Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4545 DTWF review

PRINT COSTS

Print costs are remarkably low, outclassing most other MFPs, both laser and inkjet, we’ve seen in the last year. This is, of course, a key selling point of Epson’s WorkForce Pro range. A page of mono text costs just 1.1p, while a page of mixed black and colour printing is just 5.1p. Even the starter cartridges are generous: the MFP comes with a 1,200 pages worth of black ink and 800 pages of colour ink. This doesn’t entirely negate the traditional inkjet problems of blocked nozzles and dried-out cartridges if you don’t print regularly, but if you are a small or home office user who does a fair bit of printing, this is one of the most cost-effective ways to do it.

At £235, the MFP is a bit more costly than your average inkjet, but if you print in sufficient quantities it’s well worth it; total costs of ownership of £769 for medium use over three years and £2,583 for heavy use are far cheaper than any comparable laser printer could achieve. If you’re looking to scan at anything over 150dpi, though, you’ll be disappointed by the speed of both platen and ADF scans.

CONCLUSION

Despite the absence of a borderless photo printing, sluggish touchscreen and, more importantly, slow scan speeds, if you’ve got lots of printing to do, this is one of the cheapest ways of doing it. This alone is enough to earn the Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4545 DTWF a Business Buy award.