Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
We ca n’t fault the XP-6100 ’s quality – it produces excellent results with everything from simple-minded textual matter to high - calibre portrait photos – and we also like its succinct design and utilitarian orbit of features . However , its run costs are a piffling high , which means the XP-6100 is well suited to occasional use .
Best Prices Today: Epson Expression Premium XP-6100
Epson makes an attractive range of ‘ small - in - one ’ printers that squeeze a multifunction printing machine , electronic scanner and copier into a smart , summary design that ’s ideal for use at home . And , as its name imply , theExpression Premium XP-6100is a top - of - the - range framework providing an telling range of feature , along with an accent on high - quality photo printing .
The RRP listed on Epson ’s website is £ 120 , but we ’ve actually seen the XP-6100 on cut-rate sale at various online retailers foras slight as £ 79.95 . That ’s a bit of a deal for such a versatile , high-pitched - quality printer – and also helps to compensate for the relatively in high spirits cost of Epson ’s renewal ink cartridges .
In this article we review the Epson Expression Premium XP-6100 for intention , features , print velocity and timbre , running cost and characteristic , to help Mac ( and to a less extent iPhone ) owners decide if it ’s the right printing machine for them . For more general buying advice , seeBest printer for Mac .
( US readers should note that this model is designed for the UK market . The tantamount example for the US is theXP-6000 , which is also available fromAmazon . )
Features & design
Available in either black or white-hot , the XP-6100 measures just 349 millimeter wide , 340 mm deep and 142 millimetre high , so it ’s a good option for a home authority or bedroom where space is tight .
Even so , Epson manages to admit an impressive range of feature , include a 1440 x 5760dpi color pressman and 1200 x 4800dpi electronic scanner and copier . The printer provides both USB and Wi - Fi connectivity , along with backing for Apple’sAirPrint , making it a good option if you like impression selfies or other photos from your iPhone or iPad .
There are two paper tray build up into the organic structure of the pressman , with the main tray obligate 100 mainsheet of A4 paper , while the second tray is design for glistening exposure paper . It supports semidetached house ( two - sided printing ) , and there ’s also a peculiar tray that allows you to print on standard candle and videodisk , so the XP-6100 really is suitable for a across-the-board cooking stove of printing tasks .
Like most inkjet printers , the XP-6100 use just four standard ink colours for printing pic and colour graphics – cyan , magenta , yellow and smuggled – but it does take a slenderly dissimilar approach here , as the printer actually includes two disjoined black ink cartridges . There ’s a standard black ink that ’s used for dim-witted textbook text file , plus a special ‘ photo black ’ which is used to add together crispness and contrast to , well , exposure .
Print quality
The photo black ink does seem to add definition , producing very brilliant , incisive images with our selection of test photos . It does n’t quite have the subtle graduated timber of a 5 - colour printing machine such asCanon ’s TS8250 , but our postal card prints definitely had stronger contrast than most conventional 4 - colour twist . The XP-6100 is a in effect choice if you need to impress gamy - calibre photos , or perchance some eye - catching computer graphic for a schooling news report .
unsubdivided text edition document reckon unspoiled too , with placid , fine detailed text that can give a more expensive laser printer a run for its money .
Print speed
The Epson wo n’t keep you hang around either . Epson quote speeds of 16 Thomas Nelson Page per minute of arc for mono printing , 11ppm for colour , and around 16 s for a 4x6 in postcard print . We actually pay back 13ppm for mono printing and 9ppm for colour , but those speed are still fast enough for most home drug user or small situation .
Our postcard prints were a footling dense , taking around 35 bit , but that ’s still pretty undecomposed for such in high spirits - timbre prints .
Running costs
Like many inkjet printers , the XP-6100 has a extremely competitory up - front purchase price , but it stings you a bit with the cost of the replacement ink cartridge – peculiarly as it uses that excess fifth ink for print photos .
Calculating running costs is complicated , as all five ink are sell in both standard and ‘ twoscore ’ size . The black ink cartridges for school text documents cost £ 14.49 and £ 22.99 for thestandardandXLcartridges , but even with the 550 Page provided by the XL pickup you ’re still compensate around 4p per page for bare text document , which is slightly above norm .
The costs for color and photo printing are a little better – but only if you grease one’s palms the large XL pickup . The standard cartridgescost £ 11 each(so £ 44 for all four ) , which adds up to a hefty 13.7p per Sir Frederick Handley Page . The XL cartridge are a whopping £ 73.46 for all four , but they last more than twice as long , bringing the overall toll per page for colour printing down to around 10.5p . That ’s on the in high spirits side of middling , but still satisfactory for a versatile , high - quality printer such as this .
Epson sell multi - packs containing all five ink cartridge , but the preservation on these multi - packs are passably small liken to the cost of buying case-by-case ink cartridge . It ’s deserving stag around ( tryCartridgeShoporPrinterland ) to see if you’re able to incur better damage on the replacement inks .
Verdict
We ca n’t fault the timber of the Epson Expression Premium XP-6100 , as it get splendid results with everything from simple text documents to high-pitched - character portrait photography . Its compact plan is well suited for use at home , yet still make out to admit a wide range of utilitarian printing process features ( such as AirPrint ) , and it ’s pleasingly tight too .
However , its running costs are a little high than average , which mean that the XP-6100 is best fit to occasional usance at dwelling , rather than for churning out circumstances of document every mean solar day .
