Panasonic KX CL400

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Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

100% Independent Analysis

BERTL 4-Star Award Winner

Color at WorkTM

Key Buyer Benefits

Panasonic KX-CL40018 ppm Monochrome, 18 ppm Color Printer

Impressive array of network utilitiesincluding user-friendly direct PDFfunction (only available with thePostScript Upgrade Kit option) andremote job notification.

Good image quality across broadspectrum of office jobs

Easy to maintain with consumableitems all customer-replaceable withoutthe need for tools or technicalknowledge.

Induction Heating fuser technologyprovides fast warm up time whendevice comes out of energy savemode.

Well designed printer driver limits usermenu hopping to a bare minimum onstandard office printing workflow tasks.

Good security features including IPv6which will be appreciated bygovernment buyers looking to plan ITpurchases.


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Copyright 2005 BERTL, Inc. 5-Aug-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.


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Whats Inside?

(Click on an entry below to go to the page listed.)

Product Dynamics 3Design Considerations 4

Ease of Maintenance 4Duplex Unit 5IH Technology 5Automatic Color Detection 6Motherboard Upgrades 6

Paper Input and Processing 7Input 7One Pass In-line Printing 7Photo Quality 7

Device Management 8Web Access 8Alerts 9Simulated Pages 10Print Count Manager 11Configure by Network 12Dealer Maintenance 12Device Monitor 13

Security 14IPv6 14Hard Drive Security 14Network Security 14

Print 15PCL Driver 15Job Delivery Options 16

Confidential Print Mode 16Memory Print Mode 16Check Then Print Mode 16

Watermarks and Overlays 16Direct Printing System 17Direct PDF Print 18

Delivery Print 18Parallel Print 18

Color Quality 19Summing Up 20


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This Japanese electronics giant has earnedan enviable list of accolades for its WORKiOrange of MFP products. Panasonic has beenpraised for being ahead of the curve in areassuch as security, user interface, anddocument management utilities. But whatsbeen missing in its digital imaging WORKiOoffice products family is an economical lasercolor printer that makes some of thistechnology available to small- and mid-sizebusinesses.

The wait is over. Competitively priced, therecently launched Panasonic KX-CL400 fillsn this gap in its product line. It offers featuresthat have been found previously in its higher-end WORKiO products such as IPv6-readyEthernet port, network configuration, andnduction heating-based fuser technology.Out of the box, the 18ppm color and black

and white Panasonic KX-CL400 desktopprinter boasts a 1,200 x 1,200 dpi resolution,a PCL Ethernet-enabled network print engine,and Web-based administration. Under thehood, a 400MHz RISC CPU runs the show.There are also extensive upgrade options thatinclude true Adobe PostScript printing, 40GBhard drive, and direct printing of PDF files.

Other significant design features include:

Easy consumables replacement

Quick start up/warm up timePhoto mode

Duplex printing (optional)

Product Dynamics

BERTL analyst inspecting the user-replaceablecomponents of the Panasonic KX-CL400


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Ease of Maintenance:

Panasonic has put a premium on economyand low-maintenance for the PanasonicWOKRiO KX-CL400. The first designefficiency we noted is that access to the tonercartridges is from the top of the unit. Thehigh-yield integrated toner cartridges (6,000pages at 5% coverage) are readily accessibleand the cartridges are designed to beremoved with no leakage.

According to Panasonic, the toner particlesand the toner supply system have beenmproved to ensure a longer service life.

True to its SMB target market, this printer canbe maintained by non-technical users. BERTLwas impressed by how easy it was to accessthe devices key components.

The toner supplies are installed at the top ofthe unit. The imaging unit is installed at theright side of the unit, and can easily be pulledn and out.

The fuser unit, accessed viathe front panel is also easyto replace. The waste unitand transfer roller can alsobe easily accessed andreplaced by end userswithout the need forany special equipmentor technical expertise.

Design Considerations

Toner cartridges are conveniently accessiblefrom the top of the unit.

