Review of the Epson WorkForce ST-C4100 Supertank Color MFP

AT THE END OF THE DAY

The Epson WorkForce ST-C4100 Supertank Colour MFP, a four-function mannequin much like the EcoTank ET-4850, is a home-office or private AIO deal in the event you print a number of pages.

EPSON WORKFORCE ST-C4100 SUPERTANK COLOR MFP SPECS

The Epson WorkForce ST-C4100 Supertank Colour MFP ($499) is an inkjet all-in-one (AIO) printer that’s primarily an identical to the , Epson’s top-of-the-line letter- and legal-size AIO within the bulk-ink client lineup, besides that it’s discovered within the “For Work” part of Epson’s web site fairly than the “For Residence” part. Beauty points, advertising, and prolonged guarantee decisions, and the way a lot ink comes within the field are all small adjustments between the 2, and the WorkForce’s marketed value is 99 cents lower than the EcoTank’s. With so little to differentiate them, the ST-C4100 shares the Editors’ Selection award for a heavy-duty small-office/house workplace AIO that we granted the ET-4850.

What Are the Similarities and Dissimilarities?

The WorkForce ST-C4100 prints scans to a PC, acts as a standalone copier and fax machine, scans to web companies, and is bodily and functionally an identical to the EcoTank ET-4850. It additionally has the identical paper dealing with because the earlier mannequin, with a 250-sheet drawer and automated duplex (double-sided) printing, in addition to a letter-size flatbed and 30-page automated doc feeder (ADF) for scanning. The ADF, then again, is unable to scan two-sided originals and reorder the pages.

The ST-C4100 is an identical to the patron AIO aside from the shortage of an EcoTank emblem and the truth that it is just obtainable in white (the ET-4850 is on the market in white or black). It gives the identical desk-friendly dimensions (10 by 16.4 by 19.8 inches with paper trays prolonged) and the identical USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct connection choices.

Solely three extra variations between the 2 printers, in keeping with Epson, are their advertising, warranties, and the quantity of ink they arrive with. Formally, the EcoTank is obtainable to customers, whereas the WorkForce is offered to companies. In follow, nonetheless, you could find each on-line, with some reliable retailers providing reductions of as much as $100 on the WorkForce mannequin as of this writing.

Commonplace warranties are likewise an identical, whereas prolonged guarantee choices aren’t. Each have a two-year guarantee, although Epson says the ET-4850 have to be registered to accumulate the second yr. The EcoTank’s solely choice for prolonged service is a one-year plan, however the WorkForce ST-C4100 gives a wide range of plans that permit you to prolong the guarantee for as much as 5 years and add a next-business-day alternative. You possibly can definitely obtain longer prolonged protection in the event you purchase the ET-4850 from a vendor, however not all the time the next-day alternative.

The third distinction is somewhat hazier: each printers’ web sites declare that the bundle comprises as much as two years’ price of ink (with a footnote saying that that that calculation relies on 200 pages printed monthly). Nevertheless, the ST-C4100 comes with two units of ink bottles, whereas the ET-4850 solely comes with one—a WorkForce bonus price practically $60 that ought to permit you to print twice as many pages earlier than needing to purchase new ink. Epson hasn’t validated this on-line small print as of this writing, however I can affirm that the ST-C4100 offered for analysis got here with two units of ink bottles within the bundle, in comparison with the ET-4850’s one.

The WorkForce ST-C4100 was put to the take a look at, and the outcomes had been an identical by way of efficiency and output high quality.

Each Epsons print monochrome pages at 15.5 pages per minute (ppm) and colour pages at 8.5 pages per minute (ppm), and so they produced an identical outcomes with each doc in our take a look at suite.

I timed the ST-C4100 at 16.8ppm for black-and-white textual content utilizing our common testbed PC and an Ethernet connection utilizing our 12-page Microsoft Phrase file (together with the time to print the primary web page). It scored 7.5ppm on our total enterprise purposes suite, which incorporates the textual content doc in addition to coloured PDF, PowerPoint, and Excel recordsdata. On Epson’s Presentation Matte paper, the WorkForce took a mean of 1 minute and 25 seconds to print 4-by-6-inch images.

The distinction in stopwatch time between the 2 printers was one second, effectively inside the error margin. Each are tied for first place in textual content printing with the , which is our Editors’ Selection award for low-volume house and micro-office printing. In our enterprise purposes suite, the Brother’s 10.5ppm outperformed each Epsons.

The ST-text C4100’s and graphics output high quality was an identical to the ET-4850’s, falling simply shy of top-tier for enterprise inkjets. Though the sides of textual content characters didn’t fairly match the crispness of laser printers, the entire fonts utilized in regular enterprise paperwork had been simply seen at sizes as small as 5 factors. At default settings, fills in graphics on plain paper confirmed some banding, however colours had been pleasantly saturated, and small traces held up effectively.

Epson’s steered Presentation for images The photographs on matte paper seemed significantly higher than the EcoTank’s images on shiny paper, however that’s because of the differing media. Enterprise graphics printed on matte paper had no banding and had been way more sensible than my plain paper examples. (See the ET-4850 analysis for extra info on output high quality.)

Lastly, as one among Epson’s bulk-ink printers (with reservoirs refilled with bottles fairly than replaceable ink cartridges), the ST-C4100 has a low working price of solely 0.3 cents every regular black web page and 0.9 cents each colour web page. With a cartridge-based inkjet, you will get the equal pace and options for a significantly cheaper preliminary value, however in the event you plan to print a number of pages, the decrease consumable price can lead to a decrease complete price of possession.

Choose a Printing Price

The WorkForce ST-C4100 and the EcoTank ET-4850, as you would possibly count on, are just about interchangeable choices for a home-office AIO or a private AIO in a workgroup. When you don’t plan on printing a number of pages, a cartridge-based inkjet just like the Brother MFC-J4335DW or, in order for you larger pace and adaptability, the wide-format or , is a greater choice.

If the extra-cost next-day alternative coverage appeals to you, the ST-C4100 has the profit over the EcoTank and Supertank siblings. As heavy-duty, small-office multifunction printers, each are on an equal footing and share our Editors’ Selection awards. On any given day, both might be a superior deal, so make certain to take a look at each.

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