Very Good Color Laser at an Inkjet Price

For those who have read my previous reviews, you know I’m a graphic designer by profession and very critical about quality. I’ve only recently jumped on the color laser bandwagon and have tried several printers in my price range, and disappointed by what I’ve seen. I’ve tried an Oki c5500n and c3400n, an HP 1600, Xerox 6120n, and a Lexmark c532n. For my needs, the Okis’ colors weren’t accurate and I didn’t particularly like the overall print quality. The HP 1600 produced excellent text and very nice graphics/photos, but after only 100 pages began printing dirty-looking gray backgrounds that couldn’t be cleared. After contacting the HP color laser forum, I discovered this is a common complaint with the 1600, 2600, and 3600 series printers. The Xerox 6120 produced very nice photos and images with accurate colors, but printed everything slightly crooked (horizontal lines, text, etc angling slightly down to the right). Standard text was crisp, but very heavy…bordering on appearing bold. The Lexmark c532n was the worst of the bunch, but oddly enough, received CNet’s top scores. It was fast with excellent text quality, but that’s all it was good for. Graphics & photos weren’t sharp whether using PS or PCL, with way too much contrast that couldn’t be adjusted. Images lacked detail, life, and crispness seen in the other printers. Shadows were completely blocked and colors weren’t accurate. I hadn’t considered Konica-Minolta, then noticed SAM’s had the 2530DL in stock for $249.86. So I got online and did some more research but couldn’t find any reviews since it's a relatively new printer. Oh well. Up till then all the reviews I’d spent so much time reading about the other printers hadn’t done much good anyway. It was worth a last effort. Let me tell you, this printer is very good, which I’ll get into later.

IN THE BOX
You get the Konica-Minolta Magicolor 2530DL printer with starter toner cartridges installed (approx 1,500 pages), power cord, installation CD, warranty, quick setup doc, paper tray extension and cover. The box is fairly small and fit easily onto the back seat of my 1998 Toyota Camry. There wasn’t quite as much internal space surrounding the printer as the other printers’ packing, but it’s sufficient to protect the machine from minor knocks. I picked a box with no dents or obvious damage.

APPEARANCE
The 2530DL looks suspiciously like the Xerox 6120n, but with gray accents instead of that horrible, cheap looking blue of the Xerox. It’s a light beige “box” printer but with a curved top cover that lends a modern look overall. The top is dark gray with an indented handle for lifting the cover, and a flip-open paper guide/rest. Unlike most other color lasers, the paper exits the 2530DL toward the front. I have it sitting on a movable stand to my left, and it’s easy to reach over and grab a page. With the Lexmark, I had to stand up to reach the printed pages since they exited in the opposite direction. I really like the looks of the 2530DL.

SETUP
Setup is easy, but there are only visual directions. If you’re not familiar with printers in general, you may have a tough time figuring it out. Setup starts with removing the outer packing tape and protective plastic inserts from inside. Again, you have to look carefully at the photos to make sure you remove ALL plastic protectors. Once all the basic packing materials are removed, you turn the printer on and let it warm up. At this point, I couldn’t wait, so went through the menu and found the Print Sample Page command, and the first print knocked me over! Vibrant color, sharp, straight, excellent text. I was excited to get this thing going. Since I’m using USB, I had to first load the software, then install the USB cable when prompted. When the software load is finished, you’re ready to print. But be patient. For some reason, the load was very slow and at times I thought there was a glitch in the process. But it’ll eventually get there.

The printer goes through an internal setup each time it’s powered on or has been sitting idle for the selected idle time. But it doesn’t take long to ready itself.

The 2350DL is a 4-pass system, where each color (CMYK) makes a pass to imprint the page. Because of this, it’s not the fastest printer on the planet, but not bad. If you need a network printer to spit out color documents at 20ppm, look elsewhere. The 2350DL is rated at 5ppm, and that’s about right. Time to first document is pretty quick, but will vary depending on the file size and complexity. All in all, I have no problem with the speed for my needs. This isn’t my main color printer. I’m using it for a few specialized needs that I don’t do every day. So speed isn’t an issue. It’s still faster than my Canon i960 inkjet.

I'd suggest downloading the user manual from the Konica-Minolta web site. It's 150 pages, but a fast B&W laser can pump it out in no time. I have a Samsung ML-2510 (see my review) and finished it in just over 5 minutes.

The 2530DL is a system-based printer only, so if you need PostScript, look at the Konica Minolta 2550, which looks exactly the same as the 2530 but prints in PS/PCL and at a higher res of 9600x600. It's about $100-$150 more than the 2530. If SAM's had the 2550, I'd have probably considered going that route since I could use PS printing in my business on occasion. Even so, the 2530 is working out fine.

FEATURES
Located on the top front, you’ll find a 2-line window display, a Menu/Select oval array with a Menu Select Button in the center, surrounded by four thin contoured nav buttons at top, bottom, left, and right. Located just above this array is the Ready light and Error indicator. A Cancel button is positioned below and to the right of the array.

