12 Color Laser Printers Explored

Konica Minolta Magicolor 5440DL

With an MSRP double that of the 2550 (street prices from $600-650), you'd expect to get more from the 5440DL than from its less expensive sibling, but even given such expectations, the 5440DL does not disappoint. It offers entirely convincing page per minute speeds of up to 27 for both color and black-and-white, plus a monthly duty cycle of 60,000 pages. It comes equipped with 64 MB of RAM, expandable to 576 MB with the addition of a single 512 MB memory module (available for $300 from the manufacturer - this is the best price we could find). Those who wish to print at the highest possible resolution should plan to max out this printer's memory for best results.

Though it's another monolith, the 5440DL is pretty attractive as laser printers go.

The magicolor 5440DL is a pretty good-sized printer. Its dimensions are 17.9" x 20.5" x 17.3" (45.5cm x 52cm x 44 cm) and it weighs 68.2 lbs (31 kg). As with the 2550, toner cartridges come in high and standard capacity varieties. The high-capacity cartridges deliver up to 12,000 pages and cost $155 for black and $206 for CMY color; standard capacity cartridges deliver up to 6,000 pages, and cost $124 for black and $155 for CMY color.

When it comes to paper handling, the 5440DL also outdoes the 2550. It comes with a 500-page paper tray, and includes a 100-sheet manual tray. Two additional 500-sheet drawers may be added to this printer for $299 each, and the optional duplexer costs $399. The unit outputs very clear text in both color and monochrome, but image output can be subject to minor contrast and saturation issues. This makes it a good choice for those who need to print lots of documents in color or black-and-white, but not so good for those who need to print lots of high-resolution images or artwork.

  • gorbehnare
    I was kind of disappointed to see this article completely ignores that these printers employ different Colour Laser printing technologies. In terms of the cost of ownership and cost of print per page different technologies make a huge difference.

    This information can be found anywhere and this article is only good as a list of products that are available in the market and nothing more.
    Reply
  • exceltoner
    Thank you for info. Do you know if this printer is compatible with a Mac?

    toner cartridge
    Reply
  • I Have owned the Dell 3110cn Printer for about 7 years and it has been the best, most trouble free piece of hardware I have ever purchased. I was completely fed up with dealing with clogged up inkjet printheads, and walking around with purple hands. I bought the Dell Laser for around $379.00 and the only thing that I have replaced are the toner carts, of which I am on my third set. This Printer is bullet proof, and as a bonus it prints very acceptable color photos in high quality mode. Mine has paid for itself over and over and over with zero problems.
    Reply