Ricoh GX5050N User Manual

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

15.5 PPM Color • 19.5 PPM
Monochrome Inkjet Printer*

Test period duration: Two months, including a 16,500-

impression durability test.

MAY 2007

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

BUYERS LABORATORY INC. Lab Test Report

A Comprehensive BLI Laboratory Evaluation

Reliability ..............................................Excellent

Misfeeds ...................................................... 0

Service Calls ................................................. 0

Print Quality .......................................... Very Good

Color Photographic Images ........................... Good

Color Business Graphics ............................... Good

Black Text .........................................Very Good

Black Line Art ........................................... Good

Halftone Range .................................... Excellent

Halftone Fill ......................................Very Good

Black Solids .......................................Very Good

Wicking .................................................. Good

Ink Bleed ................................................ Good

Pricing Analysis ....................................... Very Good

Supplies Cost Per Page (Color/Black) ....9.218¢/1.612¢

Ease of Use ............................................. Excellent

Status Information .................................... Excellent

* In “Standard” mode, the unit’s default setting. 30 ppm in color

and black in High Speed Draft mode.

1

Suggested retail price: $369
Manufacturer: Ricoh Corporation; West Caldwell, NJ; made in China.
Maximum monthly duty cycle: Up to 33,000 impressions.
BLI’s recommended monthly volume for optimum performance: Up to 3,500 impressions.
Type: Desktop, color piezo inkjet printer.

GENERAL APPRAISAL

ALSO INSIDE

 Specications

 Certicate of

Reliability

Ratings scale:

Excellent, Very

Good, Good, Fair

and Poor.

Offering awless reliability and admirable productivity, the Ricoh Acio

GX5050N provided an exceptional overall performance in BLI's tests. In
addition to completing its 16,500-impression test with no service required
and not even a single misfeed, the competitively priced unit proved to be
economical as well, featuring the a cost per page that is among the lowest
for comparable inkjet printers.

With a rated speed of 19.5 ppm in black and 15.5 ppm in color in the default
Standard mode (the unit features speeds of up to 30 ppm in black and color
when printing in High Speed Draft mode) and support for up to legal-size output,

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© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

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the Ricoh Acio GX5050N proved to be a productive unit, demonstrating
above-average efciency rates and rst page times that were faster than

average compared to similar tested inkjet printers. The unit, which employs
four separate ink tanks, also produced very good output overall. This is due
in part to Ricoh's Modulation-Dot (M-Dot) technology, which allows up to
four droplets of ink to be ejected in rapid succession, thus combining into

a single larger dot, producing better ll and higher resolution. Black output
produced by the Acio GX5050N in the default “Standard” mode was rated
“Very Good.” Color business graphics and photographic images were rated
“Good.”

The Acio GX5050N received excellent ratings for ease of use and the included

utilities. The unit is very easy to set up: using the quick-install routine on
the included CD, users can easily install the drivers and software in just a

ADVANTAGES

The Ricoh Acio GX5050N’s supplies cost per page for both black and color output are the second lowest

•

for competitive inkjet products tested.

The rst-print times for all ve le types used in testing are faster than the average for inkjet products

•

tested to date. In fact the rst print times for the Word, PowerPoint, TIFF and PDF les are the fastest

of inkjet printers tested to date.

Overall color and monochrome print efciency is well above average in simplex and duplex modes when

•

compared to tested inkjet printers.

When printing from the PCL driver, the unit completed BLI’s 19-page job stream at 109.14 percent of its

•

rated color speed, which is the best performances for comparable inkjet printers in this test to date.
When printing from the PCL driver, the Ricoh GX5050N completed the monochrome job stream at 87.60
percent of its rated engine speed, which is above average. Performance from the RPCS driver was even
better, at 107.28 percent of its rated speed for monochrome and 116.3 percent of its rated speed for
color.

The standard memory capacity, at 64 MB, is 48 percent higher than the average for competitive inkjet

•

printers.

SHORTCOMINGS

Color photographic output produced by the Ricoh Acio GX5050N showed a heavy yellow undertone in

•

some skin tones.

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This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

2

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

Pricing Analysis



Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

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few minutes with about four clicks of the mouse. Specifying job requirements
from the well-designed print drivers was also simple. Further enhancing ease
of use from the desktop is the good feedback to PC workstations, including
pop-up messages on device and print job status and the ability to proactively
check status information. In addition, the unit features simple procedures

for loading paper and removing misfeeds. The Acio GX5050N also offers

clean and simple procedures for replacing the four separate ink cartridges.
Printers that employ a separate ink cartridge for each color are generally
more economical than models that use tri-color cartridges, which must be
thrown away as soon as any one of the colors is depleted.

