Ricoh SP 4100N User Manual

Ricoh Aficio SP 4100N

31 PPM Laser Printer

June 2007

Ricoh Aficio SP 4100N

BUYERS LABORATORY INC. Lab Test Report

A Comprehensive BLI Laboratory Evaluation

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

Administrative Utilities .............................. Excellent

Feedback to Workstations .......................... Very Good

Ease of Network Setup .............................. Very Good

Print Drivers ........................................... Excellent

Applications Compatibility .......................... Excellent

Image Quality ......................................... Very Good

Productivity ........................................... Very Good

Ease of Use ............................................Very Good

Feature Set ........................................... Very Good

Toner Yield ............................................. Excellent

Cost per Page ............................................. 1.111¢

Value ...................................................Very Good

Test duration: Two months, including a 75,000-impression

durability test.

Manufacturer’s recommended monthly volume: Up to 150,000 impressions.
BLI’s recommended monthly volume for optimum performance: Up to 25,000 impressions.

More information on the Ricoh Acio SP 4100N is available through bliQ (www.buyerslab.com/bliQ).

BLI RECOMMENDATION

BLI RECOMMENDATION

Proving itself to be an excellent choice for small to mid-size workgroups, the

ALSO INSIDE

 Test Procedures

 Specications

 Certicate of

Reliability

Ratings scale:

Excellent, Very

Good, Good, Fair

and Poor.

Ricoh Acio SP 4100N, a 31-ppm printer supporting up to legal-size output,

provided an exceptional overall performance during BLI’s two-month evaluation.
In addition to being highly reliable, completing its 75,000-impression test
without experiencing a single misfeed and with no service calls required, the

Acio SP 4100N provides very good quality output and very good ease of use.

Offering resolution modes of 600 x 600 and 1200 x 600 dpi, the Acio SP 4100N

produced output that was very good overall. BLI technicians cited text that was
crisp and cleanly formed; circular lines that were smooth and of consistent line
weight; and diagonal lines that were smoothly formed, with no stair-stepping
evident. However, halftones were visible over a narrower range than would be
expected for a printer in this class and transitions between some levels were
not distinct.

1

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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-

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

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-
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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The Acio SP 4100N was also easy to use from the desktop via the well-laid-

out print drivers. Further enhancing ease of use is the very good feedback

on device and print job status provided by the SmartDeviceMonitor utility.
SmartDeviceMonitor for Admin allows the administrator to create groups of
printers, lock the control panel, congure printer settings and monitor the
Ricoh Acio SP 4100N, as well as any other Ricoh or non-Ricoh device on the

network—printer or multifunctional—with an embedded Web page. In addition,
Web Image Monitor, the embedded Web page, offers device status information
such as the amount and size of paper in the drawers, the amount of toner
remaining and a temporary job history, as well as a listing of current settings
and error messages.

Because of its very good output quality, strong reliability and thorough

administrative utilities, the Ricoh Acio SP 4100N is highly recommended

by BLI for mid-size workgroups with monthly print volumes of up to 25,000
impressions.

PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW

, — and  represent positive, negative and neutral attributes, respectively.

RELIABILITY

 The Ricoh Acio SP 4100N is certied highly reliable by BLI, completing a

75,000-impression durability test with no service calls required and without
any misfeeds.

ADMINISTRATIVE UTILITIES

 SmartDeviceMonitor for Admin allows the administrator to create groups of

printers, lock the control panel, congure printer settings and manage the
Ricoh Acio SP 4100N, as well as any other Ricoh or compatible non-Ricoh

device on the network—printer or multifunctional—with an embedded Web
page.

EXCELLENT

EXCELLENT

 Web Image Monitor, the embedded Web page, offers device status infor-

mation such as the amount and size of paper in the drawers, the amount
of toner remaining and a temporary job history, as well as a listing of cur­rent settings and error messages. The Administrator mode of the embedded
Web page, which is password-protected to ensure only authorized users can
make changes to the device, allows the administrator to view information

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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-

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

2

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-
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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on device status and make changes to conguration settings, as well as set
up e-mail alerts to notify specied users of error and warning conditions.

