LabCheck. Panasonic Workio DP-4520H. Product Overview. PROS. 45ppm Copier - Scanner - Printer - Fax CONS

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1 LabCheck PROS Standard 10/100BaseT Windows/GDI printing and document management system. No charge for Acrobat PDF maker. Network faxing included in fax upgrade. Outstanding stapled finishing speeds. User-friendly control panels. Extensive upgrade path to scan to , fax, remote tandem copying/printing. Printer status view/controls built into the printer driver. Tandem print capability. CONS No physical mailboxes. No chapter insertion. Below par copying of fine detail and light text. Low standard RAM. Low print productivity on processor-intensive jobs. High bandwidth generation in Windows/GDI print mode. 45ppm Copier - Scanner - Printer - Fax Product Overview The is a 45ppm monochrome ledgercapable copier MFP that comes with standard Windows print capability. The system comes with a single integrated 200MHz motherboard. Additional functionality, including PCL, PostScript, scan to and scan to file, can be enabled as an option. The device ships with 32MB RAM, a 40GB hard drive, and 10/100BaseT Ethernet and parallel connectivity. Standard paper supply is one 1,550-sheet letter/a4 paper drawer plus 550-sheet universal paper drawer and 50-sheet bypass. Paper supplies can be upgraded to a maximum of 6,250 sheets (including bypass tray). Finishing options such as stapling, hole-punching and saddle-stitch booklet-making are available as upgrades. Copyright 2002 BERTL, Inc. 9-Oct-03 any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or

2 Product Dynamics Panasonic has been known for generations as a prime manufacturer of electronics. Its lines of fax machines, copiers, printers, and multifunction units are just part of its wide range of products. BERTL analyst tests the Panasonic Workio DP You get a lot with the Panasonic Workio DP-4520H; its standard feature set makes it a Must Look for anyone considering a departmental communication system. Among the s unique benefits are out of the box network printing plus a no-cost multi-user Acrobat PDF making capability. In fact, Panasonic stands virtually alone in being able to deliver copying and network scanning (scan to , scan to file, etc.) without the added expense of a printer controller. Because the Panasonic Workio DP-4520H ships with a live network connection, you simply add the scanning option for it to become a fully featured electronic storage and communication center. The device is designed for medium-sized workgroups. It is an upgrade of an earlier Panasonic 45ppm device, adding increased functionality and durability, with a number of metal parts replacing parts that were previously made of plastic, and slight design changes intended to make the product more durable. Panasonic also promotes the system s ease of use, including its touch-sensitive display and associated PC software. operating systems are only supported in the PostScript option. The system can use an Ethernet 10/100Base connection or an IEEE 1284 parallel connection. There is no wireless (WiFi) option (but you can buy these at any computer store). Maintenance: The device has a maximum monthly duty cycle of up to 200,000 impressions, while the drum has an estimated yield of 240,000 impressions. The toner supply has a rated yield of 24,000 impressions at 6% coverage. The toner bottle is easily accessible by opening the front panel of the system. The bottle swings out with the panel, and can be quickly replaced. However, toner cannot be changed during a print run. Compatibility: The offers PCL/ PostScript printing as an option. The system works with Windows 98/ME/2000/ NT 4.0/XP. The device offers print resolutions of up to 1200dpi x 600 dpi (interpolated). Also included is 32MB RAM of copy memory, expandable to 160MB. UNIX, Linux and Mac The toner bottle is easily accessible. Page Number 1