BLI's pricing analysis reveals that the Ricoh Acio GX5050N is priced

competitively with the average for network-ready inkjet printers with
similar standard features (i.e., support for 8.5" x 14" output and automatic

duplexing). The Acio GX5050N’s cost per page for monochrome and color

is lower than the average for competitive tested products. In fact, its color
cost per page is lower than the average for workgroup color laser printers
in the 20- to 30-ppm range, which have traditionally offered lower supplies
cost than inkjet.

Summary



Based on its excellent performance in BLI's tests, the Ricoh Acio GX5050N is

highly recommended by BLI for small workgroups with monthly print volumes
of up to 3,500 impressions.

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This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

3

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

FEATURES

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

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Controller:

Ricoh controller based on a 400-MHz TMPR4956 CXBG processor.

Automatic features:

Auto duplexing; auto tray switching; auto color calibration.

Interface(s):

Standard: USB 1.1/2.0.

Tested memory:

64 MB of RAM.

Client operating system support:

Windows 95, 98, Me, NT4.0, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista.

Network operating system support:

TCP/IP.

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

Print drivers:

The Ricoh Acio GX5050N includes PCL 5c and PCL 6 print driv­ers, as well as a proprietary RPCS driver.

Fonts:

Host-based.

Resolution modes:

300 x 300 dpi and 600 x 600 dpi, as well as interpolated reso­lution modes of 600 x 300 dpi and 1800 x 600 dpi.

Control Panel

The user-friendly control panel consists of a two-line, 32­character LED screen and nine hard keys.

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This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

4

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

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TEST RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS

Test equipment:

BLI’s dedicated test network, consisting of Windows 2000

servers, Windows XP workstations, 10/100BaseTX network
switches and CAT5 cabling.

Reliability



Ricoh Aficio GX5050N



PMs/Malfunctions Service Required

Meter count
(beginning of test)

End of test period 16,500

Total misfeeds/misfeed rate 0/Not applicable

Total Service Calls 0

Meter Count

(Impressions)

0

Ease of Operation

Ease of use:

Excellent. The included PCL and RPCS drivers are well laid out
and easy to use. Procedures for loading paper and adjusting
paper drawers are very straightforward, but the unit does not
automatically detect paper size; operators have to select the
paper size at the control panel. Removing misfeeds is an easy
procedure.

Ease of installation:

Excellent. Users insert the included CD-ROM, which auto­launches, and select “Quick Install for Network.” The soft­ware quickly and easily walks the user through the installa­tion, allowing the user to install the user’s guide, SmartDe­viceMonitor for Client, PCL 6 and RPCS driver with four clicks
of the mouse.

Impressions

Between Service

Feedback to PC workstations:

Excellent. Users can receive pop-up messages for completed
print jobs and device error conditions at their PCs, as well
as icon alerts. Ricoh offers two device monitoring utilities
for end users: Status Monitor and SmartDeviceMonitor for
Client. Users can access the RCPS print driver’s Status Moni­tor by double-clicking an icon under the Maintenance tab
of the driver. Status Monitor graphically displays remaining
ink supplies and displays device status. SmartDeviceMonitor

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This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

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without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

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for Client is installed on users’ PCs; it offers information on

device status, remaining ink supplies, paper size and remain­ing paper supply.

SmartDeviceMonitor for Client

Status Monitor

User-Replaceable Consumables

Black ink cartridge:

Price, $57. Manufacturer’s rated yield, 3,000 pages at 5% cov­erage.

Color ink cartridges (cyan, magenta, yellow):

Price, $62 each. Manufacturer’s rated yield, 2,300 pages each
at 5% coverage.

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This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

6

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

Ease of replacing ink cartridges:

Excellent. Replacing the ink cartridges was a clean and
straightforward procedure.

Tested Ink Yield/Supplies Cost Per Page (Color)



Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

BUYERS LABORATORY Lab TesT RepoRT

Color

Black 61.0 2,729 44.73 2.089¢ 9.218¢ 9.218¢

Cyan 39.8 3,017 77.20 2.055¢

Magenta 49.9 2,504 50.18 2.476¢

Yellow 48.9 2,386 48.79 2.598¢

1

Ink cost per page is based on Ricoh’s pricing for the ink cartridges and BLI’s tested ink yield based on an original with
5% page coverage per color.

2

The supplies cost per page is based on Ricoh’s pricing and BLI’s tested yields for the black and color ink cartridges.