SmartDeviceMonitor For Admin – Device Discovery

 Ricoh also provides plug-ins for HP Web Jetadmin so that users of this popu-

lar network device management utility can use it to manage their Ricoh
devices, as well.

 Web SmartDeviceMonitor is available for free download from the Ricoh Web

site. Web SmartDeviceMonitor allows administrators to discover, monitor

and manage Ricoh and compatible non-Ricoh devices on the network via a
standard Web browser without needing to install additional software.

FEEDBACK TO WORKSTATIONS

 Users can receive pop-up messages via the SmartDeviceMonitor utility. The

“Extended Features” selection of SmartDeviceMonitor enables the user to
specify the conditions to monitor and when notication via pop-up windows

is desired. The selections available are: “Notify of printout/data transmis­sion,” which launches a pop-up window whenever a print job is sent and
upon completion of a job; “Notify of printout/data transmission cancella­tion” and “Notify when errors occur while printing.”

VERY GOOD

 Users can also choose to receive e-mail alerts for specied error conditions

and events; a wide variety of events can be selected for up to four specied

users via the embedded Web page.

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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-

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

3

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-
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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Web Image Monitor – E-Mail Alert Configuration Screen

 Further information on device status is available if the user right-clicks on

the SmartDeviceMonitor icon on the taskbar tray (the menu shows each of
the drivers associated with SmartDeviceMonitor). If the user selects one of

the drivers, the Properties screen for that driver will open and display infor-

mation on device status, device conguration and job history.

SmartDeviceMonitor For Client

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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-

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

4

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-
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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EASE OF NETWORK SETUP

 During installation, the SmartDeviceMonitor utility automatically locates

the device and displays the IP address, allowing the administrator to simply
select it to create the port, and automatically detects the installed hard-

ware when using the PCL and RPCS drivers. For the Adobe PostScript driver,
the congured options must be manually specied by the user.

PRINT DRIVERS

 The Ricoh Acio SP 4100N ships with four print drivers (proprietary Ricoh

RPCS, Adobe PostScript 3, PCL 5c and PCL 6). The drivers are well laid out

and easy to use on the Windows XP platform tested and offer a feature set
typical of most high-end printers.

 The PCL and RPCS drivers are very graphical and offer most of the commonly

used selections on the main screen. The Adobe PostScript driver is typical of
PostScript drivers in that users must access additional tabs to make common

print job selections.

 Although not uncommon, the appearance and layout of the PCL, Adobe Post-

Script and RPCS drivers differ.

VERY GOOD

EXCELLENT

PCL 6 Driver

5

PostScript 3 Driver

 The RPCS driver allows users to save print driver selections under custom

icons for one-click selection of commonly used print settings.

 The RPCS driver has a print quality summary feature that allows the user

to view all print quality selections before sending a job to the printer. This

RPCS Driver

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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-

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

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-
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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feature allows the user to conrm the print quality selections by selecting
the Print Quality Summary tab in the driver.

APPLICATIONS COMPATIBILITY

 No problems were experienced with any of the test les used in the applica-

tions compatibility tests. Units are tested for compatibility on the Windows
XP platform with Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, Microsoft
Excel 2000, Adobe PageMaker 7.0, Adobe Photoshop 6.0 and Adobe Acrobat

6.0 using 25 application test les, which contain text, graphics, halftone

images, tables, etc., enabling BLI technicians to evaluate memory usage,

le processing, font rendering and grayscale capability.

IMAGE QUALITY

 Output produced by the Ricoh Acio SP 4100N was very good overall; text

was excellent, with crisp and cleanly formed characters, even at 6-point
font sizes; circular lines were smooth and of consistent line weight; and

diagonal lines were smoothly formed, with no stair-stepping evident. Solids
were also excellent, characterized by smooth, dark ll areas, with consis-

tent toner coverage and good density readings.

