Ricoh Aficio MP1350 135ppm Monochrome Print ▪ Copy ▪ Scan www.BERTL.com Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 2006 13 November All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.
What’s Inside Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Click on an entry to go to the page listed. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4 Device Features Summary .......................................................... 4 Paper Handling: Paper Input............................................................................... 5 Paper Handling: Input Features Summary .................................. 5 Reloading Paper Supplies ..............
What’s Inside Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Click on an entry to go to the page listed. Accessibility ...................................................................................................... 20 User Accessibility for Device Controls ....................................... 20 User Accessibility for Paper Refilling ......................................... 20 User Accessibility for Paper Jam Removal................................ 20 What We Liked........................................................
Introduction Ricoh Aficio MP1350 At 135-ppm, Ricoh’s new Aficio MP1350 adds a further 30ppm to Ricoh’s high volume production top speed. Ricoh users will recognize the MP1350 as being similar in build and stature as the Aficio 2105, which was the third generation Ricoh production MFP.
Paper Handling: Paper Input Market Background Information: Paper handling is a core requirement of every device. If a device cannot create documents a user wants on the paper they need, it does not matter how fast the print engine is, or how many pages it can produce in a month.
Paper Handling: Paper Input Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Reloading Paper Supplies The main tandem unit on the device is easy to reload with users dropping in up to two reams of media into each side of the unit with ease. BERTL analysts were impressed by the build and design of the universal drawers in the LCT modules. They were solidly constructed and easy to use and refill. To adjust in one direction (the long edge) users release a locking lever found to the right of the metal paper guide.
Paper Handling: Paper Output/Finishing Market Background Information: The paper output handling options can range from duplex output to saddle-stitch booklet making capabilities. Many devices offer a choice of finishers providing a low cost, minimum footprint solution, or a highcapacity, fully-featured solution. Stapling Departmental and light production class devices should offer finishers with at least 50-sheet capabilities with some offering 100-sheet capabilities.
Paper Handling: Paper Output/Finishing WHAT WE LIKED: • Extensive finishing options offer front office buyers a wealth of inline finishing capabilities, plus easy one step production ready for offline bindery. • The inline GBC StreamPunch III option offers a great way to reduce printing footprint and costs versus a dedicated offline punch unit. • The dual 200-sheet cover inserter allows pre-printed materials such as color covers, delicate materials, and other sources into a document.
Routine Maintenance Market Background Information: Workgroup devices sold through retail and traditional IT distribution outlets usually are maintained by office workers changing the all-in-one cartridge units that encase the entire imaging system. Units sold through the reseller/dealer community are usually maintained by office workers and trained service engineers. Separate long-life parts are more complex to install, but offer lower running costs than the low yield, all-in-one alternatives.
Routine Maintenance Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Paper Jam Removal The complex paper path on the Ricoh Aficio MP1350 makes paper jam removal a multi-stage process and often requires multiple sheets to be removed from around the device paper path. The instructions provided on the large color touch screen are well laid out, with moving displays that walk the user through each step of the process. Each area within the device was well labeled and easy to access and lead to no mishaps during jam removal testing.
Routine Maintenance Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Toner Replacement Process Dual toner supplies are accessed from a small panel to the side of the main engine access doors. The access door to the toner refilling points can be opened without disrupting the printing process. The dual toner supply allows for long uninterrupted printing and allows for refilling on the fly during a print run. Users simply press in the green tab to release the toner bottle, then turn the bottle to remove it from the unit.
Device Management Market Background Information: An efficient device management backbone is needed to take maximum advantage of the feature set within a device, be it a printer, fax, scanner, or multi-functional product. Device management is commonly-supported through a Web server on the device controller. This Web server is accessed using any desktop Internet browser. The user simply enters the IP address of the device into the URL address line.