3 Product Dynamics The Control Panel: The touch screen control panel on the is well laid out and easy to navigate. Icons provide assistance and useability. On the left side of the LCD, four hard buttons take users straight to either the Copy, Fax/ , Scan/File or Print menus. The menus are clearly tabbed and labeled. One nice touch is an icon-based menu on the right side of the screen that offers a detailed list of which features have been selected for the current job. In the earlier 45ppm Panasonic device, there were some areas which BERTL analysts found confusing. For example, Job Build was labeled under duplex copy options as SADF, which would not have been an obvious choice for most users. This has been improved in the, which now labels Job Build as Job Build. Next to that, four pairs of smaller hard buttons (labeled Ledger, Legal, Letter, and Invoice) make it simple to choose the size of both the original and of the copy. The right side of the LCD offers a variety of function buttons, a numerical keypad, and Clear, Stop, and Stop buttons. Paper Handling: Input: The comes standard with a 1,550-sheet paper drawer that take letter/a4 sheets and a 550-sheet universal paper tray that handles up to ledger/ A3 sheets. A 100-sheet automatic document feeder is standard. The included bypass tray can handle a maximum of 50 sheets of paper sized up to ledger/a3. With the bypass tray, the device handles a standard total of 2,150 sheets, which is competitive or higher than that offered by other units in this class. Output: A standard stackless duplex unit gives users the option of printing on one or both sides of each sheet of paper. A Job Settings menu on the right side of the display gives helpful details. Page Number 2

4 Product Dynamics Upgrade Options: Physical Mailboxes: Finishing Capabilities: Panasonic offers three optional finishers for this model. The Multi-Staple Finisher staples up to 50 sheets via two trays, each of which can hold 1,000 sheets for a total of 2,000 sheets. A Booklet Maker Finisher also offers 50- sheet multi-position stapling, while adding a booklet making tray and the ability to saddle-stitch and fold documents. The booklet making tray, which is at the bottom of the unit, can handle 60-page booklets (in other words, booklets made up of 15 sheets of 11 x 17 /A3 paper). An entry-level Booklet-Maker Finisher offers as an alternative a single 1,000-sheet finisher tray, and can handle a 40-page booklet (10 sheets of 11 x 17 /A3 paper). There is also a two-hole and three-hole punch unit available that can be used with either finisher. Additional Paper Supplies: To expand the unit s paper capacity, users can add two additional 550-sheet paper drawers plus an optional 3,000-sheet LCD. When fully configured, the Panasonic Workio DP-4520H can then handle a maximum capacity of 6,200 sheets. The Booklet Maker Finisher. There is no physical mailbox option to allow departmental or personal separation and storage of printed documents at the printer. These make it easier to find each user s job, rather than having to sort through a pile of jobs in a single central tray. At this level of the market, some devices offer mailbox units. Printer Drivers: An advantage over many printers in its class is the s standard Windows/GDI printing; PCL5e, PCL6 and Adobe PostScript 3 are options. Section 508 Compliance: Panasonic offers an optional printer stand that lowers the unit s height for easy wheelchair accessibility. The advantage is somewhat counteracted by the fact that the stand cannot be used in conjunction with the 3,000- sheet LCT. The entry-level bookletmaker is the only one of the three that can be adapted for use with the shorter unit. Security: The Panasonic Workio DP- 4520H is available without its hard disk drive for securityconscious environments. Page Number 3

5 Scan The unit comes with a 70-sheet duplex automatic document feeder capable of automatically sensing paper sizes from statement/a5 to ledger/a3. Because the device ships with a standard NIC, you can enable scanning without having to pay for a print controller. Note, though, the scanner is monochrome only; a number of manufacturers offer full-color scanning, even on MFP/scan-capable monochrome devices. The control panel includes a QWERTY-style LCD touchscreen keypad, plus a one-touch address book option. This makes ad-hoc scan to an easy process. There are two upgrade options available for the. The scan to file option lets users send scanned documents to network folders. The second option, confusingly called I-fax, enables users to scan documents direct to . Scan to I-fax includes the ability to PDF files, which is an improvement over its predecessor (the older device limited users to sending TIFF format). PDF format is preferable to most users, because it is the format most widelyreadable by recipients. The scan to function works with LDAP (Lightweight Direct Access Protocol), which interfaces with networked company address books so that Panasonic Workio DP-4520H users do not have to maintain their own address books. Personalizing Scan to The has a better system for identifying s than some of its competitors. By combining input from the address book and/or keypad, users can include To, CC, BCC and personalize the s subject line. The file name can also be changed. Users can type in their own address on the From line so that the recipient knows who the is from, and can reply directly to that address. This is a marked improvement over some systems, which show s as being From a generic device name, meaning the could be deleted by people wary of computer viruses or spam mail from unknown senders. Page Number 4