— Halftones were visible over a “Fair” range, from the 3 to 89 percent dot-ll

levels; however, transitions between some levels were not distinct. Toner

coverage within dot-ll areas was consistent.

EXCELLENT

VERY GOOD

PRODUCTIVITY

 Overall simplex print efciency demonstrated in testing is above average

when compared to comparable models in this speed range tested to date.

Overall duplex print efciency is the highest of printers in this class tested

to date.

 First-print times for all the le types used in testing (Word, PowerPoint,

TIFF, PDF and JPEG) are competitive to faster than average when compared
to those of comparable models tested.

 When printing from the PostScript driver, the SP 4100N processed BLI’s 19-

page job stream at 55.86 percent of its rated engine speed, which is above

average compared to competitive monochrome printers tested.

VERY GOOD

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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-

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

6

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-
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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 When printing from the PCL driver, the SP 4100N processed BLI’s 19-page

job stream at 64.82 percent of its rated engine speed, which is slightly

below average for competitive monochrome printers tested. However, when

printing from the RPCS driver, the SP 4100N completed the job stream at a
competitive 70.81 percent of its rated engine speed.

EASE OF USE

Ricoh Aficio SP 4100N
Control Panel

FEATURE SET

VERY GOOD

 Two drivers—the RPCS and PCL 6 drivers—are loaded by default using the

Ricoh quick-install routine, as well as SmartDeviceMonitor for Client; how-

ever, users must perform separate installations to install the Adobe Post-

Script 3 driver or SmartDeviceMonitor for Admin. The default installation

takes only four clicks of the mouse.

 Specifying job requirements from the well-designed print drivers was easy.

 Further enhancing ease of use is the excellent feedback on device and print

job status provided by the SmartDeviceMonitor utility.

 Replacing the toner cartridge and drum in the Ricoh Acio SP 4100N is a

clean and straightforward procedure and procedures for loading paper and
removing misfeeds are very simple.

VERY GOOD

 While the Ricoh Acio SP 4100N’s standard memory of 192 MB is more than

three times the average, its maximum memory capacity of 384 MB is 10 per-

cent higher than the average for workgroup printers in this speed range.

 While the standard paper capacity of 600 sheets is above average for print-

ers in this class, the maximum paper capacity of 1,600 sheets is competitive
with the average for models in this class.

 An optional 40-GB hard drive is available for added storage functionality.

SECURITY/ACCESSIBILITY

 The Locked Print option allows users to send a print job directly to the

printer memory. The print job can be printed only after the user types
a PIN into the printer control panel. After the job is printed, the job is
no longer displayed on the control panel but it is still held in the printer

NOT RATED

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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-

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

7

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-
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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memory; the job can only be deleted using the password or by powering
off the printer.

 Using SmartDeviceMonitor, the administrator can lock control panel menus

to prevent unauthorized changes to the device conguration.

 SmartDeviceMonitor encrypts data sent to the printer via Internet Printing

Protocol (IPP) with Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS)

technology, thus protecting data transmission from being intercepted by
outside sources.

 The optional DataOverwriteSecurity System automatically overwrites image

data three times, conforming to National Security Agency (NSA) methods for

managing sensitive information.

TONER YIELD

VALUE

EXCELLENT

 The tested toner yield of the Acio SP 4100N’s black toner cartridge is 30

percent higher than the average for tested models in this speed range.

VERY GOOD

 The Ricoh Acio SP 4100N is priced more than $100 less than the average

for comparably equipped printers in this speed range and its cost per page
is almost 25 percent less than the average for competitive workgroup laser

and LED printers tested.Supporting Test Data

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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-

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

8

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-
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].

