Epson Aculaser CX21N review

With a 45,000 page maximum monthly duty cycle and a 180-sheet paper capacity that can be upgraded to 680 sheets with an optional tray, the entry level model in Epson's Aculaser CX21N range is a fully-fledged workgroup MFP with both 10/100 Ethernet and USB ports. It's easy to set up and install, although Windows 7 users will need to download appropriate drivers from Epson's website.

It comes with high-yield toner cartridges, which will last for 4,500 black and 5,000 colour pages. If you have light printing requirements of around 100 pages a month, you shouldn't need to replace any of your consumables for over three years, producing a Total Cost of Ownership of just £242 – the MFP's purchase price.

Although this immediately makes the CX21N a better deal than many cheaper and less feature-packed colour laser devices, its size is enough to put off users in search of a personal colour laser for a home or small office. Measuring 667x460x467mm, it's large and rather loud when in operation. It's perfect for a business with heavy printing requirements and a bit of space.

A two-line LCD screen displays the device's status and built-in menu system. Buttons on the front allow you to switch between copy, scan, and maintenance modes. A web interface allows you to control most of these options remotely via your network. Changing toner cartridges can be tricky if you want to remove them before the end of their lifespan. Only one cartridge can be reached at a time and you'll have to use the built-in menus to rotate to the one you want into reach.

The CX21N printed our mixed-colour document at a steady 4.8ppm. Print quality was excellent. Colour charts and illustrations were rich, solid and intense, without a visible grain. Photo-quality images were smoothly shaded with realistic reproduction of skin tones and natural colours. Mono text was of a high quality and printed at 22.1ppm.

The 600dpi scanner captured fine detail well, and low-resolution document scans produced sharp and legible text. Some photos were a little dark, but Epson's powerful scanner driver provides all the tools to make any corrections you require. Photocopies were also a little dark, but this was easily corrected.

Although its print costs can't match those of a business inkjet or large business colour laser copier/MFP, the CX21N has a reasonable mixed black and colour page cost of 8p. Typically, most of this comes from the three colour cartridges, at 6.7p. A mono page costs a very economical 1.4p. The TCO for medium and heavy use is increased by the cost of additional consumables, most notably a £165 photoconductor drum, which must be replaced every 42,000 impressions. However, you'll still only need to change that once in three years if you print 500 and 250 colour pages every month, as in our medium usage estimate.

The CX21N is an outstanding workgroup MFP with plenty of features and a low price and running costs that make it more economical than many budget single-function laser printers. If you have the space, it's a deserving Best Buy.