Open architecture: Every key component duplexer, fuser, toner cartridges, waste

unit, transfer roller can be reached whenfront and side panels are opened.


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Duplex Unit:

The duplex unit (optional) is an areawhere paper jams are more likely tooccur. With the Panasonic KX-CL400, we were able to access thiscomponent by simply opening thefront door. Non-technical users willeasily be able to install the unit.

H Technology:

The Panasonic KX-CL400 usesnduction heating (IH) technology toheat the fuser unit, instead of amore conventional halogen lamp.Fuser roller pre-heating is notnecessary, and as a result thisPanasonic device uses only 8Wduring the warm-up operation,greatly reducing the time to reachready from cold and thereby reducingoperating costs, a factor that limits many colordevices as replacements for existingmonochrome units.


The Duplex unit can be installedand serviced by non-technical users.

Reduced power usage with IH .

PressureRoller

Paper

Heat Roller

Heater Belt

FuserRoller


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Automatic Color Detection:

The Panasonic KX-CL400 thrifty operationaltheme extends to its ability to manage colorcosts. Like other Panasonic color WORKiOdevices, the Panasonic KX-CL400 alsoautomatically switches between black andCMY toner on a per page basis. If onlymonochrome pixels are detected, the printeruses only the black print cartridge. Byrestricting color print cartridge usage to colordocuments, the Panasonic KX-CL400 keepsts operating and maintenance costs withinthe budgets of smaller businesses ordepartments in larger enterprises.

Motherboard Upgrades:

The Panasonic KX-CL400 supports severalcomputer hardware upgrades, including a 40GB hard-drive, 512 MB memory, USBwireless device server and an AdobePostScript kit. These same additions may notgive personal computer owners a secondthought, but with copier MFPs this hardwareusually requires a call to a dealer and a site

visit by a technician.

Fortunately, Panasonic has made theseenhancements installable by average users.BERTL analysts found the motherboardreachable and easily removable. The harddrive and memory can be installed into thedesignated sockets without requiring specialhardware or tools.


Motherboard slides out from the rear of thePanasonic KX-CL400 .

Non-technical users can install the 10GB hard drive themselves.


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nput:

The Panasonic KX-CL400 has a maximumcapacity of 1,690 sheets with its two optionaltrays. Its standard universal media tray holds530 sheets. A standard multi-purpose traycan take on 100 sheets of various papermediaincluding card stock (up to 110 lb.)coated paper, transparencies, and envelopes.Finally, two optional 530 sheet paper traysbring the capacity up to its full complement of1,690 sheets. Trays are also equipped withsensors to detect both paper size and paperevels.

One Pass In-line Printing:

The Panasonic KX-CL400 utilizes one-passtechnology based on four in-line 1200 dpiaser imaging units and integrated printcartridges.

After traveling under each of the four imagingcartridges collecting the four layers of tonerthat make up the CMYK full color image, theaccumulator unit passes the image to the

paper which is then fed through to the IHfuser unit to seal the image to the paper.

The use of a transfer belt means that thepaper path is kept well away from the light-sensitive and easily-damaged photosensitiveimaging drums. This can reduce accidentaldamage to the drum units during paper jamremoval.

Photo Quality:

By increasing the operating temperature ofthe fuser unit and applying more toner,Panasonic supports photo quality prints.

BERTL analysts were impressed by theoutput in Photo Mode, which, while notproducing the same level of sheen as foundin a photo lab delivered a high gloss finishoutput.

This is a valuable application whenproducing brochures and other materialwith photographs incorporated withinthe design.

Paper Input and Processing

Universal tray equipped withAutomatic sensors to detect paper size.

The Panasonic KX-CL400s4 in-line cartridges


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Device Management

Web Access:

The Panasonic KX-CL400 can be monitoredusing the same browser based interface thats found across the WORKiO line. Panasonichas also supplied a Web Administrative Tool,which is geared for network and IT supportstaff. Clicking on the displayed list ofPanasonic devices which are automaticallydiscovered administrators can connectwith the embedded Web server on the printer.