SUPPORTING TEST DATA

Test Environment

The product has been tested in BLI’s 10,000-square-foot test lab, in an environment
monitored by a Honeywell Temp/RH chart recorder, which replicates typical ofce
conditions.

Test Equipment

BLI’s dedicated test network, consisting of Windows 2000 servers, Windows XP work­stations, 10/100BaseTX network switches and CAT5 cabling.

Test Duration

Products are tested for two months, a portion of which consists of a durability
test during which the product is run at its manufacturer-rated maximum monthly
volume, with daily volumes evenly divided over the course of the test.

Tested Configuration

SP 4100N conguration, which includes 192 MB of RAM, one 500-sheet paper drawer
and a 10/100BaseTX Ethernet interface, as well as the optional duplex unit and an
additional 500-sheet paper drawer.

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Test Procedures

The test methods and procedures employed by BLI in its lab testing include BLI’s pro­prietary procedures and industry-standard test procedures. In addition to a number
of proprietary test documents, BLI uses an industry-standard KATUN test original for
evaluating black image quality and test suites from Quality Logic to evaluate appli­cations compatibility. In addition to a visual observation, density of black output
is measured using an X-Rite 428 Densitometer. Georgia-Pacic Spectrum Multi-Use
20-lb. bond is used in the tests, 10 percent of which is recycled paper containing
30 percent post-consumer content. Image quality is tested using Georgia-Pacic
Printing Paper (95 brightness, 22-lb. bond).

Buyers Laboratory Inc. • 20 Railroad Avenue • Hackensack, NJ 07601 • USA • [phone]

Michael Danziger

CEO

Mark Lerch

COO

Anthony F. Polifrone

Managing Director

Daria M. Hoffman

Managing Editor

Lynn Nannariello

Assistant Managing Editor

Marlene Orr

Printer Industry Analyst

Ben Curry

Associate Editor, Solutions

Tracie Hines

Associate Editor

George Mikolay

Associate Editor

Carl Schell

Associate Editor

Lisa Reider

Research Editor

Marc Bussanich

Technical Analyst

Pete Emory

Manager of Laboratory
Testing

Pia Beddiges

Manager of Competitive Services

Ken Nardone

Technical Manager, Field Testing

Anthony Marchesini

IT Director

T. R. Patrick

Art Director

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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-

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

9

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-
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].

RELIABILITY

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PMs/Malfunctions Service Required

Meter count
(beginning of test)

End of test period 75,000

Total misfeeds/misfeed rate 0/Not applicable

Total Service Calls 0

ADMINISTRATIVE UTILITIES

Meter Count

(Impressions)

0

SmartDeviceMonitor comes in two versions—SmartDeviceMon­itor for Admin and SmartDeviceMonitor for Client—and allows

administrators to discover, manage and create groups of print­ers and multifunction products on the network. The Smart­DeviceMonitor for Admin utility will search the network by

IP/SPX protocol and locate all of the printers on the network.

Once the devices are located, the administrator can double­click on any device to access a window showing the status of
that device. There are three tabs displayed—Status, Congu­ration and Job History—and the displays are the same as with

the SmartDeviceMonitor Client version. Status displays the
current status of the device; Conguration gives the adminis-

trator selections to display information about the device, the
trays available and the amount of paper in each of the tray, as

well as the options the device supports; System Info displays

basic system information about the device; Print Language
displays the resident PDL on the device; and Network I/F dis­plays the IPX or IP information of the device. Job History dis­plays a history of print jobs printed on the device. More infor­mation is provided for Ricoh and compatible devices than for
other vendors’ output devices. For example, other vendors’

products will be identied, but the status information will not

be as detailed as with Ricoh products.

Impressions

Between Service

10

When using SmartDeviceMonitor for Admin, the administrator
can create groups of printers, lock the control panel, cong­ure printer settings and manage the Ricoh Acio SP 4100N, as

well as any other compatible device on the network—printer
or multifunctional—with an embedded Web page. Energy-save
mode settings can also be adjusted, toner supply can be moni­tored and job histories can be viewed.

