD, making it less than readily available. The rest of the documentation, available in both HTML and PDF, is good.

The design was also found confusing at various points. The control panel’s few buttons perform some functions through obscure key combinations, and the printer has no LCD to spell them out for you. The foldout front panel lacks handles and feels flimsy, as does the 250-sheet main input tray. Extending the tray for legal-size paper involves a finicky pinch-and-pull process; the handle for pulling out the tray is in the same area as the manual-feed slot, too, which can be confusing. The top-exiting, 150-sheet output tray is straightforward, at least. An optional 500-sheet input tray is available. Automatic duplexing is standard, which is nice.

In conducted tests text documents churned out at a speed of 17.4 pages per minute (ppm) and graphics pieces output at 2.4 ppm (at best). Text looked dark and precise; but graphics we printed on plain paper suffered from a slightly faded look, as well as graininess or moir patterns. Use of glossy laser paper fixed the problem, but only partially.

Toner capacities of the SP C222DN are low, which means high consumables costs. The machine comes with starter black, cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges of 1000-page yield. The standard-size cartridges last for 2000 pages each and cost $55 for black (2.7 cents per page) and $100 for each color (5 cents per color, per page). The cartridges are easy to install and replace, but the transfer placement could have been better (it lies exposed during the process.)

Ricoh’s Aficio SP C222DN is targeted for small offices or workgroups, but for its spotty installation documentation and inferior design elements miss the mark, it leaves much to be desired; such users deserve a more friendly experience.

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There’s quite a number of wireless printer solutions available on the market, but if you are looking for a few more capabilities, you make take note of Ricoh’s new HotSpot series models.

The series includes a color model SP C410DN-KP and a monochrome SP 4100N-KP, which according to Ricoh are the first printers that let users “print documents from any Wi-Fi enabled location or device.” No additional software download or installation is required.

HotSpot Series printer use Ricoh Embedded Software Architecture, developed by Ricoh together with PrinterOn, a developer of mobile printing solutions. The new printers have PrinterOn’s PrintSpots mobile printing software pre-installed and pre-configured, so there’s no need for external servers or applications. Also, this prevents unwanted changes in setup and print queue.

There are two ways to print on Ricoh SP C410DN-KP and SP 4100N-KP. The first is to upload the files to a website associated with the printer; the second is to forward the file to the printer’s own email. That means you won’t have to install any drivers and are rid of tedious printer setup.

After the printer accepted a task, it sends a unique confirmation task code back to user. This code can be entered from a printer’s digital keyboard for printing the task.

No official price is yet known, but the monochrome SP 4100N-KP already sells for $1700. Naturally, the color model, Ricoh SP C410DN-KP, will cost a lot more.

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Previously, Ricoh Americas Corporation introduced a series of single-function printers that use gel instead of liquid inks, GelSprinter. Just the other day, Ricoh launched an addition to its GelSprinter series, desktop color multifunction printers: the Ricoh GX3000S, GX3000SF and the GX3050SFN. No picture is yet available.

What’s new? These are the first MFPs to utilize the GelSprinter technology combining the quality and performance of laser printing with the convenience and the vivid color of an inkjet. The MFPs use viscous-ink cartridges that offer higher yields compared to dye- based ink cartridges to reduce cost-per-page. Another advantage of viscous-ink is that the printhead never needs to be replaced.

How about specifications? The new series provides standard color copying, printing and scanning on all models, while embedded network connectivity is standard only on the GX3050SFN. All MFPs have speed of 29 pages per minute for both color and black & white at true 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution.

Ricoh says owners of GX3000S, GX3000SF and GX3050SFN can benefit from the low total running costs thanks to Level Color Mode. This feature reduces ink density up to 35 percent for graphics and images leaving the text well readable. Also, this mode makes color cost-per-page the same or less than black & white.

With Ricoh GX3000S, GX3000SF and GX3050SFN, the series has gone “green” and now meets Energy Star guidelines and provides supply-saving features such as:

• power saving sleep modes,
• duplex and combine copy modes and
• minimal ozone emissions.

The GX3000S is available at a suggested retail price of $549.00 and the GX3000SF and GX3050SFN, which includes fax and scan, are available for $699.00 and $849.00, respectively.

(From Ricoh’s Press Release)

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There is never a day that passes by printer manufacturers release new model. Supporting this tradition, Ricoh introduced Aficio SP C400DN, a color laser printer for small businesses.

Apart from “high-quality output”, “superior performance”, “high productivity” and other meaningless phrases, there is something else to know about this printing.

When printer is turned on, it takes only 10 seconds to warm up for black & white prints, and 15 seconds for color.

Should you assign the Aficio SP C400DN a large task, you will see it reaching printing speed of 26 pages per minute (ppm) in both color and monochrome. And the 600MHz controller helps output large files quickly. If you switch from the draft mode, it is possible to get 1200×1200 dpi resolution for the prints.

It’s worth mentioning that a large printing task would be halted after 1,750 pages. This is the standard paper capacity of Aficio SP C400DN. However this figure can be increased by adding more paper drawers, which are not the only extension possible, by the way.

This color laser printer is easily expandable with the Ricoh IS200e Image Scanner. This adds multi-functionality to the printer and offers fast full-color and monochrome scan speeds and variety of “scan-to” capabilities.

The printer sports an LCD operation panel on the front panel that provides simple access to menu functions and at-a-glance supply levels.

Ricoh Aficio SP C400DN comes bundled with a pack of additional features:

• WebImageMonitor tool allows users can view system status, check supply levels and change printer settings remotely from their PC.
• Unauthorized Copy Control embeds special messages on a printed document to prevent unauthorized copying
• DataOverwriteSecurity System (DOSS) overwrites latent data information stored on the printer’s hard drive to prevent unauthorized access.

So that you know, ‘N’ is printer model name stands for ‘network ready’ and means an Ethernet adapter is installed.

The Aficio SP C400DN is priced $999.

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