Through their browsers, users can access thePanasonic KX-CL400 with various levels offunctionality depending upon theirauthorization level. Administrators have moreconfiguration and management ability e.g.,configuring IP addresses or alerts than ageneral office user.

Probably the most important feature in adevice management utility for an end user isthe ability to see the current status of thedevice before deciding whether or not tosubmit a job to print.

We would have liked to have had the ability toview the current queue of jobs waiting at thedevice. Helping matters somewhat is anemulated console, which redisplays the samemessages shown on the real LCD. Users can

then at least check whether the printer isprocessing another job.

The Panasonic KX-CL400 lets Web usersreprint jobs stored on the devices hard drive(optional), a feature typically found on higher-end devices. The browser interface lets themview the list of stored jobs and they can selectthe ones to be printed.

While this feature may at first seem moresizzle than meat in a smaller office, withemployees either working from home or atother offices, the ability to initiate a jobremotely will likely find uses. For remote

users, Panasonic also have aunique feature for email printing. Itadds a port to the driver thatinvolves the email client on theindividuals computer to send theprint job direct to the printer usingemail as the delivery agent. Thisthen bypasses firewall problems.

Users can take advantage of the emulatedconsole display to check current

operating status of the Panasonic KX-CL400.

The Web Administration Utilityhelps IT and network support

staff manage multiple Panasonicdevices across the network.


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Device Management

Alerts:

From the Web server, administrators canconfigure the Panasonic KX-CL400 to emaildevice events when error conditions occur orresource threshold limits are reached.

Roving administrators therefore are notnecessarily tied to a specific monitoringconsole: they can view alerts from anymobile device (Blackberry, iPAQ, etc.) that

has email access.

This feature is especially useful for warningpurchasing departments or the dealerdirectly that printer is running low on aspecific consumable item and replacementwill be needed shortly. This can eliminatedown time and therefore increase efficiencyand productivity.

Administrators configure the Panasonic KX-CL400to email critical device events.


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Device Management

Simulated Pages:

One of the commonly-used monitoringfunctions used by the administrator is theability to see the volume of page clicks thedevice has carried out.

This can be used by the administrator toallow him or her to complete the monthlypage count for each device around thenetwork for the dealer from the luxury of thedesktop rather than having to walk aroundthe building.

Using the Web utility, an administrator canget a snap-shot of the current click countsfor both black and white and color, anmportant differentiator when you rememberthat black pages are charged at a muchower rate than color pages.

A novel design feature that Panasonic hasincorporated into its page count utility is thesimulated page count reading. This, as thename suggests, simulates a page countbased upon a theoretical base coveragedocument. For example, if the basecoverage rate is 5 percent, and the pixeldata coverage for the document is 10percent then the simulated page counter willregister two clicks. Likewise, if the customeris using less than 5 percent toner cover thenthey will mount up fewer clicks.

By charging on simulated pages, dealersare better able to safeguard theiraftermarket profit margins. This allows themto continue offering toner-inclusivecontracts, which many buyers favor forbudgeting purposes. Customers can use thesimulated page counts to let them bettermanage and control their documentprocessing costs.

Panasonic KX-CL400 pagecount including the simulated

page count calculator


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Print Count Manager:

Print Count Manger (PCM) is aserver-based application usedby administrators to restrictaccess to the Panasonic KX-CL400. Using a Windowsnterface, administratorsestablish centralized group IDso which can be assignedesource limits. For each job,he device accesses thecentral server, sending theuser name (i.e., Windows logon). PCM dips into its databaseo retrieve the group to which the userbelongs, tallies up the page count usage,and returns permission to print if the limithas not been reached

The administrators first step is to organizeusers into logical groups. Often the logicalgroup will coincide with an actualdepartment to which the user belongs marketing, sales, or accounting. But users

can be assigned to groups based on theirprinting needs managerialresponsibility, revenue reports, Excelspread sheets, and brochures.Unassigned users automatically belong tothe ALL USER group.