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-

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

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-
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].

SmartDeviceMonitor For Client

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SmartDeviceMonitor for Client, which automatically creates

the printer port on the client workstation, allows monitoring
of the device and provides feedback regarding print job status
and error and/or warning conditions to users. Print log details
are accessible from SmartDeviceMonitor for Admin, Smart­DeviceMonitor for Client (only the user’s own print log) and

the embedded Web page of the Acio SP 4100N. The Acio SP
4100N has the capability to have all of the print jobs stored

on the hard drive and then spooled to the engine, in much the
same way a print server would in a larger environment. In the
case where there are a large number of users directly print­ing to the unit, this capability regulates data ow, prevent­ing bottlenecking of multiple print jobs sent to the unit. The

administrator can view this spool le and delete jobs from the

hard drive.

Feedback to the workstation is also provided by the SmartDe­viceMonitor utility, provided it has been installed on the work­station. The user can congure the utility to send pop-up mes­sages and specify whether or not to start the utility at all. The

user can congure the SmartDeviceMonitor utility to function
with only one or all of the Acio SP 4100N print drivers loaded

on the local workstation. The “Extended Features” selection

of SmartDeviceMonitor enables the user to specify the condi­tions to monitor and when notication via pop-up windows

is desired. The selections available are: “Notify of printout/
data transmission,” which launches a pop-up window when­ever a print job is sent and upon completion of a job; “Notify
of printout/data transmission cancellation” and “Notify when
errors occur while printing.”

11

When SmartDeviceMonitor is launched, its icon appears on

the taskbar tray. When the user right-clicks on the icon, the
menu shows each of the drivers associated with SmartDevic­eMonitor. If the user selects one of the drivers, the Properties
screen for that driver will open. There are three tabs for the
user to select from: the Status tab, which shows a graphi­cal representation of the device and its options, along with

the current status of the device; the Conguration tab, which
graphically displays the conguration of the device (Input Tray,
Output Tray, Toner, Function, Option, System, Printer Lan-

guage and Network I/F) as icons that, when selected, display
a detailed description of the feature (such as the amount of
toner remaining in the cartridge); the Job History tab, which
lists completed print jobs and the status of pending print jobs

(SmartDeviceMonitor for Client lists jobs for the current user,

while the Admin version lists jobs for all users). The display

shows User Name, Document Name, Status, Pages, Started At

(date and time) and User ID.

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-

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

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-
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 SP 4100N

Buye rs LaBo rator y Lab TesT RepoRT

Embedded Web page:

Yes. The Ricoh Acio SP 4100N’s embedded Web page offers

device status information, including paper size and a gauge
representing the amount of paper in each drawer, a toner
gauge and a temporary job history, as well as a listing of cur­rent settings and error messages. The Administrator mode of
the embedded Web page is password-protected, so that only
authorized users can make changes to the device.

Consumables monitoring:

Yes, via the embedded Web page (Web Image Monitor) or

SmartDeviceMonitor. The user or administrator can view

remaining life of consumables, which includes a gauge repre­senting the approximate percentage of toner remaining and
the size and approximate amount of paper in each drawer.

PRINT DRIVERS

Ricoh Aficio SP 4100N PRINT DRIVER FEATURES

Features RPCS PCL 6 PostScript

Auto Feature/Device Detection Yes Yes No

Booklet Printing No No No

Collate Sets Yes Yes Yes*

Max Paper Sources Per Job 2 3 1

Mirror Image No No Yes

Negative Image No No Yes

N-up Printing 2 to 16 2 to 16 2 to 16

Overlays Yes No No

Paper Gauge No No No

Print and Hold No No No

Proof Print No No No

Quantity Selection 1 to 999 1 to 999 1 to 9,999

Reduction/Enlargement

Resolution Modes (dpi)

Save Settings Yes Yes No

Secure Print No No No

Watermarks/Custom Watermarks Yes/Yes Yes/Yes Yes/No

*

Although there is a collate selection in the print driver, it did not function in testing; the collate selection must be
made from the Windows print screen within an application for output to be collated. This is not uncommon, as most
drivers are written to allow the application settings to override the driver settings.