Device Management Ricoh Aficio MP1350 WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • The WebImageMonitor provides the same common interface and feature set as found on other Ricoh MFP devices. This is a major advantage to the adminIT department who can navigate and manage devices across an entire fleet easily. • The ability to pause a job in the queue from desktop or device touch screen would allow administrators to check on a job before releasing it.
Device Management Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Status Monitoring The status tab provided all the pertinent status factors of the device at a glance. However, there is no indicator of likely page yields remaining based on current coverage patterns. Job Queue Reporting The Admin mode in WebImageMonitor includes the option to change the order of jobs and to delete jobs. These functions are not available to desktop users, but can be accessed using the walk up touch screen panel.
Device Management Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Security Settings Extensive security measures available for the Ricoh Aficio MP1350 can all be administered using the WebImageMonitor. Administrators and IT support staff have a fast, intuitive method to safeguard the device and information flowing through it. See more information on security measures in the Security section later in this report. Network protocols and ports can be switched on and off as required. IPv4 and six filters can be set up to limit access.
Device Management Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Address Book Management Administrators and end users can easily set up the Address Book by using the Web browser or the touch screen interface. Setting up new addresses is faster and more accurate than rival devices because of the large touch screen, integration with email-shared address books, and SMB browsing capabilities.
Device Management Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Email Notification Alerts The WebImageMonitor gives administrators the ability to set up four separate email list groups. This can be used to inform the most relevant party when issues arise at the device. BERTL set up three email notification groups: a local administrator for non-technical routine maintenance tasks, IT support for technical problems, and purchasing when supplies run low.
Security Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Market Background Information: High-tech security is never out of the news, with reports of information theft and hacking making headlines. By the very nature of their development, network printers and MFPs are security risks if not managed correctly. Security Features Summary Hard Drive Overwrite Optional Removable Hard Drive Optional Private Print Standard Advanced network connectivity options open ports to hackers.
Security Ricoh Aficio MP1350 WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • Extensive user authentication capabilities restrict access to the device across all disciplines as required. • Biometrics—for either user authentication and/or secure print/fax queue release—would provide added security. • Secure print send capability is standard with the ability to reprint multiple secure/locked documents in a single step from the touch screen control panel while some competitors force one-by-one selection.
Accessibility Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Market Background Information: In the U.S., Section 508 legislation prohibits government agencies from purchasing devices that are not accessible to those with physical impairments. For this reason—and the corporate world’s increased focus on delivering a better work environment for all—user-friendly features for physicallyimpaired users are considered more often.
Copy Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Market Background Information: Copying is the standard feature on every MFP on the market and is increasingly being offered either as an option or a separate model within network printer product ranges. Before being wowed by headline speeds and advanced features, consider that the most common copy job is a single set of a simplex document that is five pages or less with no finishing and no changes to image quality default settings.
Copy Ricoh Aficio MP1350 WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • The user-friendly interface provides both experienced and novice users with a quick and easy method to build copy jobs with many of the most commonly-used features on the opening screen. In addition, up to six unique, one-touch buttons bring common applications within a single finger press. • Using the saddle stitch function can be confusing to first time/occasional users.
Copy Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Image Quality The image quality from the Ricoh Aficio MP1350 was to a high standard across a wide range of document types using Text, Text/Photo, and Photo modes. This is in part due to the 4-bit CCD scanning technology in the color scanning enabled document feeder. This allows a better quality data capture than devices that are monochrome data capture restricted. The most striking difference was in the Photo mode.
Copy Image Quality Ricoh Aficio MP1350 (continued) Text : Reproduction of the map was high quality with interpretations of color being well reproduced and a high degree of legibility in fine text and detailing. The photograph of the house lost some of the fine detail in the roof, foliage, and brickwork due in part to being slightly over dark. The portrait photograph was overlay dark and detail was lost. Text/Photo: The map reproduced well with interpretations of color well reproduced in gray.