Net Weight

(In Grams)

Ink Yield

(Impressions)

Tested Ink Yield/Supplies Cost Per Page (5% Black)

Color

Black 63.7 3,535 55.49 1.612¢ 1.612¢

1

Ink cost per page is based on Ricoh’s pricing for the ink cartridge and BLI’s tested ink yield based on the ISO 19752 an
original with 5% page coverage.

2

The supplies cost per page is based on Ricoh’s pricing and BLI’s tested yields for the black ink cartridge.

Print Quality



Net Weight

(In Grams)

Ink Yield

(Impressions)

Impressions

Per Gram

Impressions

Ink Cost Per

Per Gram

Page1

Total Ink Cost

Per Page

Ink Cost

Per Page

1

Supplies Cost

1

Supplies Cost

Per Page

Per Page

2

2

Color Business Graphics Good

Color Photographic Images Good

Black Text Very Good

Black Line Art Good

Black Halftone Range Excellent

Black Halftone Fill Very Good

Black Solids Very Good

Wicking Good

Ink Bleed Good

Comments:

Color print quality is tested using the ANSI standard IT8 Color
Test Target with one set of print samples taken in at default

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This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

7

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

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“Standard” mode using the color and black ink cartridges. The

ANSI IT8 Color Test Target is read using the Minolta CM-503i
spectrophotometer, and the sample is analyzed using the CIE
XY Chromaticity Diagram.

Typical of inkjet printers, the Acio GX5050N produced a

smaller color gamut on regular bond paper than those pro­duced by color laser- and LED-based units tested by BLI to
date.

Color shades produced remained true to the base color
with very little contamination, and overall color production
remained very stable, with consistent skin tones throughout
the test period. Color output in photographic images showed
a a yellow undertone in some skin tones..

Halftone range:

Clearly visible from the 1% to 100% dot-ll levels, with distinct

transitions between levels.

Typical halftone range for inkjet printers:

4% to 90%.

Color Print Density

Color Cyan Magenta Yellow

Standard 0.80 0.77 0.72

Density of a printed image with blocks of all solid colors (based on the average of two readings for each color).

Print density

GX5050N

Range for
tested units

0 1.00.5

21.5

Density of solid black printed image:

Range, 1.14 to 1.16 (On a scale of 0 to 2.5, with 2.5 being as
dark as would be possible under most circumstances. Based
on four readings corresponding to four different locations on
the original.).

Density range for products in this class tested to date:

1.06 to 1.48.

Ink Tests

Black Waterfastness (Drip Test):

The test measures the amount of colorant transferred from
a printed area to an unprinted area when a drip of distilled

water is allowed to run across ve parallel bars. Five density

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This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

8

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

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readings are averaged for two separate drips. The sample is
allowed to dry for one hour before drip test is performed.
Two samples are tested, one at default quality and one at the
highest quality.

Average Colorant Transferred

Drip 1 Drip 2

Standard (default) .000 .000

Black Highlighter Smearfastness:

The test measures the amount of colorant transferred from a

printed area to an unprinted area when briey contacted by

two types of highlighters. Density readings are taken for each

type of highlighter before and after vertically crossing ve

printed parallel horizontal bars to determine the amount of
black ink transferred. The sample is allowed to dry one hour
before testing. Two samples are tested (one at the default
quality and one at the highest quality setting).

Difference of Colorant Transferred

Alkaline Acid

Standard (default) 0.02 0.02

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© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

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without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

Print Productivity

BLI’s Tested Print Speeds

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

BUYERS LABORATORY Lab TesT RepoRT

Average Speed

(excluding rst page)

Average Speed

(including rst page)

11.72

17.81

11.57

17.32

0 20105

15

Color
Monochrome

Pages Per Minute

Print speed is tested using BLI’s Test Original (with 5% page coverage for monochrome). The test page is printed in a
quantity equal to double the vendor’s rated print speed for the device in each mode tested (e.g., if the vendor’s rated

print speed is 20 ppm, 40 pages are printed). The Ricoh Acio GX5050N’s print speeds were tested in the default Standard

mode using the PCL 6 driver.

Tested First-Print Times (Seconds)

Windows XP Word PowerPoint Photoshop Acrobat Photoshop

File Type Black Text

File Extension DOC PPT TIF PDF JPG

Pre-Raster File Size 114 KB 99 KB 20 MB 171 KB 245 KB

Post-Raster File Size 56.2 KB 116 KB 587 KB 140 KB 125 KB

First-Print Time (seconds) 7.13 7.66 19.03 8.49 20.44

Color Graphic/

Text

Color

Graphic

Black

Graphic/Text

Color Graphic

10

Manufacturer’s rated speeds:

High Speed Draft (300 x 300 dpi): 30 ppm (black text), 30 ppm (full color)

High Speed (300 x 300 dpi): 19.5 ppm (black text), 15.5 ppm (full color)

High Quality (600 x 600 dpi): 10.5 ppm (black text), 7.5 ppm (full color)

The Ricoh Acio GX5050N’s raster times/print speeds were tested in default Standard mode using the PCL 6 driver.

