Our last review was for a “nearly” entry level business printer – Brother HL-L8260CDW. The HL-L8260CDW is a very good device for small businesses and workgroups provided you don’t need to do much scanning and copying. However, if you have those requirements, then you’ll need to spend a little more and go for a multifunction device. Multifunction devices may cost more than single function printers but they’ll also end up saving you a lot of money because you won’t have to buy other standalone devices such as a scanner. From that perspective, the Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn is an excellent option.
The Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn is a well-rounded multifunction device that can be the heart of your business. It is a device that is packed with features that will not only help your business save money but will also make your everyday printing more convenient. But you don’t need to take our word on it. Just have a look at its features. Here’s our Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn review.
Strengths of Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn
The Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn offers a lot at a very economical price. In fact, in its class, it is more affordable than many of its competing models. While the listed value of this device is just above $800, you shouldn’t let that scare you away. You can get it for much cheaper if you shop around a little bit. For example, on our website that offers the lowest price promise in the market, you’ll find the Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn for less than $600.
There’s another element to the economy that this device offers. Not only is it one of the more affordable options to buy but also to run. However, how much you save on a per-page basis depends entirely on what kind of cartridges you use. You’ll have two options – genuine cartridges or generic cartridges.
Genuine cartridges are manufactured by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) while generic cartridges are compatible cartridges manufactured by an aftermarket company. If you use genuine cartridges you’ll end up paying about 1.92 cents per page but if you go with compatible cartridges, you’ll only spend about 1.66 cents per page.
You’ll need to keep these per-page costs low as well if you plan on printing a high volume of pages. Heavy-duty printing is possible with the Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn because it offers that kind of paper handling capacity. As it is i.e. in standard configuration, this device has a paper handling capacity of 350 sheets split between a 250-sheet universal cassette and a 150-sheet multipurpose tray. You can expand on this if required. You can take it to as high as 850 sheets by adding two more paper cassettes worth 250 sheets each.
High volume printing also requires good print speed. The Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn has speed in droves. It can print at an awesome 40 pages per minute (ppm), which is much higher than most other devices in the same market segment. Printing at high speed and in high volume is easy on this device because of its low per-page costs.
Other money-saving features have been included in this device as well. The foremost of these is the automatic duplexing ability available through the Automatic Document Feeder (ADF). Duplexing is printing on both sides of the page and is beneficial because it cuts your paper costs by half. Another component in the Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn designed to save money is the ceramic drum. The ceramic drum saves money by simply being durable. It comes with a lifetime warranty which is equivalent to 100,000 pages.
Weaknesses of Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn
The Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn is capable of printing, copying, and scanning. There is no facility for faxing and this can be seen as a weakness. The OEM hasn’t even provided faxing as an optional component in this device. This is one of those conditional weaknesses because these days businesses don’t really need to fax a lot. However, if you do need faxing, then you should look at other devices. A much bigger problem than no faxing capability is the no wireless capability.
Most businesses want to connect to their devices through their established wireless networks. There are two ways that that is possible. The first is wirelessly and the other is through an Ethernet port. If you prefer connecting wirelessly then the Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn will disappoint you greatly. There is simply no wireless card in this device which means connecting wirelessly isn’t possible. Wired connections to the available wireless network is still possible through the provided Ethernet port. Another connectivity option in the form of USB 2.0 is also available.
Key Features of Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn
This is a monochrome multifunction device. This means that if you’re considering it, you’re probably looking at a lot of text printing. People simply don’t buy monochrome devices for graphics of photo printing. Keeping that in mind, this device offers good print quality. Text prints from the Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn are immaculate, neat, and legible even at smaller font sizes. Because this is a monochrome laser machine, graphics and photo output suffer a little but that shouldn’t be a problem. The device is rated to print at a maximum resolution of 1200 x 1200 dots per inch (dpi).
The Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn is a fairly compact machine and it is especially lightweight when compared to competing devices. It measures approximately 437mm, 412mm, and 417mm in height, depth, and width, respectively. It doesn’t weigh too much for what it provides as its weight is only 19 Kg. Inside, you’ll find an 800MHz processor complemented by a 512 MB RAM. The latter can be increased if you wish for more soft processing power. It can go up as high as 1.5GB.
All this processing power makes this device very responsive. The Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn, at most, takes 6.4 seconds to spit out the first page from the time of the command. To the front and top of the device, you’ll find a full-spread control panel that is dominated by a five-line LCD display screen. The display screen is accompanied by a number of buttons ranging from the keypad to buttons for individual functions of the device.
The Kyocera ECOSYS M2040dn also comes with an onsite warranty of 24 months but this is superseded by the 100,000-page life of the ceramic drum in the device.
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