August 21, 2008

Epson B-300 Inkjet Printer Brings the Power of Workgroup Printers to Individuals

By Kara Hiltz

Printer News: Epson's B-300 Offers Many of the Same Benefits as the B-500DN at a Lower Price

On July 29th, we covered the groundbreaking Epson B-500DN inkjet printer, which Anna Jen and her team at Epson created to appeal to workgroups that would traditionally opt for a color laser printer.

Epson also shipped the B-300 at the same time. This printer serves one of Epson's traditional strongholds — the small office/home office crowd, many of whom use an inkjet printer for brochures and photos, and a monochrome laser printer for office documents. The B-300 can replace both as it provides the ink and paper capacity and speed of a laser printer with the color output of an inkjet printer.

Unlike the B-500DN, it lacks an Ethernet port and and duplex printing, but it costs less. If someone needs a printer for their own use, they probably won't miss the network interface plus they can add duplexing and still save money vis-a-vis the B-500DN.

We cover a lot of printers here in Printer News, many of which don't really stand out. By contrast, the Epson B-300 and B-500DN strike us as particularly noteworthy products built to address a specific need in the marketplace. We look forward to seeing how they fare in reviews and in actual use.

Summary

High-volume inkjet printer best for single users who want the capabilities of both an inkjet and laser printer

MSRP: $329

Manufacturer

Press Release

Epson Announces a Pair of Powerful, Economical Productivity Printers Designed for Education and Business Applications

Product Page

Epson B-300

Supplies

Ink Cartridges

T6161 (Black), T6162 (Cyan), T6163 (Magenta), T6164 (Yellow)

Specs that matter

Release Date:	July 14, 2008
Notable Features:	Large ink cartridges handle up to 3,000 pages, 10,000-page monthly volume, low cost per page, Auto Nozzle Check System prevents clogged ink nozzles, optional duplexer for double-sided printing, prints on several types of media
Green Features:	Separate ink cartridges reduces ink waste, optional duplex printing
Pages Per Minute:	32 (37 in draft mode)
Resolution:	5760x1400 dpi
Paper Trays:	2
Paper Capacity:	650
Interface:	USB 2.0
Compatibility:	Windows
Dimensions:	18.90 x 16.54 x 12.28 inches
Weight:	21.72 pounds
Warranty:	1 year

About Printer News
Your one stop source for information about new business- and consumer-class printers, Printer News covers everything you need to know. Well, almost everything. If you have anything to add to our report, please post it below.