Bizhub C450 vs Sharp 4501 Color Copier/Printer

[arshaw]

We are in the market for a new color copier/printer. We are looking
at the Konica Minolta bizhub C450 and the Sharp MX-4501 or MX-3501.
Our three main concerns are which printer will offer the best color
print quality, the ease of use, and the machine's reliability, does it
jam often. Does anyone have any experience or any thoughts on these
two printers?

Also, any thoughts on Laser vs LED? The Sharp is laser the Minolta is
LED.

Thanks!

 

[Tony]

We are in the market for a new color copier/printer. We are looking
at the Konica Minolta bizhub C450 and the Sharp MX-4501 or MX-3501.
Our three main concerns are which printer will offer the best color
print quality, the ease of use, and the machine's reliability, does it
jam often. Does anyone have any experience or any thoughts on these
two printers?

Also, any thoughts on Laser vs LED? The Sharp is laser the Minolta is
LED.

Thanks!

I don't have experience with these printers but have some thoughts on the LED
versus Laser question.
In theory, LED technology should provide better definition because there are no
moving parts involved in the image transfer to the drum and there is no mirror
that has to be manufactured to very tight tolerances. If a printer has a
horizontal definition of 300dpi a LED printer will have 300 tiny LED's per
inch. In practice I have to say that I have not seen much evidence of a
difference between the outputs of the two technologies. I suspect, and it is
only a suspicion, that it is extremely hard to manufacture LED arrays to
adequate tolerances at a reasonable price.
Having said all that, the laser scanner is more likely to fail than a LED
array. I have seen many scanners fail but not one array so there may be an
advantage there.
I suggest you make a subjective judgement about the output quality of the
printers you are interested in and take it from there. If possible, have them
both print the same image.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[me]

We are in the market for a new color copier/printer. We are looking
at the Konica Minolta bizhub C450 and the Sharp MX-4501 or MX-3501.
Our three main concerns are which printer will offer the best color
print quality, the ease of use, and the machine's reliability, does it
jam often. Does anyone have any experience or any thoughts on these
two printers?

Also, any thoughts on Laser vs LED? The Sharp is laser the Minolta is
LED.

I've had a C250 for about 9 months now, and it has been fine. I've got
the duplex option and thats about it, so I can't comment about document
feeders and sorting bins etc. The counter says about 20,000 and I think
I've had three jams. It produces a very nice output fairly similar to
Canon's irC series. It runs over the network fine, the only thing I
find a bit clunky is the scanning, but I think that might be because we
don't have it set up quite right, so I scan at the bizhub and onto its
hardrive, then I suck the images from the computer across the network.

So far I have replaced one black toner and it currently says the cyan is
low. I have it set up with normal paper in one tray, large paper in the
other and thick paper in the side tray, I believe further ones can be
added if needed.

Sometimes during a run it will pause to recalibrate or something (if you
search on here I think you might find a post where I timed it)

Your reseller should be able to provide sample prints, when I got this
machine I had sample prints for a Canon irC3170 (I think thats the
number) and a CLC2620, which I compared to the same file on the Bizhub
and on my old Canon CLC950, the 950 had the nicest output but its not
nice enough to pay the extra for the current equivalent CLC1180 (three
to four times the price).

I can't tell you anything about the Sharp machines. If you really want
'the best color print quality' then it has to be the quarter ton
CLC1180. I came down in favour of the Minolta as opposed to the Canon
for this machine on the basis of the service agreement costs.

 

[eager]

Take my advise and go for a C500!