Konica Minolta PagePro 1380MF review

Konica Minolta's PagePro 1380MF looks like the PagePro 1350W reviewed in Labs, Shopper July 2005, but with a scanner fitted on top.

It also looks very similar to Oki's B4250 multifunction peripheral (MFP), reviewed in the same issue's What's New section. It has no fax/modem, but a more expensive 1390MF model adds fax facilities and an automatic document feeder (ADF).

The printer takes two separate consumables that are easy to install and remove. Replacement toner is available with a 6,000-page yield, and the drum has a capacity of 20,000 pages. This gives the 1380MF print costs of around 1.5p per page, which is competitive for a laser MFP.

Installing the driver was quick enough. We weren't so happy about a distracting animated icon added to Windows' System Tray, but this can be removed from the Startup program group.

The 1380MF's print driver is rudimentary, with no guide for manual duplex printing and a radio button permanently selecting a 600dpi resolution, which is the only one available. You can print multiple pages to a sheet, but there's no diagram to show how the various options will appear on the page.

The mono laser print engine is rated at 20 pages per minute (ppm), and peaked at a credible 18.2ppm when producing 50 copies of our letter test. Printed text appeared very sharp, although under magnification we noticed jagged edges in the outlines of small characters. Though grainy, graphical prints were quite acceptable and appeared quickly.

We've been disappointed by the scanners in many mono laser multifunction peripherals, so the results from the 1380MF came as a pleasant surprise. Although colours appeared a little milky and our test scans weren't the sharpest we've seen, they were great for this type of product.

Konica Minolta's TWAIN interface is basic, but it's easy to understand and doesn't miss anything vital. Scans are acceptably quick at low to moderate resolutions; capturing a 6x4" photograph at 600dpi took 23.5 seconds.

The 1380MF combines decent scan, print and copy performance with a reasonable price and acceptable running costs. It's a great MFP for a small office that doesn't need colour printing or a fax.

Author: Simon Handby