For each group, the administrator has theoption to deny printing, restrict printingaccess to monochrome, or allow it for bothmonochrome and color. The administrator

can also choose to set page limits. Inpractice, this option would likely bedisabled initially, and the administratorwould use PCM to monitor page usageover a reasonable sample period. Thedata collected could then be used as thebasis for the resource limits.

We would have liked the PCM page countlimits to be associated with a monthly orquarterly period. In PCM, accumulatedpage count totals are not automaticallyreset on a scheduled basis: administrators

will have to reset these counts manually.

Device Management

Administrators can set page limits on a groupbasis.

With PCM, administrators can view current

page counts for all groups.


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Configure by Network:

The Panasonic KX-CL400 supports aconvenient way to configure the device.While it is possible to use the embeddedWeb server to set the devices permanentsettings, the Network Setup Tool is faster.

The advantage of the Setup Tool is that itautomatically discovers the Panasonic KX-CL400. From this Window-based utility, theadministrator can then configure permanentnetwork information IP, printer port, SMB,etc. Without the tool, the process is lessdirect, requiring the administrator to firstassign a temporary address at the console.

Dealer Maintenance:

Another way to monitor the device, suitablefor dealers, is through the RemoteMaintenance Tool. This utility lets dealerssubmit an email to the printer, which thenreplies with status information. This way of

contacting the printer rather than usingthe Web browser is suitable forenvironments that are protected by firewallsand disallow HTTP access.

Device Management

The Network Setup Tool automatically discovers the Panasonic KX-CL400and lets administrators configure permanent network information

The Network Setup and the Remote Maintenance

Tool are bundled with thePanasonic KX-CL400 .


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Device Monitor:

Panasonic also includes a valuable desktoputility called Device Monitor. This allowsusers to see, at a glance, which devices theyuse are currently available, which onesrequire attention or are being used by otherstaff.

While not as sophisticated as an enterprisenetwork device monitoring solution, it doesprovide an easy way for users to check howfast they might expect to get a job back froma specific device without having to goooking for web browsers or open additionalutilities. The device monitor is a smallapplication that runs on the Windowstaskbar.

n addition to providing users with statusnformation, the device monitor also providesa print notification function, informing userswhen their jobs have been processed andare ready for collection. This is a valuableproductivity time saver allowing users tocarry on with other tasks without having to

keep checking to see when a print job hasfinished.

Device Management

Users can be informed when jobs are successfullyprinted using Panasonics Device Monitor


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Security

Pv6:

The Panasonic KX-CL400 is way ahead ofmany of its competitors on the IPv6 adoptioncurve.

What is IPv6? It is a next generation Internetaddressing scheme that uses a sequence ofeight numbers, where each number canrange up to 65,535 in value. Current IPv4addressing is based on four numbers oroctets, where each value is no more than

255.

Since IPv6 addresses are longer and larger invalue, they support a larger universe ofaddresses than the current format. Thesecurity advantage in IPv6 is that a bruteforce attack such as a denial of service would be harder to launch. This would all beof theoretical interest i.e., something thenetworking industry should eventually adopt except that the driving force behind IPv6 isthe U.S. Government, which will not buy non-Pv6 network devices after 2008. Panasonic

is ready now, and does not have to persuadethe buyer that they will be compatible at theday of reckoning.

Hard Drive Security:

The optional hard drive kit supports securemailboxes. From the printer driver, users canselect to use the Confidential Print option,and assign a password. To retrieve and printthe jobs, users enter the password at theprinter console. For added security, the

Panasonic KX-CL400 can be set toautomatically clean image data by overwritingfreed disk blocks with zeros and random data.

Network Security:

The device supports IP filtering, restricting theprinter to connect with endpoint addressesfalling within a specified range. The printeralso has port disabling features which areused to close down an unused port whichotherwise could be vulnerable to attack.

The Panasonic KX-CL400 is ready for IPv6. The device alsosupports IP filtering.


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Printing is powered by a 400MHz RISCcontroller which comes equipped with128MB RAM (expandable to a maximum of512MB.)

