INK & TONER
Panasonic DP-3030 Review
 
Editor's Review
Panasonic DP-3030 by Erik Lynch 08/23/2010 OVERVIEW: As one of the newer additions to the Panasonic multifunctional center family, the Panasonic DP-3030 sports a hefty price tag well within the triple digits. With such a high up front cost, one would expect the printer / copier to deliver powerful performance, but the device lacks, overall, in both print speed and resolution. It does, however, come complete with a variety of professional grade features.
Editor's Pros & Cons
PROS: Panasonic referrers to the hardware in this unit as their 'Departmental Class' Digital Systems technology, and it does deliver quite well on some levels. For example, the Panasonic DP-3030's first page out time is a very fast 4.5 seconds. When dealing with single page copies and prints, this can be crucial. However, larger projects will be less convenient to work with due to the limited print speed of the device. A Concurrent Copy function can be very helpful when networking the Panasonic DP-3030. It allows users to simultaneously spool up copy jobs up to 12 at a time, which will then print in the order received with zero downtime. Though wireless connectivity is not standard, an Ethernet port is made available for a wired connection. A built in automatic document feeder can be a huge time saver when dealing with multiple page projects, and the Panasonic DP-3030's can hold a stack of 50 pages at once. The unit also includes built in duplexing, which can not only reduce paper usage by as much as half, but also add a professional and unique feel to work output. An included PC software suite allows users to manage and prioritize printing tasks and also monitor print usage and job completion statistics. Scan and fax functions are fairly standard. CONS: One of the first specifications a buyer examines when purchasing a heavy duty printing device such as the Panasonic DP-3030 is overall print speed. This unit tops out at only 30 pages per minute. While this may have been appropriate several years ago, at this point you can find this amount of raw power in desktop units and personal printers. The device's print and copy resolutions also leave much to be desired, with both topping out at only 600 x 600 dots per inch. If the primary intended purpose of the unit is text document production and reproduction alone, then this resolution should prove to be ample, but graphics and imagery will suffer at this quality, though the 256 level grayscale is up to par. Network scanning, though apparent, is very limited in the Panasonic DP-3030. Scan-to features with destination folders, emails, and FTP sites are disabled over the network. This is a common problem with network scanning that very few brands take the time to acknowledge.
INK/TONER NEEDS:
Panasonic does an excellent job of keeping their toner costs at a minimum. Their black toner cartridge for the Panasonic DP-3030 offers a semi decent page yield of 15,000 sheets, and comes at a good price, usually under fifty dollars. Though the toner comes at a great value, with such a small page yield frequent toner changes may occur. 
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DRUM(s)
