Konica Minolta ’s latest Magicolor has closely everything you could enquire for in a sub-$1,000 color laser printing machine . It ships with built - in Ethernet and USB 2.0 ports and decent paper capacity , and , unlike many cheap colour lasers , it include PostScript Level 3 .
Initial setup of the printer was a piece of patty . Its four toner cartridges come pre - installed and its compact size does n’t take up too much desk space .
When you first release on the printer , it makes a jarring chugging sound . It also does this between print , and , from time to clip , while unwarranted . If you shape in a small space , the stochasticity could get annoying .
After establish the driver from the included CD , I was able to link up and publish via USB 2.0 . When I attempt to connect it to our local Ethernet connection , however , I began possess problems . The 2450 should show up as an useable AppleTalk printing machine , but it did n’t . I print a configuration page using the printer ’s onboard menus to ensure that the printer had been give a valid IP address through DHCP . Then I clicked on the IP Printer tab of Apple ’s Printer Setup Utility and manually typed in the pressman ’s IP address — after that , it was able-bodied to publish . Interestingly , the 2450 is not Bonjour - open , though its lower priced , non - PostScript sibling , the Magicolor 2430DL (; September 2005 ) , is .
A Konica Minolta technician come to our office and installed new microcode , and though it took up to five moment for the printer to show up as an available AppleTalk printer , it did eventually , and I was able to print . Konica has since posted a new microcode file on itsWeb siteas an available download for Mac OS cristal 10.4 users . The company tell that many people were able to habituate the 2450 successfully in an AppleTalk environment without this update .
Once connected , it printed brilliant , accurate color and sporting textual matter , though the text edition did seem a bit on the heavy side . The gradients in our graphics run varlet looked smooth with no banding and fine lines were unploughed . The printer includes a USB porthole on the front for printing directly from PictBridge - enable digital cameras , and this printer does a great job with photographic look-alike .
In condition of speeding , the 2450 lagged behind other printers we ’ve tested in this category — taking about an extra minute to print both the 10 - page Microsoft Word document and the enceinte Photoshop ikon . It was capable to make up some lost fourth dimension with the 4 - page PDF photographic print , however .
Timed Trials
multiplication in minutes : seconds
Jury Tests
Scale = Excellent , Very Good , Good , Flawed , Unacceptable
Specifications
Macworld’s Buying Advice
Now that Konica Minolta has worked out a couple of pesky net problems , the Magicolor 2450 , with its lustrous , accurate colors , PostScript 3 potentiality , and sensible price , will be a good bet for people who need a little workgroup , internet color laser .
[ James Galbraith isMacworld ’s lab director . ]
