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Panasonic KX-P7100 Duplex Laser Printer

Panasonic KX-P7100 Duplex Laser Printer

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sharing works fine when connected to Windows 2000
Review: I saw this printer in my local PC World store, and I read all the reviews I could find before buying it. The price is amazing for a duplex laser printer, and I am very happy with my choice.

It works absolutely fine on my LAN. I have it connected to a Windows 2000 server and had absolutely no problems printing from client machines. I have to point out that I did not use the drivers on the supplied CD, but the latest ones downloaded from the Panasonic web site (after reading tips about this on other review pages).

Print quality is fine, so long as you don't use the Toner Save option. I use the printer for printing large documents where the duplex facility together with reducing multiple pages to a sheet can save a lot of toner and paper.

If I need photo quality colour , I have a dedicated Epson Photo ink-jet printer. When I want good quality grayscale in large quantities, I use the KX-P7100.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: no sharing
Review: I too noticed that the printer does not like to be shared.
Then I noticed they sell a similar model with a network capability for double the cost (KX7110).
go figure.

I guess the only way to share among multiple pc is to use a cheap printer server. ...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: No, these people aren't crazy
Review: It is garbage. It does jam. The "4 pages and jam, 4 pages and jam...." is about what we get on ours as well. If yours doesn't jam, then thank your deity that you got a fluke. If you count the amount of time spent opening it up, removing the paper jams, and restarting the print job, then it prints almost as fast as the HP LaserJet 4MP that it was purchased to replace, with 1000 times the hassle. We haven't had any sharing problems under W2K Pro, but who the heck wants to use it? I agree that this is a zero-star product.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent value; Auto-Duplexing works great so far!!
Review: Looking for a new printer over the last couple months, I read all the reviews on CNET, Amazon, and other sites to see which inexpensive printer was for me. My key search criteria were: 1) Laser/LED since I print a lot (its much cheaper than inkjet when you consider the consumables price), 2) Decent Print Quality, and 3) Reliability (no paper jams or other problems..i.e. NO HEADACHES!)

My initial takeaways were that if you wanted to go ultra cheap, to buy the Samsung ML-1430, and if you were able to spend around $..., to get the Brother HL-1440. However, the Panasonic KX-P7100 intrigued me because of its auto-duplexing for $.... (I tend to print long documents to read, but dislike carrying around huge reams of paper with me.) Unfortunately, the reviews I read were all pretty average (or negative as seen here) and tended to focus on the lack of networking (or at least the difficulties of networking) and its relatively slow speed compared to its competitors. And - I was skeptical that this would be able to auto-duplex without the annoyingly intermittant paper jamming to be expected of a cheap unit. Yet, I was bouyed by the fact that none of the complaints I found on various sites were regarding the reliability, or the auto-duplexing capabilities of this printer. And, since I don't really care whether my actual print speed is 9ppm vs. 11ppm (do you really print documents that long consistently?), the supposedly slower speed vis a vis its competitors was not that big of a deal for me. Yet - it was still a hard decision.

... I decided to try out the Panasonic mainly because of this reasoning: with laser printer technology these days, how [bad] can this thing be? it should be average at worst and if the auto-duplexing works well, an amazing value. ...

Well... I got the printer, and I can say after a couple weeks with it, that it is exceptional. As the CNET review say, there is nothing exceptional about the print quality. But then again, when was the last time I printed something from my school's $5000 printers and said, "wow - this text quality is amazing!". Never. And do you really print at ~4-font and compare that to output from other printers? (which CNET does) How often do you print that small?? And the auto-duplexing works like a charm... Have printed about 100 pages so far, and it hasn't jammed once. Print speed is only a little bit slower than rated from Panasonic, and with this price level, I think this printer is a real bargain.

So in conclusion, I am very happy with this purchase. That said, I'm sure the other two printers I mentioned and others that are highly touted are excellent as well. If you don't need or want auto-duplexing, this printer probably isn't for you (why bother?). BUT, If you do enjoy and utilize auto-duplexing... again - this is an exceptional value. From my experience and from what I have read, if the only concerns you have are that the auto-duplexing will cause you many headaches... so far, my experience has been very positive. And if you need an easily networkable printer, you know what to do - get something else.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: You get what you pay for
Review: Pros: cheap, duplex functionality, energy efficient.
Cons: lots of paper jams, slow, XP compatibility issues.

More details: I had a lot of trouble installing the drivers on my Dell 4300 Desktop PC with XP Home Edition. I finally got it to be able to print, but every time I boot up the computer or turn on the printer, my PC tells me it has found a "new printer" -- the Panasonic KX-P7100 -- and it asks me if I want to install the drivers. I've tried everything I can think of including downloading the latest print drivers from the Panasonic website and installing them. I get the same result from both the USB or parallel port connection.

I liked the duplex functionality & energy efficiency of this printer. But it is kind of slow to print -- the time to the first page is long. I also get a slight skew of the printed image (about 1 degree). The manual feed is a pain and is very hard to print straight this way. I also found that the printer jams a lot (once a day or more).

Next time, I'll buy an HP laserjet printer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: just got it today, everything works!
Review: the installation is easy, just used the program on the driver CD, I am using win XP home edition. the sharing part is okay too, maybe those having problem should update their driver from panasonic. duplex is fast and smooth(only tested 1 page though).
so far so good. recommend this one.
a little bulky but I dont expect duplex laser printer to be that slim yet.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Jam jam jam
Review: This is all you need to know: this printer jams every time I use it. It almost always jams on the first page. After I open it up, pull out the toner, and clear the jam, it usually prints another six or seven pages without jamming.

Doesn't matter what paper it is: thick top quality, cheapo laser printer paper, whatever. It jams. Every time. Didn't do it so much in the first few months which is why I didn't return it, plus the hassle of returning mail order. A big mistake.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Awful printer that jams constantly. I hate it!
Review: This printer is a piece of junk. I cannot even use it because it jams all the time. It does help if you turn the printer off between print jobs - I have no idea why. I will never buy another Panasonic product. What a waste of money. My old NEC printer did not jam as much in 5 years as this printer did during the first week of operation. STAY WAY FROM THIS MODEL UNLESS YOU WANT A HEADACHE.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Printer always jams
Review: This printer is ALWAYS jamming on me. I got it for the full duplex, but even just normal printing it jams. I have days where it doesn't jam at all, then days where it jams on nearly every print. I would most definitely NOT recommend this printer to others.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It's a shame I can't give it 0 stars
Review: This printer isn't worth buying at all. Somebody bought 7 of them for our office - big mistake. They constantly jam, and the printer is to reliant on the software that comes with it (not the driver) that it constantly has to be removed and re-installed. Also, 4 of the printers have had their drums go bad in the first 6 months. When I called tech support, their answer was that the drum that it ships with isn't a very good quality, and that if you buy a new one it shouldn't wear out as quickly (yet still the drum warranty is only for 90 days)!! They're sending you inferior merchandise and they know it.The toner cartridges are cheap and leak, jamming the printer and drum with toner.


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