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)

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.