When most of us look at printers, we just want one that prints fast. But there are people with additional needs like photo printing. If you are one of them, you could consider a printer like Epson’s L850.

Print shop anyone?

Sporting a sleek black look, the L850 isn’t bulky or heavy, thanks to its plastic build. On the front is a 2.7in LCD to operate the printer, as well as a USB port, memory stick and SD card slot for quick printing without the PC. Opening the lid you can see the scan/copy bed, while there’s a CD/DVD tray included inside the box. So besides printing, scanning and copying, it also prints photos CD or DVD covers. This means that people like students or photographers can do a lot with it.

Large reservoir

At first it doesn’t look special in any way, but I knew that it comes with Epson’s economical six-colour ink tank system. Epson says  that on the L850, it’ll give you a high-yield print count – 3,000 (monochrome), 5,400 (colour) and 1,800 (4R photos). That’s like an  explosion of photos! I printed about a dozen or so to check the ink gauge, but without enough A4 or glossy paper I couldn’t really  challenge those claims. Shucks… 

 PC Free

I copied some photos to my USB drive and printed some photos directly, using the LCD interface to  operate the machine. It’s possible to use a variety of memory sticks/card including Sony’s Memory Stick  Duo Pro or any SD card. Photo prints appear after about 60-70 seconds while standard prints are about  12 seconds (first page), which isn’t too bad.

Multipurpose

This consumer MFP is great for prosumers or home users in general, as it’s reasonably affordable. If you print out your photos or plan to open a printer shop, the Epson L850 might be the one for you.

Price RM1,298

Specs

Print Speed 38 ppm (Colour), 37 ppm (Monochrome)

Resolution 5,760 x 1,440 dpi

Paper Size A4, A5, A6, B5, C6 (Envelope), DL (Envelope), No. 10 (Envelope), Letter, 9 x 13 cm, 10 x 15 cm, 13 x 18 cm, 13 x 20 cm, 20 x 25 cm, 100 x 148 mm, 16:9, Legal

Connectivity 10/100BaseT, IEEE802.11b/g/n

Ports Memory Stick, SD, USB

Value 8

Performance 8

Features 9

Design 7

Usability 8 

Verdict Great printer for photographers and home users.

Total 8