6 Scan Panasonic offers a purchasable scanning upgrade called Document Distribution System (DDS) which extends the functionality and capabilities of its network scanning options. Panasonic s DDS runs on a separate delivery server. Desktop users access DDS via a Webbased utility. The Web-based utility allows users to: create new templates, edit existing templates, add new items to the device address book, view documents stored in a Web folder (a folder set up on the delivery server) and access numerous reporting options. The difference between the templates created using the standard scanning utility and those created using DDS is the ability to set up multiple delivery destinations under a single template, including: Above - Creating a multi-destination template using DDS. Below - Viewing documents stored in a Web folder. Scan to desktop utilities Scan to Web folder (a folder which resides on the DDS delivery server) Scan to address/s Send to fax number (delivery fax can be any LAN-enabled fax on the network) Scan to network folder Users are also able to add document manipulation functions to the document before it is forwarded by the DDS delivery server. These include: noise reduction, auto-rotation, OCR text extraction, skew correction and title extraction. An notification can also be set up. Once the template has been created on the DDS server, it can be accessed by walk-up users at the device s control panel. Users simply open the scanning menu, select the DDS template and scan their document. The file is scanned to the DDS delivery server, where the actions specified are carried out. A log can be viewed showing which actions were correctly carried out. In summary. we found DDS easy to use, and found that it delivered a high level of functionality without being too complicated for average office users. Page Number 5

7 Copy Productivity Advertised Engine Speed (cpm): 45 cpm Seconds to copy Speed (in cpm) Copy Copy resolution is 600 x 600dpi with 256 levels of greyscale. The manufacturer quotes a first copy out time of under 3.5 seconds. The automatic document feeder feeds a maximum of 45 letter/a4 images per minute. The offers a number of standard copy features that are worth noting. These include: Concurrent Copy allows the system to hold up to 12 copy jobs in memory at a time. This means you can stack copy jobs into memory for automatic printing when the device is free. Tandem Copy enables two Panasonic Workio DP4520Hs to be linked together so that they can both jointly work on a single job. This increases output speed. Remote Copy lets users send jobs to a Workio located elsewhere on the network, in another room or even on another floor. Proof Copy outputs one set of a multi-set copy job, then pauses to let users proofread it for errors before releasing the remainder of the job to be printed. This can save time and supplies if an error is discovered during the proofread. Copy Productivity: BERTL tests found that the device ran slower than some 45ppm competitors. Finishing Productivity: Finishing, such as stapling, often slows copy productivity considerably. In the case of the, the staple finishing productivity drop was negligible, which is good news for users. Five sets of five copies each were timed at seconds with 1 set of 5 single-sided to single-sided sec cpm 5 sets of 5 single-sided to single-sided sec cpm 1 set of 10 single-sided to 5 double-sided sec cpm 1 set of 5 double-sided to 10 single-sided sec cpm 1 set of 5 double-sided to 5 double-sided sec cpm 5 sets of 5 double-sided to 5 double-sided sec cpm 1 set of 20 double-sided to 20 double-sided sec cpm Average Copy Speed (cpm) Finishing Productivity Advertised Engine Speed (cpm): 45 cpm One Staple Two Staples 5 sets of 5 single-sided to single-sided sec sec. no finishing option selected. When BERTL analysts copied the same job but added onestaple finishing, the time it took to complete the job slowed by a little over one second (see chart lower right), coming in at seconds. This is a better showing than most competing devices, which add up to two and a half seconds when one-position stapling is required. Adding two-staple finishing slowed productivity a bit more, with the device taking seconds to output our test job. Image Quality: The delivered reasonable image quality for most business purposes. Reproduction of very fine details could have been sharper, with some details blurred or dropped completely. The device seemed to struggle copying the lightest shades of grey (10% or less). Photographs reproduced fairly well, albeit with light banding cpm Page Number 6

