How we tested colour laser printers
We tested each of the colour laser printers in a number of ways to gauge
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colour on the network Introduction |
We tested all the printers from our Gateway desktop PC, which was equipped with an AMD Athlon 1GHz processor and 128MB of RAM running Windows 2000. All of the printers were tested one at a time and were connected to RMIT's network through a D-Link 10/100 Fast Ethernet Switch. The following is a breakdown of the testing methodology.
Printing
Word Simple 10-page Test (600dpi). This test comprised 20 pages with a
single font (Arial 10-point) and is used to evaluate the printer's
maximum real-world throughput.
Word Complex 4-page Test (600dpi). This test comprised 4 pages of complex word processing and includes: 18 different fonts some in multiple sizes, eight images ranging from simple clip art to high res TIFF photos and multiple column styles.
Fontkey.PDF (600dpi). This test confirms the printers ability to correctly and accurately render multiple font sizes from 4-point up to 48-point in two font styles: Times New Roman and Gaudy Handtooled.
Laserkey.PDF (600dpi). This test exercises the printers ability to produce smooth greyscale gradients (both linear and greyscale); smooth straight, oblique, and radial fine lines; and smooth solid black fills.
Colorkey.PDF (600dpi). This test is similar to the previous test but also includes smooth colour gradations, ink mixing, fine yellow grid lines on a solid green background and a JPEG image of a small child.
Photo Realistic Graphics Test Photo (Max Resolution). The very large 44MB (once "flattened" by PhotoShop) test image was created and printed using Photo Shop 5.0 LE. The diversity of the graphic content allowed us to evaluate a whole range of printer abilities such as skin tones, sky colour fidelity, accuracy with fine white on colour details, accuracy of dithering (particularly in areas of low contrast), handling of low contrast shadows and overall color or greyscale accuracy. This was also timed. We had started to time this test after the PC had processed the job. This meant we had to pause the printer and wait for the PC.
Printing Quality Assessment
Printer output was assessed for quality by the Test Lab staff, both with
the naked eye and also an 8x magnifier. Purity was also judged with the
naked eye, assessing how close the output was to the actual screen
image. While we acknowledge this is a largely subjective process,
especially given the different technologies we feel that most users
would use similar purity criteria.
Fonts were assessed for accuracy of formation, smoothing of radial and oblique edges and any evidence of toner "spatter" particularly in the white-on-black font test. Smoothness of colour/greyscale gradations and dithering was assessed, as was the accuracy of fine radial and oblique lines.
Ratings
We also rated each of the machines in the areas of interoperability,
futureproofing, return on investment and service.
Interoperability: We looked at the interfaces that were supported.
Futureproofing: With futureproofing we were basically concerned about the expansion potential of each of the printers. We looked to see what the maximum amount of RAM each of the printers could hold. Whether you could buy a second or third paper tray or any sorter bins and also if you could fit a duplexer or a hard disk to the printer.
ROI: We looked at the initial cost of the printer as well as the total cost of ownership. We also considered the print speed and print quality.
Service: With service we looked at the length of the warranty and the support hours that were offered for each of the printers.
1%
8%