Auto,

20% - 300%

Quality,

Speed

Auto,

25% - 400%

600 x 600,

1200 x 600

Auto,

1% - 1,000%

600 dpi,
1200 dpi

12

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-

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

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-
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].

IMAGE QUALITY

Text Excellent

Line art Very Good

Halftone range Fair

Halftone ll Good

Solids Excellent

Ricoh Aficio SP 4100N

Buye rs LaBo rator y Lab TesT RepoRT

Send once/print many:

Although there is a collate selection in the driver, it did not
function in testing. For output to be properly collated, the
collate selection must be made from the Windows print screen
within an application; doing so, however, does not increase

le size.

Print density

SP 4100N

Range for
tested units

0 1.00.5

Black density:

1.35 to 1.37.

Density for units in this class tested to date:

1.00 to 1.94.

Measurements are based on four readings corresponding to four different
solid black locations on the output. The higher the density reading, the
darker the image.

21.5

Halftone range:

Grayscale is clearly visible from the 3% to 88% dot-ll levels,

with consistent toner coverage within levels, though not all
transitions between levels were distinct.

Typical halftone range for monochrome laser/LED printers:

3% to 90%.

13

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-

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

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-
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 SP 4100N

Buye rs LaBo rator y Lab TesT RepoRT

PRODUCTIVITY

TESTED FIRST-PRINT TIMES (seconds)

PCL 6

Windows XP Word PowerPoint Photoshop Acrobat Photoshop

File type

File extension DOC PPT TIF PDF JPG

Pre-Raster File Size 114 KB 99 KB 20 MB 426 KB 248 KB

Post-Raster File Size 43.8 KB 100 KB 941 KB 129 KB 62.8 KB

First-Page Time 10.41 10.54 16.06 11.46 12.47

The Ricoh Acio SP 4100N’s print speeds were tested at the default 600-dpi resolution using the PCL 6 drivers.

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

Black

Text

Color Graphic/

Text

Color

Graphic

Black Graphic/

Text

Color

Graphic

Ricoh Acio SP 4100N’s rated speed:

31 ppm

BLI’S TESTED PRINT SPEEDS

Average speed (PCL 6)

32.56

excluding

rst page

30.29

including

rst page

0

Print speed is tested using BLI’s Monochrome Test Original (with 6% page coverage). 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 SP 4100N’s print speeds were tested at the default 600-dpi resolution
using the PCL 6 driver.

30

402010

14

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-

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

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-
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 Efficiency

Ricoh Aficio SP 4100N

Buye rs LaBo rator y Lab TesT RepoRT

100%

80

60

40

20

0

1 Set 5 Sets 10 Sets 20 Sets Overall

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 at 600 dpi using the PCL 6 print
driver.

90.3 82.7102.1 87.099.4 93.794.4 89.365.2 60.5

Simplex

Duplex

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.

15

Time to completion of all print jobs (PostScript): 1 minute,

5.83 seconds.

Time to completion of all print jobs (PCL 6): 56.73 seconds.

Time to completion of all print jobs (RPCS): 51.93 seconds.

Range for monochrome printers tested to date:

30.17 seconds to 15 minutes, 1.88 seconds.

Problems encountered:

Pausing with the PDF and HTML documents.

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-

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

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-
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].

TONER YIELD

TESTED TONER YIELD / SUPPLIES COST PER PAGE

Ricoh Aficio SP 4100N

Buye rs LaBo rator y Lab TesT RepoRT

Color

Black 386.1 21,018 54.4 0.892¢ 1.111¢

1

Toner cost per page is based on Ricoh’s pricing for the print cartridge and the tested toner yield using the ISO 19752
toner yield test original with 5% page coverage.