Standard connectivity choices includeEthernet 10/100BaseT, high speed USB 2.0and Parallel IEEE 1394. Supportedcommunication protocols include TCP/IP,LPD via both RAW and Port 9100, SNMP,DHCP, IPX/SPX, Appletalk and IPP(Internet Printing Protocol).

The device comes with PCL 6. PDF directprint capability is part of the PostScript 3upgrade kit.

PCL Driver:

This PCL driver offers a high degree offunctionality and is well designed, makingoperation easy for average users. From themain printer driver tab (shown below) userscan carry out the majority of jobs withoutever having to go to another tab.

We liked the way in which Panasonic hasbuilt a status monitor function into the printerdriver window itself. This is more timeconscious than web-based alternativesoffered by competitors which force userswho wish to know if the device is ready toreceive a job to open up a browser, enterthe IP address and view the web serverstatus window.

We also liked the ability to choose presettemplate layouts with a single click from themain tab, another productivity enhancingfeature which most competing units requireseveral mouse clicks to accommodate.

The remaining tabs offer lesser usedprinting attributes including custom colorsettings, special effects and profile creation.

Print


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Job Delivery Options:

With the hard drive option, users can sendthe print job to the device for storage andater print. Under the drivers Job Type tab,users have three delivery options.

Confidential print mode, the user canassign a numeric password to thedocument, safeguarding the job fromaccess from other users. The job isreleased at the console by entering the

password. This feature is an importantattribute for those out of line of sight ofthe device, who without the capabilitymay have run the risk of printingconfidential information only to find thatby the time they are within eye sight ofthe device that another user has pickedup the document. While this type ofactivity may in the past have been moreof an irritation, it can now, post datasecurity acts like HIPAA, SOX, GLBhave serious consequences for thecompany who fails to secure the integrityand security of confidential and privateinformation.

Memory print mode, the document is

stored on the hard drive: any consoleuser can release it. But this ensures thatthe document is not inadvertently pickedup and discarded by another user. The

main advantage for this feature is tostore commonly used (but not changed)files. This might include CompanyBrochures, Product or ServicesBrochures, Cover Sheets, etc.

Check then printmode, the user

releases a single copy of a multi-copyjob. If it acceptable, the user can releasethe rest of copies. This feature, morecommonly referred to as proof print canbe a valuable cost and time saving

feature allowing users to send complexmulti-set jobs once across the network,but allowing them to check that the firstset is correct before committing theremaining sets to print, thus avoidingunnecessary additional trips to theprinter before committing a job to print

Watermarks and Overlays:

Under the Effects tab users have the abilityto add watermarks and overlays todocuments. While watermarks are acommon feature on desktop printers, somedevices do not provide overlay addition, avaluable feature that allows users to storecommon background whole page layoutslike letterhead designs, electronic forms forinclusion without the user having to buildthem into the print document, thus reducingripping time.

Print

Users can choosebetween

memory printconfidential print

or check then print.


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Direct Printing System:

Panasonics Direct Printing System (DPS) isavailable for the Panasonic KX-CL400. It isa Windows-based application bundled withthe optional PostScript kit.

The Direct Printing System lets desktopusers send PDF files directly to thePanasonic KX-CL400 without having to firstconvert them into PCL or PostScript fileformats.

Users first set up the application, specifyingthe default settings for the utility includingthe printer/s to be used, the settings to beapplied and the quantity of job copies. Wewere impressed by the feature that allowedus to specify whether jobs arriving at theapplication are automatically processedusing the default settings or whether thedialog window (see below) is to open,allowing the user to change settings on a

job by job basis.

Print


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Direct PDF Print:

We set up multiple DPS hot folders withsome set to automatically process jobsarriving while others held jobs and openedthe dialog window. This is how we wouldexpect real life users to utility the feature,setting up a one touch route and a routewith more flexibility to accommodatedifferent job demands.

We were able to send a PDF file to the DPSsystem via multiple different routes, 1) Dragand drop PDF icons into the DPS active fileframe, 2) drag and drop the icon over theapplication shortcut hot folder portal, or 3)right click while selecting the PDF file andselect to send the file to DPS. This diverserange of delivery options is more flexiblethan some competing direct PDF utilitieswhich require users to open the webbrowser or desktop application and browseto the PDF files.

