I have steered away from inkjet printers quite a while, indeed, the last several years, due to their lack of speed, and high cost of supplies, substituting dye-sub printers for personal photo printing.
It was a surprise when I was informed by Courtney Shipman – on behalf of Epson – that not only did she have a printer that could satisfy most personal printing needs, but it was also fast enough resolve the speed issue.
Out came Doubting Thomas John, and I said “prove it”.
I asked for a low-end unit, and I was sent the Epson WorkForce 600 multifunction device to review.
For the past two months, we have had the WorkForce 600 in our possession, and I have used it for what I believe I do best: see if it is a ‘good enough’ device for the deskside of some of my most prodigious of printer users, the Realtor.
If a real estate agent can use and like a device, in these tough economic times, believe me, it works well.
The Epson WorkForce 600 MFC
Unboxing & Installation
The WorkForce 600 came in a box with paper samples, multi color ink pods, power cords, cables, and NO USB cable! I later found out that it had built-in Wi-Fi, which is nice; however, a USB cable included in the package would be nicer.
Giving it a black mark for that, I proceeded with the unboxing, and found a device sheathed in a piano-quality black material that was at once welcoming and modern.
Setting up the MFC via USB was a snap: I connected a USB cable to the printer, got prompted for the driver disk by Windows Vista™, duly inserted that disk, Vista did it’s thing, and voilà, MFC was working. Connecting via Wi-Fi was just as painless.
One new thing – at least for me – was the flip-up full-color control panel! It allows uses control of all functions of this device, almost negating a read of the user guide. I like this.
Scenario 1: Personal use
Printing: My first test scenario was plunking the WF600 into the consumer subnet at The Orbiting O’Odua in order to test the speed assertions I had heard about it.
I was able to consistently get about a 20-22 ppm speed printing near-laser quality black prints, and about 15-16 ppm in color.
My mouth is still agape at these results coming from an inkjet printer MSRP’d at under $200!
While inkjet printers, apart from dye-subs, are without peer when it comes to color and photo prints, I specifically wanted to see how the WF600 handled text documents. It did so with aplomb, and dispatch.
Photo printing has also become one of my little guilty pleasures in these past couple of months, since I can perform that task easily, and with professional-looking results with all the time.
Selecting and printing a photo from a memory card using the memory card slot was also easy, adding to the value of this device.
Copying & Scanning: This is a task that most of these home-targeted MFC (or all-in-ones) do relatively well. Scan speed is fast enough, and the copies start getting shot out at the speeds I listed above. Scan quality was very good, without the device or attendant software introducing artifacts into the scanned/copied images.
Faxing: Pretty much as expected.
Scenario 2: Business Use - A Realtor
My next usage scenario for this device was as a personal workhorse in a business environment: as a Realtor’s personal deskside printer.
As we all know, realtors like to print out photocopies of the properties they are trying to sell. After persuading her to abandon the office color laser printer (HP Color LaserJet 3600dn) for the duration of her test, I installed the WF600.
After just a few hours, I got a call giving the printer props.
For her, color fidelity in the prints, and the speed of printing were the objects of her desire.
She was also enamored of the looks, size, and connectivity options presented.
Furthermore, being able to send faxes, including confidential material right from her desk as inexpensively as the WF600 allowed, just made the purchase of the device an acceptable expense.
Conclusion
The Epson WorkForce 600 MFC has been a very capable performer. It is lightweight, fast, pretty to look at, and just works.
It proved itself capable in three most important of scenarios: as consumer device, as a home office MFC, and as a business AIO.
Also remember that this printer is capable of speeds of up to 38 ppm in black/color draft mode.
Props have to be given to Epson here for developing drivers that understand that the product, after all, is a printer. You know, a utility. Something to work ploddingly in the background, and not distract users by throwing up dialogs and/or notifications reminding us that it was there.
Resultantly, we are pleased to give The Epson WorkForce 600 the AbsoluteVista Business Ready Award.
For more information, or to purchase this device, please click here.