2

The supplies cost per page is based on Ricoh’s pricing, BLI’s tested toner yield for the print cartridge and Ricoh’s rated
yield for the maintenance kit.

Net Weight

(Grams)

Yield

(Impressions)

Impressions

Per Gram

Toner Cost

Per Page

1

Supplies Cost

Per Page

2

16

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-

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

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-
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 SP 4100N

31 ppm (mono / color) Desktop Laser, electrostatic

US release: April 2007
US SRP / Street: $749 /$INA

Color Type: Not applicable
Controller: Ricoh

CPU / Bits / MHz: RM5231/INA/400
Memory (std / max): 192 MB/384 MB
HDD: Optional 40-GB
PDLs: PCL 5e/6, Adobe PostScript 3,

Ricoh RPCS

 ENGINE

Mfr / Model / Country: Ricoh/ SP4100N/ China

Monthly Duty Cycle: 100,000 impressions
Rated Engine Life: INA

 RESOLUTION

Standard: 600 x 600 dpi

Enhanced: 1200 x 600 dpi

PAPER HANDLING

Std/Max Paper Source(s): 2/3
Std/Max Paper Capacity: 600 sheets/1,600 sheets
Paper Size (W x L): 8.5" x 14" max

Print Area (W x L): INA max

Paper Weights: 16-lb to 34-lb bond
Std Output Capacity: 250 sheets

Other Output: None

Bypass (Capacity / Weight): 100 sheets/16-lb to 43-lb bond

Automatic Duplexing: Optional

FEATURES

Collation: Standard

Color Depth (Bits): Not applicable
Color Management: Not applicable

Fonts: 136 PostScript, PCL, 10 truetype, 35
intelli, 1 bitmap, 13 international,
IPP (Web) Support: Standard
RIP Once / Print Many: Standard
Secure Printing: Optional

Other: PDF direct print

FAD 34741

 INTERFACE / CONNECTIVITY

Client OS Spt: Win 9x/Me/NT 4.0/2000/XP/Server

2003, Mac OS X v10.2+, UNIX, Linux
Network Spt: TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, SMB, Appletalk,
Std Interface: 10/100BaseTX Ethernet, USB 2.0,

Parallel

Opt Interface: 802.11b Wireless,
Printer Mgmt: SmartDeviceMonitor, WebImageMonitor,

Remote Intelligent Management System

COMMENTS: First page out time 6.9 sec; warm up time 19 sec; IS200e

Image Scanner (MFP upgrade option) enables scan-to-print, email,

folder, FTP and TWAIN scanning

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Display / Characters: LCD/32
Energy Star Compliance: Yes
Noise Level (Print / Idle): 65 dB / 42 dB

Power Consumption: 575W max
Power Reqs (V / Hz / Amps): 120/60/INA
Warranty: One-year warranty

Weight (Base Unit): 44 lbs
Dimensions (H x W x D): 13.6" x 15.3" x 17.8"

OPTIONS

2 x 500-sheet paper feed unit: $275
Duplex unit: $195
Envelope feeder: $120
Hard-disk type 2650: $400
128-MB memory: $360
256-MB memory: $430
IEEE 802.11b wireless: $385
Gigabit ethernet interface: $325
VM card: $99
Data storage card: $38
HDD overwrite security unit: $275
IS200e image scanner/table: $1,750/$300

17

SUPPLIES

Toner (402809): Black: $187.50; yield–15,000 pages; coverage–5%
Maintenance kit (402815): Other: $197.25; yield–90,000 pages; coverage–5%

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 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 AMERICAS CORPORATION

For the performance of the

Ricoh Aficio SP 4100N

throughout BLI's in-house durability test.

This is to certify that when subjected to a 75,000-impression

Buyers Lab durability test in a networked environment,

the Ricoh Aficio SP 4100N 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

June

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.