First-print time indicates the time it took to RIP, image and deliver the rst page of the test document set to the output

tray.

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This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

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Efficiency

Print 1:1 1:1 black

Sets Originals Min. Sec. PPM Efciency Overall Efciency

1 10 0 36.53 16.4 84.2% 84.2%

5 10 2 57.53 16.9 86.7% 85.4%

10 10 5 51.99 17.0 87.4% 86.1%

Print 1:2 1:2 black

Sets Originals Min. Sec. PPM Efciency Overall Efciency

1 10 0 49 12.2 62.8% 62.8%

5 10 4 3.88 12.3 63.1% 62.9%

10 10 8 3.36 12.4 63.7% 63.2%

Print 1:1 1:1 color

Sets Originals Min. Sec. PPM Efciency Overall Efciency

1 10 0 47.21 12.7 82.0% 82.0%

5 10 3 39.49 13.7 88.2% 85.1%

10 10 6 50.26 14.6 94.4% 88.2%

Print 1:2 1:2 color

Sets Originals Min. Sec. PPM Efciency Overall Efciency

1 10 0 55.81 10.8 69.4% 69.4%

5 10 4 14.23 11.8 76.1% 72.7%

10 10 8 20.61 12.0 77.3% 74.3%

11

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This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

Simplex Efficiency

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

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100%

80

60

40

20

0

Duplex Efficiency

100%

80

60

40

20

82.0 84.2 88.2 86.7 94.4 87.4 88.2 86.1

Overall10 Sets5 Sets1 Set

69.4 62.8 76.1 63.1 77.3 63.7 74.3 63.2

0

Overall10 Sets5 Sets1 Set

Color
Monochrome

BLI obtains the overall efciency percentage by dividing the tested speed of the device by the rated speed and then

multiplying by 100 for each run length. All jobs are based on a 10-page document printed in the default Standard mode

on the Ricoh Acio GX5050N using the PCL 6 print driver.

Job Stream Evaluation

A job stream consisting of nine les (a mix of Word, Excel,

HTML, PowerPoint and e-mail) is sent to a paused print queue.

All les are monochrome or monochrome and mixed color
and consist of ve or fewer pages (total of 19 pages). Timing

begins when the queue is released and ends when the last
page of the job stream completely exits the device.

Time to completion of all print jobs (color):

1 minutes, 23.96 seconds. (PCL 6)
1 minute, 8.56 seconds. (RPCS)

12

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© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

BUYERS LABORATORY Lab TesT RepoRT

Time to completion of all print jobs (black):

1 minute, 7.39 seconds. (PCL 6)
1 minute, 3.24 seconds. (RPCS)

Problems encountered:

None

Applications compatibility:

Excellent (units are tested for compatibility with Microsoft
Word 2000, Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, Microsoft Publisher,
Adobe Photoshop 6.0 and Adobe Acrobat 5.0 using 25 appli-

cation test les, which contain text, graphics, halftone

images, tables, etc. enabling BLI technicians to evaluate

memory usage, le processing, font-rendering and grayscale

capability).

Print drivers:

The Ricoh Acio GX5050N ships with Ricoh RPCS, PCL 5c and

PCL 6 print drivers for Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0,
2000, XP and 2003.

13

The PCL 6 Print Driver

Send once/print many:

Yes. When printing multiple collated sets, the le size increases

by the number of sets requested when collate is selected from
the Windows print screen within an application. Output was
properly collated.

LAB TEST

This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

Connectivity

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

BUYERS LABORATORY Lab TesT RepoRT

General:

The Ricoh Acio GX5050N was connected to BLI’s test network

via its standard 10/100BaseTX connection.

Embedded Web page:

Yes. The Ricoh Acio GX5050N’s embedded Web page allows
users to view printer and system status, congure the print

server and restart the print server.

14

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N’s Embedded Web Page

Included software:

The Ricoh Acio GX5050N includes the PCL 6/5c, RPCS print

driver and SmartDeviceMonitor utility on one CD-ROM.

