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By Hanleigh Daniels 3 September 2010

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Home business owners and SMEs looking for a fast, reliable and good quality printer can certainly consider Epson’s Stylus OFFICE T30, which delivers high quality printing jobs at a fast pace. 
 
Functionality
 
The Epson Stylus OFFICE T30 offers high-speed black-and-white as well as colour prints, whether printing in draft mode (up to 38 pages per minute) or laser quality prints (text, text & image, photo and best photo mode up to 27 ppm). At its fastest speed (in draft mode) the printer can be a little noisy, but you do have a quiet mode option for printing jobs that is still really quick.
 
This single function business inkjet printer utilises Epson’s high-yield individual ink cartridges that features two black ink cartridges providing you with a higher print yield (up to 740 pages). 
 
Printing jobs aren’t just completed quickly and at a good quality (5760 x 1440 dpi), but thanks to Epson’s DURABrite Ultra ink technology, these land on the output tray totally dry so that you don’t smudge it when you handle the paper.
 
This printer also comes with Epson Status Monitor 3 software that will notify you to the status of the printer (low toner or paper etc.) as well as printing jobs (error notifications or jobs competed etc.). When the black toner is low you’ll get an option to mix the other colours with it in order to preserve it, which is a good cost saving option, but does result in a noticeably lighter black colour on the printing jobs. 
 
 
Paper Handling
 
Epson’s Stylus OFFICE T30 measures 435 x 250 x 161 mm and weighs in at 3.8 kg, so it doesn’t take up too much desk real estate. It increases a bit when you extend the output tray. 
 
For a speedy printer such as this, one would expect the Epson to pack a big paper feed tray, so the 120 sheet paper input tray is a bit of a let down, limiting the number of pages you can print at a time.
 
Where you aren’t limited though is in the various types of paper that you can load the input tray with. It can print on A4, 10 x 15 cm photo paper, A6, A5, B5, envelopes, legal, Letter and the like.
 
Printing on photo paper delivers the same great quality as on A4 paper, but there is a considerable drop in printing pace, for example printing a high-res photo on an Epson Premium Semi glossy A4 paper and Best Photo mode (highest quality) took over four and half minutes.
 
Final Word
 
The Epson Stylus OFFICE T30 is a fast and capable printer with a whole host of printing options available to you. It is easy to use and delivers exceptional quality, although it can do with a bigger paper input tray.  
 
It is available for a recommended retail price of R795. Visit www.epson.co.za for more info.
PROS
Prints at a good speed and quality and prints directly onto photo paper as well.
CONS
On the noisy side when printing at the fastest setting, paper input tray is on the smallish side and not the cheapest single function inkjet printer on the market.
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