To change settings on a job-by-job basis weclicked on the Options button which opened

up the printer driver settings allowing us tochange image quality, document finishingsettings, add watermarks etc.

We were also impressed by the range ofprint delivery options available. In addition tothe standard route to a single printer option,we were also offered two additional jobdelivery options.

Delivery Print: This function lets userssimultaneously send the same PDF print jobto multiple printers creating a high speed

distribution printing solution without theneed for expensive third party applications.t could, for example, be used to send theweekly sales promotional literature toregional sales offices overnight where itwould be ready for use when staff arrive inthe morning.

Parallel Print: This feature, as the namesuggests allows long-run multi-set jobs to besplit across two or more printers, thuscreating a cluster printing solution withoutthe need for expensive third party software.

To accommodate the printing of securedPDF files, the DPS also includes the abilityto enter the PDF password which unlocksthe PDF prior to printing.

We found the direct PDF print function easyto use. We also measured significantproductivity advantages when printing largePDF files. Giving a numeric productivityadvantage is simplistic as the time savedincludes the time usually spend waiting forAcrobat to pen, then the PDF file to open,before you even Start spooling and rippingthe document. With the Panasonics DPSwe simply dragged the PDF onto theapplication, selected the quantity, printer ofchoice and that was it.

Print


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Color Quality:

The Panasonic KX-CL400 has presetsettings for color, photo color, andgrayscale, allowing the average user toconfidently pick one of these buttonswithout making any color changes.

However, more advanced users canmake color adjustments using either theRGB or CYMK scales, boosting orreducing specific color channels. Anothersophisticated feature is the Image ColorManagement (ICM) controls, whichsupports color matching.For example, its relative colorimetricmode reproduces corporate logos moreaccurately. Or its saturation modeprobably more likely to be used in SMBenvironmentsis more appropriate forgraphics ands charts.

BERTL analysts were impressed by theoutput from the Panasonic KX-CL400 acrossa wide range of job types. Output was vibrantyet maintained a realistic look and feel. The

default output quality was matt in appearancewhich will suit office users where overheadights can make glossy output hard to read,

while marketing and other color professionalswill appreciate the available glossy modewhich adds the extra sheen that makesoutput look closer to a photographic finish.

There was a slight cyan hint to 25-50%greyscales when printed in color mode. Thisis a common fault of color devices attempting

to mix CMYK to create grey,overcompensating from one color or another.

Fine lines and small textfonts were also reprintednicely. For those who will usethe device for monochromeoutput as well as color, thePanasonic KX-CL400 driverincludes a print text as blackmode, which means that anycolored text is treated aspure black rather than

reprinted in a harder to readgrey shade.

Print

Users can select from color, photo color, or grayscale.

More advanced users canadjust RGB values.


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The Panasonic KX-CL400 is a verycompetitively priced color laser networkprinter with an impressive range of utilitiesdesigned to make the entire printing anddevice management experience as userfriendly as possible.

We were impressed by the image qualityacross a spectrum of office color tests.Productivity enhancing features were inabundance including remote job notification,and direct PDF printing.

The printer driver design allowed users to

carry out the majority of day to day printingtalks without having to jump around from tabto tab to get a print file ready for submission.

The design and ergonomics of the device arewell thought out, with all major consumabletems being easy to replace without the needfor a toolkit, even the motherboard and harddrive installation was not regarded as abovethat of a reasonably technically competentend user.

n the next generation product we would liketo see a direct flash USB PDF printing

capability, allowing walk up users to simplyinert a pocked-sized USB drive with PDF andother files directly into the device, with usersable to browse to the file and print withouthaving to go near a desktop. This would be avaluable resource in service printenvironments such as business centers inairports, hotels and internet cafes etc.

There is a lot to like about this compact colorprinter and it will be tough to beat.

Summing Up:

Panasonic KX CL400

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