8 Print The Print Drivers: Noteworthy is the fact that the Panasonic Workio DP-4520H comes standard with functional, and free, Windows/GDI network print capability. A PCL6 driver upgrade option is available. Both drivers are very similar in look and feel, which can keep the learning curve short for users who switch between print drivers. Letterhead/Cover/Slip Sheets: The Windows/GDI driver does not have the ability to select a different paper source for a cover page, back page or other pages. This could be inconvenient for offices which routinely print the first page of a document on letterhead paper. The PCL6 driver allows users to choose a different paper source for first page, last page or other pages three paper sources are allowed for one document, while in this market sector it is common for users to be able to draw from an average of four different sources. Multi-Up Printing: The device s Multi-Up printing allows users to archive 2-16 documents on a single sheet of paper, saving on toner, paper, and storage space. However, the image quality of 16 pages reduced into a letter/a4 sheet may be questionable and limit the benefits of this feature. Secure Printing: Both drivers offer secure print features, which require users to input a User ID and PIN code in order to release print jobs from the printer. This can prevent unauthorized readers from glimpsing sensitive documents and could be a helpful feature for businesses and government agencies which routinely handle documents not meant to be read by the general public. Halftone Color Adjustment: The Windows/GDI driver allows users to adjust halftones manually, if necessary. This could be useful for when printing documents created in color, which can sometimes contain colors that look too similar when printed in monochrome (for example, red and green often create very similar greyscales). Printer Memory: Standard dedicated printer memory is a modest 20MB, upgradeable to a maximum of 160MB, with another 40GB available on the included hard drive. Print Resolution: Print resolution is true 600 x 600dpi, interpolated to 1200 x 600dpi. PCL6 driver (above left) looks nearly identical to the standard GDI driver (above right). Page Number 7

9 Print GDI Versus PCL6 Comparison Sets Pages Document type PCL6 Time GDI Time Windows/GDI Printing: The offers both PCL and Windows/GDI drivers. Windows/GDI (Graphics Device Interface) printing has been around for several years; however, it was not very popular, because it used to be limited to parallel connections. Modern Windows/GDI systems like the run seamlessly over standard networks. GDI uses Windows' internal graphics display system to rasterize (also known as RIP raster image processing) the image. In other words, GDI does all the work of converting a document into image data at the computer, and then sends the prepared data to the printer to be processed. In contrast, PCL (Printer Control Language) uses a driver to convert the document to a series of graphic and font commands. That data is then sent to the output device, which uses its own printer controller to convert the printing data, then sends it to the output device. The print controller then RIPs the data and processes it. Since the rasterizing of image data is a timeconsuming part of the printing process, where it takes place can be important. Because today s PCs are so highly powerful, they can RIP most jobs without affecting the PC s speed or efficiency. In fact, since PC processors are much more powerful than most printer processors (some printers are 250MHz, versus almost 3GHz in computers), many print jobs could be processed faster. Although users might be happy with the increased print speed, IT managers might not be quite as happy due to increased bandwidth. Because processing is done at users PCs rather than at the printer, postripped (i.e. large) files are sent to the printer. The increased bandwidth could slow down the network. We ran our print productivity tests both in PCL6 and Windows/GDI in order to see which was faster and more efficient. Print processing using GDI is done predominantly in the PC, so we timed each test from the moment we hit the Print command (rather than timing it from the point at which the driver releases it to the printer). Our results showed that, in almost all Bandwidth Usage Chart cases, printing using GDI was faster than using PCL6. The exception was with simple Word documents, which take little processing. In other words, as jobs become less complex, the efficiency of PCL Sets Pages Document type WordPerfect Word Powerpoint Publisher PCL6 297 KB 443 KB 3.78 MB 4.24 MB GDI 1.17 MB 2.30 MB 2.88 MB MB overtakes the processing power of the PC. On the other hand, the bandwidth increased dramatically with GDI. For example, while the bandwidth of an eight-page Publisher file was 4.24MB with PCL, it was around 20 times bigger 77MB with GDI. Booklet Making Finishing: Magazine-style booklet maker finishing (saddle-stitch finishing and center folding on A3/ledger paper) took a toll on productivity, with a tested booklet creation rate of about 98 booklets per hour. At this level of the market BERTL does not consider this to be a drawback, because many competing devices do not offer booklet making finishers at all. 5 6 WordPerfect sec sec Adobe Acrobat sec sec Word sec sec Powerpoint sec sec Access sec sec. 1 8 Publisher sec sec. Print jobs were timed from the moment the Print Page Number 8