Print On Demand Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Market Background Information: Ever since MFPs started including hard drives, manufacturers have looked for ways to offer more and more on-demand document facilities. Ricoh has been an innovator and leader in the field of print on demand in MFPs for many years, ever since the introduction of its Document Server technology.
Print On Demand Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Document Server from Control Panel From the control panel, walk-up users can view document thumbnails or view lists of files stored in the Document Server. To check if the document is correct prior to printing, the Ricoh Aficio MP1350 also includes a full document Preview mode with zoom capability. This is a feature that BERTL has been asking for since Ricoh introduced its Document Server technology many years ago.
Print On Demand Document Server from Printer Driver Ricoh Aficio MP1350 . From the printer driver, desktop users can route files directly into the Document Server. Users can add personal details to documents during the storage process. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 November 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document.
Print On Demand Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Document Server from Web Browser Desktop users can view stored documents using the WebImageMonitor and can search documents by file, user name, or by date stored. Desktop users can print one or more jobs, taking advantage of the full printing functionality of the device. While multiple jobs can be sent to print as a batch, all are treated as a single job. There is no method of treating them as a single task, but separate documents.
Print On Demand Ricoh Aficio MP1350 WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • Viewing documents either from the desktop or from the touch screen as with zoom-in capabilities is a valuable feature. The user can read the document data prior to printing, reducing errors when documents are stored without personal naming convention. • The ability to create personal folders within the Document Server rather than using the flat storage design would aid in organization.
Print Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Market Background Information: Print has replaced copy as the primary method of creating output years ago. To limit costs and raise integration between functions, more multifunction products use a single processor board for copy, print, and scan functions. Connectivity The vast majority of devices include Ethernet and USB connectivity out of the box; some include parallel connections. In addition, most devices offer a selection of optional connectivity choices like Wireless 802.
Print Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Print Productivity The print productivity results for the Ricoh Aficio MP1350 highlighted some opportunities for maximizing productivity and reducing network bandwidth through intelligent driver selection. On PDF documents, the PCL driver faired badly compared to both the PostScript and RPCS drivers in both output speed and network bandwidth. The one exception to this PDF workflow was the PDF quick reference document, which was printed in booklet format with PCL.
Print Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Batch Printing Market Background Information: While single job printing may show up minor productivity advantages between devices and stacking up a selection or arbitrary print file and releasing them all at once may give an impression of processing ability, it is the end user that will usually be the greatest factor in the time from ‘print required’ to ‘print in hand.
Print Ricoh Aficio MP1350 PCL6 Print Driver Functionality The PCL6 driver has a familiar look and feel following industry-standard layout and design. The Setup tab provides the main print functionality. Job delivery options include private and sample print modes plus an option to send jobs to the Document Server for print on demand purposes. For those not needing multiple media supplies in a single document, all major features are found on the opening tab.
Print Ricoh Aficio MP1350 RPCS Print Driver Functionality The RPCS driver is equipped to share the processing workload between the desktop PC and the MFP. The RPCS driver has two designs available. A common PCL look and feel and an icon-design driver interface, which is designed to make printing a faster one touch process. The icon system design works on the premise of allowing users to store all the print settings they need for a job.
Print Ricoh Aficio MP1350 RPCS Print Driver Functionality (Continued) To change a custom setting, users select the Change/Ad Custom Settings icon on the opening screen. From there, they now have five tabs that can be used to build the job profile. The Set up tab has the main media features, job delivery mode options, and set selection. Within the Edit tab, users can choose more advanced document production options.
Print Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Image Quality Image quality across a wide range of print jobs and file formats on the Ricoh Aficio MP1350 was at a very good standard satisfying the needs of office users across a very wide range of document types. Grayscales were reproduced to a very high standard with contrast maintained in dark areas and good differentiation of subtle colors such as the foliage and grapes.
