Panasonic WORKiO KX-CL500 color laser review
The Panasonic WORKiO KX-CL500 color laser printer is an interesting new single pass laser. At around $1500 the Panasonic WORKiO KX-CL500 is not cheap but if your looking for high color print speed and quality then look no further.
The Panasonic WORKiO KX-CL500 color laser printer
Panasonic single pass technology
Panasonic has been producing laser printers for some time now and the WORKiO KX-CL500 color laser represents their latest model. This printer leapfrogs it's competitors in terms of technology and performance and sits $500-$1000 under other single pass color lasers.
The Panasonic WORKiO KX-CL500 color laser printer offers true 1200 by 1200 dpi printer at up to 17 ppm. This is very fast for a color laser printing and is one of the fastest on the market. You also get a reasonable 64 mb of memory that can be expanded up to 512mb.
The Panasonic CL500 color laser can replace your current monochrome laser
Panasonic want to position this printer as a replacement for monochrome workgroup printers and have put a lot of effort into this printers monochrome performance. What you get is 21 pages per minute and around 1.5 cents per page for monochrome jobs. This compares very well with current monochrome offerings.
Black toner cartridges for all CL500 / CL510 Series are rated at 5,000 pages and only cost $24.00. the color cartridges are also rated at 5,000 pages and cost only $72.00. Panasonic advertise this printer as having a low total cost of ownership. This is pleasing when also consider the reasonable $1500 price tag.
The Panasonic KX-CL500 with optional input paper draws
As for service, the KX-CL500 Series is designed for easy maintenance, with top-loading, spill-proof, slide-in toner cartridges. All supplies - including the fuser and transfer roller - are user-replaceable. The printers come standard with an array of software tools: network setup, remote maintenance, web administration, embedded web server, e-mail notification and status display. Reliable jam recovery capabilities add to the impressive design and ease of use.
In their quest to make a color laser printer that can replace a monochrome Panasonic have given you a massive input paper capacity. You can expand the input paper capacity to 1690 sheets with two optional draws pictured below.
Auto duplex can be installed inside the front of the unit in a snap, doesn't take up any additional space. Documents can be produced for either side- or top-edge binding, at 17 images per minute (ipm) color and 21 ipm monochrome. The auto duplexing unit is an option on the CL500 but comes standard on the CL510.
Here are the specifications:
- black: up to 21 ppm
- color: up to 17 ppm
- Total Media Capacity 530 sheets expandable to 1690
- 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi for both black and color
- Single pass color technology for high speed printing
It is hard not to recommend the Panasonic WORKiO KX-CL500 color laser printer. If your in the market for a sub $2000 color laser then this printer makes the most sense to me. Panasonic should be applauded for their efforts to make this printer appeal to current monochrome users.