10 Print The Network Load Test: To simulate typical heavy print traffic from a variety of users across a network, BERTL uses the Network Load test, which sends a large number of different jobs to the printer, to be printed one after another in rapid sequence. The files include high resolution graphics, word processing files, Powerpoint presentations and other documents that might be printed over the course of a typical workday. This is the acid test for how a printer stands up to heavy workloads. We performed the Network Load test using PCL6, because this is the most likely printer driver to be used by multiple network users. The was fastest at printing regular word processing documents, with the 35-page Word document printing at nearly 40ppm. Each test document was printed individually, then the entire test was printed again in a single run. The large network load ran at an average speed of 22.21ppm, while the small network load, which contains shorter jobs, printed at a speed of only 12.87ppm. Large Network Load Productivity Chart Sets Pages Document type Time (secs) PPM Speed 5 6 WordPerfect (duplex) sec ppm 1 3 Word sec ppm 1 10 Acrobat sec ppm 1 6 WordPerfect sec ppm 1 1 Acrobat sec. 3.96ppm 1 5 Acrobat sec. 9.55ppm 1 35 Word sec ppm 1 22 Word sec ppm 2 1 Acrobat sec. 9.13ppm 1 2 Acrobat sec. 9.36ppm 1 15 Powerpoint sec ppm 1 10 Acrobat sec. 9.27ppm 141 Large Net Load (all jobs listed above, printed in sec ppm Simplex/Duplex Network Load Productivity Chart Pages Document type Time (secs) PPM Speed 30 Simplex Small Net Load (9 jobs printed in sequence) 30 Duplex Small Net Load (9 jobs printed in sequence) sec ppm sec ppm Page Number 9

11 Fax A fax upgrade is available. This transmits faxes via a 33.6 Kbps modem, at a speed quoted by the manufacturer of under 3 seconds per page. Maximum fax resolution is 600 x 600dpi. Fax Size: The s fax scanner is capable of sending documents up to ledger/a3 size. This is common on similar fax-enabled devices and very convenient for offices which routinely use ledger/a3-size documents. Page Memory: Dedicated fax memory is 2MB. This can be upgraded to a maximum of 10MB. Compression standards: The uses MH/ MR/MMR/JBIG compression. BERTL tests found that JBIG is the most efficient way to transmit graphics, or text mixed with graphics and sends graphic data approximately 30% faster than in MMR format. Auto Dial Keys: The fax option allows users to store up to 1,000 often-used fax numbers as Auto-Dials. LAN Fax: The can be configured with PanaFax Desktop, which converts the into a LAN fax, allowing users to send faxes straight from their desktops. Second Phone Line Option: Unlike some competing multifunctional products, there is no second phone line upgrade offered for the fax option. LDAP Integration: The is compatible with LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), meaning that users can pull fax numbers and addresses directly from the main corporate address database, instead of having to rely on the address book in the device s local memory. ISDN Fax: There is no upgrade option to a faster 64,000bps/ISDN fax modem to this device. In this market sector, BERTL does not consider this a drawback. Simultaneous Fax/ A nice touch on the Panasonic Workio DP-4520H fax option is that users can scan one document and send it to a mixture of addresses and fax numbers simultaneously. Summing Up: The is a more robustly-built version of its predecessor. BERTL noted no significant productivity increases over the older device, but liked the built-in printing and fast finishing capabilities. Other good points of the Panasonic Workio DP-4520H include its built-in Windows/GDI print option, DDS multitasking scan option, PDF making utility, and low-cost scan to / file upgrade options. BERTL would have liked to see a physical mailbox option, and sharper copying of fine details. Still, this is a good choice for an office looking for network print capability, scanning and overall ease of use right out of the box. We would put it on a Must Look short list for 40cpm shoppers. Page Number 10