SmartDeviceMonitor can be congured to start when the

system boots and run minimized on the taskbar tray. The
icon on the taskbar will give the user visual indications when
there is an error or warning condition. This utility can be
proactively accessed by double-clicking on the icon and can

also be congured to give the user pop-up messages for alert

conditions.



Consumables monitoring:

Yes. The user can check consumables via SmartDeviceMonitor

or the RPCS print driver’s Status Monitor utility.

LAB TEST

This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any man-
ner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be pros-

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

ecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].



SPECIFICATIONS

Ricoh Acio GX5050N

30 ppm/30ppm (mono / color) Desktop Piezo Inkjet

US release: June 2006
US SRP / Street: $369/ INA
Color Type: 4-Color
Controller: INA
CPU / Bits / MHz: TMP R4956CXBG-400/INA/400
Memory (std / max): 64 MB/ 64 MB
HDD: INA
PDLs: RPCS Raster, PCL5c/6

FAD 34303

 ENGINE

Mfr / Model / Country: Ricoh/ INA/ INA
Monthly Duty Cycle: 33,000 impressions
Rated Engine Life: INA

 RESOLUTION

Standard: 1200 x 1200 dpi
Enhanced: 3600 x 1200 dpi

PAPER HANDLING

Std/Max Paper Source(s): 3/3
Std/Max Paper Capacity: 250 sheets/850 sheets
Paper Size (W x L): 8.5" x 14" max
Print Area (W x L): INA max
Paper Weights: 16-lb to 26-lb bond
Std Output Capacity: 150 sheets
Other Output: None
Bypass (Capacity / Weight): 100 sheets/16-lb to 68-lb bond
Automatic Duplexing: Standard

FEATURES

Collation: INA
Color Depth (Bits): INA
Color Management: INA
Fonts: Host-based
IPP (Web) Support: INA
RIP Once / Print Many: INA
Secure Printing: INA

Other: Std 500-sheet paper tray

 INTERFACE / CONNECTIVITY

Client OS Spt: Windows 95/98/Me/NT 4.0/2000/XP/

Server 2003,
Network Spt: TCP/IP, IPX, SPX,
Std Interface: USB 1.1/2.0
Opt Interface: 10/100BaseTX Ethernet
Printer Mgmt: INA

COMMENTS: First print out speed 8.5 sec B/W & color. Warm up time: 35

sec or less. Utlizes GelSprinter ink technology.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Display / Characters: LED/0
Energy Star Compliance: Yes
Noise Level (Print / Idle): INA / INA
Power Consumption: INA max
Power Reqs (V / Hz / Amps): 120/60/INA
Warranty: INA
Weight (Base Unit): 34.2 lbs
Dimensions (H x W x D): 19.69" x 19.33" x 16.34"

OPTIONS

Multi-bypass tray (405529): $126
Paper feed unit (405530): $153

SUPPLIES

print cartridge (405536): Black high yield: $57; yield–3,000 pages; coverage–5%

high yield print cartridge (c,m,y) (405537/38/39): Color: $62 each;

yield–2,300 pages; coverage–5%

15

© 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any manner,

This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. Any duplication of this report, in whole or part, in any form or manner,

whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will be prose-

without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory, is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. © 2007 Buyers Laboratory Inc. To purchase reprints,

cuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact BLI at [phone]. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Contact us at [e-mail].

contact BLI at [phone] (x17) or at [e-mail].

the leading independent office products test lab and business consumer advocate

BUYERS LABORATORY INC. 20 RAILROAD AVENUE HACKENSACK, NJ 07601 201-488-0404 WWW.BUYERSLAB.COM

Copyright 2007 by Buyers Laboratory. Reproduction without written permission from BLI is illegal and strictly prohibited.

CERTIFICATE OF RELIABILITY

AWARDED TO

RICOH CORPORATION

For the performance of the

Ricoh Aficio GX5050N

throughout BLI's in-house durability test.

This is to certify that when subjected to a 16,500-impression

Buyers Lab durability test in a networked environment,

the Ricoh Aficio GX5050N proved to be a highly reliable product.

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RELIABILITY CERTIFIED

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RELIABILITY CERTIFIED

®

ANTHONY F. POLIFRONE

MANAGING DIRECTOR

DATE

May

2007

THE LEADING INDEPENDENT OFFICE PRODUCTS TES T L AB AND BUSINESS CONSUMER ADVOCATE

BUYERS LABORATORY INC. • 20 RAILROAD AVENUE • HACKENSACK, NJ 07601 • USA • WWW.BUYERSLAB.COM

Copyright 2007 Buyers Laboratory. This certificate has been reproduced with the written permission of BLI.