Konica Minolta Magicolor 5430DL

Konica Minolta is one of the few manufacturers that builds its own printing engines, and the one in the Magicolor 5430DL is one of the fastest - at least on paper. But while its performance is indeed attractive, the quality of its output leaves something to be desired.

Ergonomics And Functions

At a whopping 92.4 pounds (42 kg), this printer is one of the heaviest and bulkiest on the market. That's due at least in part to its use of very large toner cartridges, requiring an increase in the overall volume of the housing. In terms of options, this is one of the most complete printers we tested, offering, for example, an additional set of trays for a total capacity of 1,250 sheets and duplex printing. However, the noise level is higher than average, which might be a problem in confined spaces.

Printing Speeds

While not up to the manufacturer's claim of 20 ppm, our tests did clock the Magicolor 5430DL at a respectable 14.2 ppm with office documents. The time to print the first page was also quite good, at 20 seconds, even if the warm-up time coming out of standby mode sometimes seemed long.

Print Quality

This printer's engine had a hard time dealing with highly detailed images. Our Excel graph pointed out its shortcomings: several light-colored lines weren't displayed. The same was true of our bitmap, where the colors had a tendency to be too red and were generally dull and lifeless.

Cost Per Page

Thanks to the very large capacity of its cartridges, the Magicolor 5430DL scored a very reasonable cost per page: 2 cents in black and 9 cents in color. But to get those results you'll have to invest in the high-capacity toner cartridges, or the cost will be 15% to 20% higher.

Conclusion

The Magicolor 5430DL is for people who need speed more than quality and want an economical model with a network port. Its bulk and noise level make it unsuited to home users, but it would work well for a small company where it could be shared by several users.