Magicolor 5570 Makes Its Mark
The image quality in the Magicolor printer line has never disappointed CMP Channel Test Center engineers, and the 5570 is no exception. Color prints are rich in depth and are extremely consistent, even on large jobs. Black-and-white text is also clear and consistent.
All units in the 5500 printer series use Konica Minolta's Emperon technology, including all larger printers in this class. The Emperon software has been put through its paces for about two years by Test Center engineers, who have found it easier to use than Konica Minolta's previous print management software.
What's more, Emperon combines color matching and half-tone screening in its software and printer hardware to produce ultrafine prints with resolutions up to 9,600-x-600 dpi. The Magicolor 5570 also comes with dynamic contone screening to analyze images and paper elements so that it can produce the best color density on paper media.
At its highest resolution, the 5570 printer produces high-quality glossy prints and the images are as sharp as those from high-end photo printers. Engineers have noticed over the years that Konica Minolta printers constantly correct themselves to produce consistent color output. Part of the high quality comes from Konica Minolta's Simitri polymerized toners. Color toners are still an expensive commodity and the company's toners are no exception.
The 5570 printer supports all standard media sizes, including banner sizes of 8.5-x-47.24 inches and custom sizes all the way down to 4-x-6 inches. In addition to glossy and common stock paper, the 5570 printer supports transparencies, labels, envelopes and thick photo paper.
Out of the box, the 5570 printer includes a 600-sheet paper tray, which can be increased to 1,600 sheets. The 5570 printer also supports duplexer for double-sided printing and has two bins for stapling and offset stacking.
The 5570 printer also comes with Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 and built-in parallel ports. The series supports mixed networks that combine TCP/IP, NetBEUI, EtherTalk and NetWare. The extensive network options allow solution providers to install this printer in just about every network setting.
Konica Minolta's management software is compatible with Windows Vista, XP, Server 2003, Max OS X and OS 9, Red Hat Linux 9 and Novell's SUSE 8.2. All software drivers and management tools support collation, fit-to-page scaling, page separation, secured printing, watermarks and tray selections, the company says. Engineers couldn't verify that the functionality is identical on all supported OSes, since the printer was only tested with Windows XP.
Managed service providers and solution providers can take advantage of Konica Minolta's PageScope Web Connection software, which provides remote print management, including toner status and troubleshooting capabilities. The printer software supports PostScript 3 and PCL 6, so many business applications can use the printer.
The 5570 printer comes with 256 Mbytes of DDR SDRAM on board and can be upgraded to 1,024 Mbytes. Solution providers can also add a Compact Flash memory card to download fonts, and new color profiles. The printer arrives with a hard disk that adds proofing, secured accounts and other job functions such as print and hold, and incomplete stored jobs. By the keypad area, users can insert USB flash drives for direct printing. This printer supports PDF, JPEG and TIFF files out of a USB 1.1 port.
As of July 1, Konica Minolta's multifunction printer (MFP) division is running under the umbrella of Konica Minolta's Business Solutions for the U.S. market. The merger combined MFPs with printer all-in-ones to provide a consistent desktop-to-print-shop solution across all Emperon-based print technologies, toners and drivers, including entire product sets designed to address midsize businesses and large-scale enterprise solutions. In addition, the company is providing partners with a unified solution center and pricing structure that will help them select the best products and solutions for their customers. As of Aug. 1, the Konica Minolta 5570 is priced at $1,199 with a one-year on-site warranty.
Konica Minolta's two-tier channel program offers a wealth of options for partners. For instance, partners can receive Spiff Rewards via an Essential Rewards debit card, as well as periodic promotions. The company does not have any requirements for entry-level partners. To jump to the Platinum level, however, partners have to achieve some quotas over a six-month period. Platinum partners can receive MDFs, custom marketing materials, preferred status on an online locator, and a partner plaque. All partners can test-drive programs on a trial basis.
In addition, partners can receive discounted pricing on printers when the equipment is used for demo purposes. To increase revenue, partners are also eligible to participate in Authorized Server Provider programs. As authorized dealers, they can offer extended warranties and sell paper and toner.
Konica Minolta has an extensive lead-generation program that includes product test-drives, online and direct mail drops, e-mail campaigns and participation in industry trade shows. The company also regularly polls registered users to find out what features they'd like to see in future printers.