Multitalented multifunctions: 5 MFDs tested

But will it do the dishes? We take a look at five devices that will print, fax, copy, scan, sort, staple, hole punch... and that's before breakfast. But can you stop those wasteful users from printing in colour?

 Multifunction devices
  Canon IR C3100
  Fuji-Xerox C240
  Ricoh Aficio 2432
  HP LaserJet 4100 MFP
  Kyocera KM-3035

 How We Tested
 Colour Specifications
 Monochrome Specifications
 Sample Scenarios
 Editor's choice
 About RMIT
Multifunction devices (MFD), document centres, and copiers are sometimes confused. These devices are categorically different. For example, copiers typically don't come with a fax and are not used as printers. MFDs can print, copy, scan, and fax. Document centres are typically MFDs that use document management software, but "document centre" is a term used predominantly by Fuji Xerox and it's a loose term that can mean a lot of other things as well.

For this review we looked at MFDs: devices that can be attached to a local network that can print, copy, scan, and fax. In all we received five MFDs, three colour capable and two that were only monochrome capable. HP and Kyocera both have new models coming out later in the year that are colour capable, but currently only have monochrome MFDs available.

Duty Cycles
An interesting area of discussion is the way vendors quote duty cycles. For example, one of the vendors claims its device has a duty cycle of 150,000 pages a month which is 1,800,000 pages a year. We have serious doubts that the engine could print that many pages. A more realistic number to use would be 15,000 pages per month or 10 percent of the claimed duty cycle. This will give you a better idea on whether the device is suitable and whether it will comfortably be able to handle your print volumes.

One thing is for certain: get clarification from the vendor in relation to the actual pages per month their device is capable of.

Toner In and Toner Out Option Plans
Toner In means the client pays for toner but the supplier will cover all maintenance, parts, and drums. The service charges are based on the number of prints/copies. Toner Out means the supplier of the MFD will cover all maintenance, parts, drums, and toner. The service charges are based on the number of prints/copies made.

An interesting area we would like to investigate in future is the cost of running a laser printer against a multifunctional device. One vendor we spoke to said the running costs of a printer were much more straightforward to calculate than the running costs of an MFD. Of course the initial cost of an MFD is a lot higher compared to that of a printer, but with the service agreements that are generally offered for MFDs, it may actually work out a lot cheaper to run an MFD over a number of years than it would a printer. There are many scenarios we could run against this and it would be very interesting to find where it would and wouldn't be beneficial to use either.

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Talkback 1 comments

  1. hi there good info sofar, mfd's could also have answering phone/machine etc or will ansa machine work seperately to mfds? sometimes ansa machines answer on faxes, how to avoid this? Anonymous -- 20/08/04

    hi there
    good info sofar, mfd's could also have answering phone/machine etc or will ansa machine work seperately to mfds? sometimes ansa machines answer on faxes, how to avoid this?


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