Konica Minolta Magicolor 2430DL Review

Practically Petite

We are, of course, cut, buff, and ripped. Nevertheless, we admit, you're not likely to see us pulling semi trucks or piggybacking refrigerators on any ESPN "World's Strongest Man" shows; for past reviews, we've had to huff, puff, and brace ourselves before lifting a 60- or 70-pound color laser printer out of its box.

When we tried that with the Konica Minolta Magicolor 2430DL, we darn near yanked the thing up and smacked ourselves in the face with it: The 2430DL weighs a relatively trim 44 pounds with consumables, and takes just 17 by 20 inches of desk or table space (it stands 13.5 inches high).

It also sets up in seconds, has a front-mounted PictBridge USB port for direct printing of images from newer digital cameras, and costs $499. That's obviously many times more than your average color inkjet printer, but Konica Minolta is unashamedly targeting small-office inkjet buyers with a pitch for fast (20 pages per minute), laser-quality black text as well as sharp, vivid color printing at 5 ppm, with resolution up to 2,400 by 600 dpi, no need for inkjets' costly coated paper and short-lived ink cartridges, and an industrial-strength duty cycle of up to 35,000 pages per month.

We think it's an appealing package, slightly tempered by the fact that our test unit was really priced at $648 -- $499 plus the 256MB memory upgrade (over the standard 32MB) that Konica Minolta admits is required to print full-page, high-resolution images or use all PictBridge functions such as index printing. To be fair, while "Around $650!" is a less seductive line than "Under $500!", the Windows-, Mac-, and Linux-compatible 2430DL does give you more than some stripped-down, entry-level color lasers (such as the Magicolor 2300W, reviewed in May 2003 and now knocked down to a clearance-sale $300).

Besides being faster than 16/4 ppm rivals, it includes both Ethernet and USB 2.0 ports (in addition to the PictBridge connector), so it's ready for network sharing. It has a decent-sized (actually letter- or legal-sized) 200-page input tray that folds down from the front panel -- not a photocopier-style pull-out drawer, but it mimics one and keeps paper dust-free with a snap-on plastic front extension and cover -- and can grow with your business, thanks to an optional 500-sheet lower drawer ($299) and automatic duplexing unit for two-sided printing ($399).

Besides, if you're a solo operator who can do without the Ethernet and PictBridge ports and paper-handling options, the Magicolor 2400W offers the same mechanicals for $399 (and is probably a more direct comparison for inkjet shoppers).

Preinstalled -- What a Wonderful Word

To Konica Minolta's credit, the Magicolor's drum cartridge and four toner cartridges (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) are installed at the factory, so the hardest part of initial setup is removing various strips of tape and tugging free a string holding a couple of plastic spacer pegs that secure components during transit.

To Konica Minolta's discredit, the 2430DL follows the tacky low-priced-laser custom of shipping with skimpy starter cartridges -- rated for approximately 1,500 pages apiece versus the 4,500 of replacement cyan, magenta, and yellow ($130 apiece or $349 for a set) and black ($85) toner cartridges. The $149 drum cartridge will need replacing after something between 11,500 (all color) and 45,000 (all black) pages.

Following that 4:1 ratio of monochrome to color printouts, we reached for our calculator and guesstimated that 45,000 pages -- 36,000 black and 9,000 color -- would cost $1,527 in consumables (not counting paper), or 2.1 cents per black and 8.6 cents per color page. That's more than the most cost-efficient, high-volume corporate printers, but a bargain compared to desktop inkjets.

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