Panasonic kx-fCL500 Instruction Manual
The Nation’s Leading Independent
E
DITOR’
S
Better Buys
for Business
C
HOIC
E
2004
IC
Buyer’s Guides for Office Equipment
Panasonic
Panasonic WORKiO
KX-CL500
Panasonic WORKiO
KX-CL500D
Panasonic WORKiO KX-CL510
Panasonic WORKiO KX-CL510D
17ppm full color
21ppm black & white
Sum-up: Solid low-cost workgroup printer series
with good features and low operating costs.
When this letter/legal-size color laser printer series
debuted last year, it was a big step for the company,
which has in the past had rather lackluster color
printer models. The whole family has good features
and good prices, as well as an exceptionally small
footprint.
The base price for this line is $1,599, which puts it
in a select but growing group of printers. However,
few in this price range can match this family’s performance. At 17ppm in color and 21ppm in black-andwhite, this is definitely a fast machine, as fast as some
far more expensive printers. It also has built-in
Ethernet, even on the lowest priced model.
Versions: There are four models in the WORKiO
KX-CL500 family:
● The KX-CL500, the base model ($1,599)
● The KX-CL500D ($1,899), which adds automatic
duplex
● The KX-CL510 ($1,849), a PostScript-equipped
model without duplexing
● The KX-CL510D, the duplex version of that model
($2,249)
All of the models have some excellent standard
features. Ethernet connectivity, along with USB and
parallel ports, is built in. All have embedded Web
servers with remote administration and maintenance
tools. All have PCL 5c as a standard feature. And all
models offer an optional 10GB internal hard drive.
Note that full speed is available at 600dpi resolution only. At 1,200dpi, things slow down to 8.4ppm.
This may be a big concern to some, but we believe
600dpi is good enough for most users. You can speed
1,200dpi printing to the rated speed for most pages
if you move up to 128MB of memory, but you may need
256MB to safely print duplex pages with very high
coverage.
Paper capacity is pretty good. You start with a 100sheet multipurpose tray and 530-sheet drawer. You
can add one or two additional 530-sheet drawers.
That’s a total of 1,690 sheets of paper capacity, quite
good in this price range. Output capacity is the usual
250 sheets.
The base unit has 64MB of memory; the other three
© 2004 Better Buys for Business allows both print and electronic reproduction of this document.
DITOR’
E
HOIC
C
2004
units start with 128MB, so they handle complex jobs
S
E
and/or duplex printing more easily. Memory can be
expanded to 512MB, appropriate for this class of
printer.
The units are quite compact and under 66 lbs.,
rather light for color laser printers. Consumables costs
are among the lowest in the industry. We calculate the
black cost per page as around 1.5¢ and the color cost
as 8.8¢.
These printers are priced to sell. The KX-CL500, KXCL500D, and KX-CL510 are among the fastest networkready sub-$2,000 color lasers on the market. They also
have superior paper input capacity. In addition, the cost
of the duplex versions is quite reasonable. The biggest competition is from the OKI 7300 family, the base
model of which has a street price of just below $2,000.
That family has even better speed (20ppm in color)
and standard PostScript, but you’ll pay hundreds more
for both networking and automatic duplexing.
We believe this printer series is a strong contender,
with reasonable consumables prices, a low sticker
price, and good features. For these reasons, it gets our
Editor’s Choice Award.
Excerpted from The Color Laser Printer and Business Ink Jet Printer Guides, volume 158, November 2003.
© 2003 Progressive Business Publications, Inc.
Panasonic WORKiO KX-CL500/DP-CL21
Consumables costs at-a-glance
Black toner
Cyan toner
Magenta toner
Yellow toner
Print cartridge/black
Print cartridge/
(3)/3-color
Fuser
Waste toner
cartridge/black
Waste toner
cartridge (3)/3-color
Accumulator unit
Transfer roller
TOTAL PER-PAGE COSTS
$24.00 5,000 $0.005 $0.005
$72.00 5,000 $0.014 N/A
$72.00 5,000 $0.014 N/A
$72.00 5,000 $0.014 N/A
$86.00 13,000 $0.007 $0.007
$359.00 13,000 $0.028 N/A
$196.00 100,000 $0.002 $0.002
$11.00 24,000 N/A $0.000
$11.00 6,000 $0.002 N/A
$120.00 83,000 $0.001 $0.001
$16.00 100,000 $0.000 $0.000
Price
Yield
Full-color
cost per page
Black-and-white
cost per page
$0.0876 $0.0154
8.76¢ 1.54¢
Editor’s
Choice
Reprint
Better Buys for Business
is the leading independent
buyer’s guide to office
equipment. Our mission is
to help buyers of copiers,
printers, fax machines,
scanners, and duplicators
make smarter purchasing
decisions. To learn more
Better Buys for
about
Business
subscription information
on independent guide
ratings for all vendor
models, contact us:
www.BetterBuys.com
, including
800 247 2185
No Advertising. No Bias. No Compromise.
Better Buys
for Business
Excerpted from The Color Laser Printer and Business Ink Jet Printer
Guides, volume 158, November 2003. © 2003 Progressive Business Pub-
lications, Inc.
610P717370
Better Buys for Business
document imaging equipment (copiers, printers, faxes, scanners and duplicators).
To assure its independence,
Need more information?
For subscription information on independent guide ratings for all vendor models,
please call 800 247 2185, visit us at www.BetterBuys.com or mail at 370 Technology Drive, Malvern, PA 19355.
is the nation’s leading independent authority on
Better Buys for Business
© 2003 Better Buys for Business allows both print and electronic reproduction of this document.
accepts no advertising.
Loading...