He’s more than that: he possess a great analytical mind that is quite knowledgeable in both technology and business, and his works have been published all over the web. Read on.
The Epson WorkForce WF-2660 is a color printer, scanner and fax machine, with Wi-Fi and LAN capabilities that is best suited as a personal printer or in a small office where high-volume print jobs are rare.
I tested the device using my MacBook Pro running OSX Mavericks, and I primarily printed and scanned black and white text documents.
Set-up
After years of “fighting” with various printer models to get them fully set-up or to work right, I actually avoided setting the WF-2660 for about a week. The week the unit arrived was fairly busy for me, and considering I still hadn’t gotten wireless printing to fully work with the HP LaserJet I was borrowing until the Epson arrived, I decided to wait until the weekend to set it up.
My worries proved unfounded
Setting up the printer was as simple as following directions that actually worked as advertised. You could say I’m stating the obvious, but we all know that printer set-ups rarely go smoothly. The set-up was really easy, unpack the devices, plug it in, run through the easy on-screen configuration, install the ink, install the drivers* and you’re good to go.
Ease of Use
It just works. Once I ran the set-up program from my Mac all of the other iOS or OSX devices in the house had no problems printing to the WF-2660. Printing from an iOS device was simple as tapping “print” and then selecting the right device from the menu. The same goes for future wife’s MacBook, as she was able to print several documents by clicking print and then selecting the right device.
Printing from my Android device was slightly more difficult as I had to download a software plugin first, but after that it was no different from printing from an iOS device: select print, select the device and you’re off the races.
Scanning was easy as well; the printer we borrowed (a more expensive unit at that) would sometimes fail to recognize that there were documents in the feeder and/or would bring in two or more pages at once. As a result it would sometimes take me 20-30 minutes to scan 3-5 signature pages so I could e-mail tem out.
The Epson had none of those issues and performs quite well in our common use of scanning the signature pages of contracts to be e-faxed or e-mailed to business partners.
Performance & Daily Usage
Black and white text appeared to be similar in quality to the LaserJet and color printing appears above average for a device in this price range. I used it to print a full color commercial real estate ad with color photos, and it looked of very similar quality to the real estate flyers you’d find at most open house that aren’t on the high quality glossy paper. So while an Inkjet that retails for $99-$149.99 may not be your first choice for those types of documents, if it was your only option it definitely wouldn’t embarrass you.
It seems to print a touch slower than other Inkjets I’ve encountered, but the trade-off for quality seems a fair one.
Overall I think the WF-2660 is a great value in a full featured MFC for a home office, as the small foot print, ease in set-up and high print quality should make for a pain free user experience. The paper tray only holds 150 sheets so it might be a great choice as a shared printer across multiple users, but for home use, as a personal printer or in a small office it’s a great choice.
Verdict: highly recommended
You can read the device’s specs here.
*I had to download the drivers for my Mac; Windows users can use the included disk.
Based on his review, we are bestowing the SmallBizWindows Business Ready Award of Excellence on this device, because as Markham put it, “considering all the posters and promotional materials printed with it over the last couple of days, it’s quite the workhorse that punches well above it’s weight class.”
I am delighted he did this for AbsolutelyWindows.
Thanks, Markham.
© 2002 – 2015, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited
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