Print Ricoh Aficio MP1350 WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • The powerful print processor and large memory resources enable the device to power through print workflows and large files. • Direct PDF capability could be offered as a standard feature. • Highly featured drivers deliver a wide range of document production capabilities. • The user-friendly, icon-driven RPCS driver can offer high levels of print functionality with the minimum of user selections.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Market Background Information In just a few years, network scanning has moved from a luxury item to one of the most important functions on many MFPs. Virtually all MFPs offer standard or optional network scanning. Document feeder design is now a major focus with users looking for higher speed, low resolution capabilities, more versatile scan functions, and even color scanning on devices only equipped with monochrome marking engines.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Scan to Email Ricoh’s scan to email function is feature-rich. Users start by choosing the destinations through the device address book, by dynamic searching of corporate shared address books, or by manual entry at the touch screen. The large touch screen makes the entry of email addresses on the fly faster and more accurate than many competing systems with smaller monochrome alternatives.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Scan to Email (Cont’d) Users can also choose to preview pages in full color before committing a scan file. On the preview, window users can zoom in to check the legibility of the document and browse from page to page if required. This valuable feature ensures that data capture is accurate, saving valuable processing time later in the document handling phase. The preview was high enough in quality to be able to read text down to an 8 point size with ease.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Scan Data Capture Accuracy One of the fastest growing needs for highspeed scanning is the conversion of legacy hard copy documents into an electronic format for better information sharing, reduced storage space, and easier search and data retrieval. A scan converts a page into an image, which is not very manageable.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 As the table below illustrates in BERTL’s test, which includes multiple fonts, font colors, and font sizes, the Text mode delivered an image that required considerably less user intervention after the initial OCR read evaluation had been carried out, especially at the lower 200 dpi resolution. The level of accuracy at 200 dpi Text mode was good with 6 point reporting a 90 percent accuracy rate at all four scan test settings with a clean 100 percent conversion at 8 point.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Scan Data Capture Productivity Judging scan productivity is another difficult task. The impact of the user on the overall process will be largely determined by the amount of work required at the initial scan operation.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Mixed Media and Batch Scanning In a perfect world, all original documents are the same size, of the same type, and require the same imaging settings. Manufacturers advertise their maximum scanning speed based upon this perfect scenario. BERTL looks beyond the perfect world, providing valuable real world information. Take the example of a paralegal scanning a case file. The file could well contain both letter and legal sized documents, requiring a mixed media capability.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 Original Handling Capabilities While scanning speeds and duty volumes may be based upon perfect standard letter sized office grade, laser printer paper, there is a much wider range of media substrates commonly used and handled in the world every day. Coated Surfaces Help Printing But Hinder Scanning: Friction rollers, which grip and guide originals through the document feeder, work very well on standard fibrous office paper.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 What Is Color Dropout? Color dropout is a scanning feature that, as the name suggests, removes a specific color from a scanned image. Color dropout can be carried out either at the hardware before data transmission or on the desktop using software after data transmission. The benefit of performing color dropout at the device stage is that the bandwidth associated with the file now decreases dramatically due to the removal of much of the image data.
Scan Ricoh Aficio MP1350 WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • Color scanning capability that offers more diverse production scanning capabilities than those offered by rivals restricted to monochrome scanning functionality. • A searchable PDF creation format that converts hard copy into structured electronic information is available only with the GlobalScan option.
Summing Up Ricoh Aficio MP1350 The Ricoh Aficio MP1350 enters a tough, aggressively fought market armed with an armada of user friendly features and design attributes. As mentioned at the beginning of the report, the device can be considered both a high end front office device and as a production device destined for CRDs, quick printers and printshops.
About BERTL Ricoh Aficio MP1350 About BERTL BERTL Services The success of an organization depends on its ability to manage its information and assets. An effective workflow process requires the complex integration of information, devices, software, and people. Reports and Star Ratings BERTL analysts provide detailed reports on the technical and practical benefits of thousands of color and monochrome workgroup, office, graphic arts, and production devices.
