Low-cost lasers: power printing at bargain prices - Hardware Review - Apple's LaserWriter Select 310, DEC's DECLaser 1152, Epson America Inc's ActionLaser 1500, HP's LaserJet 4L and LaserJet IIIP, Panasonic's KX-P4430, Star Micronics' LS-5 EX, Texas s Instruments' microWriter PS 23 - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, Sept, 1993 by Henry F. Beechhold

If there's a reason not to buy this printer, it may be that it is headed over the hill in terms of model years. (In fact, the vendor will replace the unit later this fall, though you should be able to find it in stock in stores for some time after.) But that says nothing about functionality and performance, which are solid and reliable, nor does it take into account HP's reputation for supporting its products. We'd call this an excellent buy, especially at its current street price of about $850.

Panasonic KX-P4430 Rating: ***

Panasonic is noted for manufacturing reliable, sometimes clunky-looking printers and marketing them at high list prices meant to be deeply discounted. The 5-ppm KX-P4430, with a list price of $1,495, is no exception. It's not an exciting piece of equipment, but it will get the job done at a reasonable price: $945 on the street.

The included 200-sheet paper tray is more generous than what comes standard with some of the other printers we looked at. Like the HP 4L, the KX-P4430 is energy conscious, automatically powering down to a standby mode between printing jobs. The unit also automatically switches between ports if you have a computer attached to each. SatinPrint, Panasonic's rendition of Resolution Enhancement Technology, smoothes the look of the printer's 300dpi text and line art, though the printer was less adept at handling our test photographic image.

We wish Panasonic would rethink its approach to documentation. There is something forbidding about Panasonic's 8.5-by-11-inch books: pages of tables, charts, diagrams, line drawings, but relatively little explanatory text. Much of what text there is seems irritatingly short of just that information you'd like to have. On the plus side, the manual walks you through the various front panel functions with perfect clarity--luckily enough, since the front panel menu is somewhat complex.

And, for some mysterious reason, Panasonic has chosen to name but not exemplify the fonts in the Font List test printout. But that's a small flaw in an otherwise worthwhile choice.

Star Micronix LS-5 EX Rating:, *** 1/2

Star Micronics built its reputation on low-cost, good-quality dot-matrix printers. It continues that tradition in the laser market with the 5-ppm LS-5 EX, a RISC processor-equipped machine that sells for about $800 on the street.

The LS-5 EX proved to be one of the fastest at printing our graphics image, handling the task as quickly as the 6-ppm Epson model. Star's Resolution Enhancement Procedure and microfine toner aid in the crisp text and line art output. Halftone images also print out at high quality. A disk with 15 TrueType fonts is a bonus, as are the included 250sheet paper cassette and 50-sheet paper tray. With two input options, you can set one tray aside for letterhead and the other for plain paper. You can also connect two computers to the printer's parallel and serial ports; the printer automatically switches to the appropriate channel. You can further upgrade this model with a Microsoft TrueImage PostScript interpreter option.