Last time anyone checked it was laser printers that were on the bulky side, offering a million features in just one device and breaking down your desk. Inkjet printers came in smaller sizes and didn’t create such a problem as space. I can think of quite a few all-in-one inkjets that still manage to offer a relatively small form factor. Well, it’s clearly not the case with the Epson B-500DN color business ink jet printer that competes with color laser printers both in functionality and size.

This particular Epson printer is advertised by the company as being affordable to maintain. On top of that, it’s said to offer print speeds that are as good as in the case of lasers and much better color printing quality.

This is one printer where you could say that design clearly doesn’t matter. Being kind you could say that it looks rather odd. Leaving kindness aside the general impression it gives you is that of a big black plastic brick. The prominent area on the left houses the four ink cartridges this printer uses to work. The ink cartridges are Epson’s own Durabrite pigmented inks and offer good quality for an inkjet printer. But whatever the manufacturer may claim, they don’t measure up to laser quality, at least for text and graphics. When talking about photo printing however, the tables are turned and you’ll get great quality and vivid photographs. Also, as Epson claims, the maintenance costs are really low. You can find black cartridges in three different capacities on the market that last for 3000, 4000 or 8000 pages. The color ones are available in 3500 or 7000 sheet varieties. Using the high capacity ones you’ll get to save a lot of money. Paper capacity on this printer is more than reasonable. You’ll find a paper cassette on the front that can hold up to 500 sheets of regular paper. Under that there’s another feed tray (you’ll find it hidden under a cover) which will allow another 100 sheets.

For navigation you’ll get to use the simple control panel that features a very hard to read two-line display. The five control buttons are arranged in a diamond like shape, whereas right next to them you’ll find two additional buttons for on/off and paper feeding.  Connectivity is limited to USB and Ethernet which are both found on the back of the printer.

There’s not much to be said about the Epson B-500DN color business ink jet printer aside from this. It’s a business inkjet printer that does come pretty close as quality and speed to a laser. It comes with a similar price tag too. And if you seem to think that the price you pay initially is high, well, you end up saving a lot throughout using this printer. This was rarely the case with inkjets which generally cost a bucket full if you keep using them. The print quality is good and photo quality is great. This is the main reason why you’d want to settle for this instead of a laser. The only inconvenience to the B500DN is that it’s rather loud when printing and some users may grow to be annoyed with this.

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