The 2530DL comes with USB and Ethernet connections, located at the left rear (if you’re facing the front of the printer). The power cord connection is located just below the USB/Ethernet connections. The Power button is located on the left side near the back. I wish it were located on the front or at least closer to the front.

There’s a PictBridge connection located at the lower right front of the printer.

Instead of a separate sliding paper tray, the 2530DL’s fixed paper tray reminds me of HP inkjet printers, in that it extends out from the bottom front. A cover hides the exposed paper. So you’ll need an extra 5” in front of the printer.

NOISE LEVEL
I find the 2530DL to be about average in noise level while printing, and certainly much quieter than the Lexmark c532n, which is the noisiest printer I tried. That thing will drive you nuts!

PRINT QUALITY
Overall print quality is very good. In fact, surprisingly good, and better than any of the printers I’ve tried. I worked with the Lexmark for two days and couldn’t get a decent color print out of it.

COLOR REPRODUCTION
Colors are strong and amazingly accurate. Gradations are smooth, and drop shadows look like drop shadows at the 2400x600 setting. Straight out of the box, no color adjusting was necessary. I’ve noticed most color lasers have an overall color cast of some sort…usually a red cast seen in skin tones and white or gray areas…but the 2530DL is pretty well balanced and neutral. Skin tones are very good, whites are white, blacks are black, reds are red…..etc. One GREAT feature the 2530DL has is the ability to control Contrast, Brightness, Saturation, and Sharpness using sliders. As I said, the more expensive Lexmark’s default contrast level was way too high, and there was no way to reduce it. The slider was already at the far left (zero) and the only way to go was to the right, increasing contrast even more. One photo I printed with the Konica-Minolta was a bit too contrasty for my taste, so I simply backed it off from the default of 50 down to 40 and it came out great. For an inexpensive printer, the 2530DL has many adjustments to fine tune image quality. Registration has been consistently excellent. Black/dark text placed over colored backgrounds is crisp with no ghosting or misregistration, although white text placed over dark backgrounds can have ragged edges.

One thing I noticed right away after testing the three printing resolution settings is the most accurate color reproduction is at 1200 x 600, so this is where I print everything. Both the 600 x 600 and 2400 x 600 settings seem to produce a reddish cast. I don't see a difference in sharpness or quality between 1200 x 600 and 2400 x 600 anyway so see no advantage in using the higest setting.

TEXT
Text is crisp and sharp down to 4 pt, although overall slightly heavier than normal but not near the heaviness of the Xerox 6120n which always looked bold no matter which font was used. However, this is no problem since I can easily use other fonts for work I'll be printing for clients. To find out how my fonts will look with the 2530DL, I printed out a font sample list (all 400 of them). For example, Garamond is a nice substitute for Times New Roman. Please don't misunderstand....the 2530DL's text weight isn't bad, it's just slightly heavier than I'm used to, and about the same as I get from my Canon i960 inkjet.

GEOMETRY
The 2530DL prints nice and straight with no skewing or rotation. With the first few prints, I noticed the printed area was shifted slightly to the left, not centered perfectly on the page. But the 2530DL has a nifty “Shift Image” feature that allows the user to shift the image up or down, right or left in increments of .01” and save as the default. So I was quickly able to perfectly center the active area on the page.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve yet to see a color laser that’s affordable for the average buyer like myself that can equal the print quality of a good inkjet. The 2530DL isn’t perfect, but does many things well. It’s no substitute for a good inkjet and can't compete with my Canon i960, but it’s darn good for a color laser. Graphics/photos aren't as smooth and grainless (dotless) as an inkjet, but that's expected. Prints at 2400x600 look like magazine print with an obvious dot pattern when viewed up close, but it's not bad. At normal viewing distances, it's not noticeable. Brochures and flyers look good. I haven’t tried printing photos on glossy laser photo paper, but will experiment with that when I get time. Overall, I’m very pleased with the print quality and color accuracy of the 2530DL. Straight out of the box, it’s amazing how closely the prints match what I see on my screen with no manipulation needed. Using an Epson Perfection 1240U scanner (wonderful scanner), I scanned a 2007 Ireland calendar with a beautiful photo on the front surrounded by smaller photos, and printed it directly from Photoshop 7.0 using cheap Office Depot copy paper. No color adjustments were made in Photoshop or the printer. Holding the calendar and print side-by-side, they look identical. Contrast, color reproduction, sharpness, and detail (including shadows) in the 2530DL print look exactly like the original calendar. Amazing. Even the slightest of color hues look the same...the greens and yellows in the grass, sky coloration, a rainbow, flowers in the foreground, details in the surrounding smaller photos...all reproduced accurately with the 2530DL. The only problem I'm having with color reproduction is when printing from InDesign CS2, which has been a problem for many printers. I've been working with the color settings to see what works best for the 2530DL. So far, saving InDesign docs as PDFs works best, but I'm still not satisfied. I think I could get better results if the 2530DL could print in PostScript.

UPDATE: PAPER
I've had the opportunity to try different papers, including glossy laser paper recommended by Konica-Minolta for the 2530DL. Glossy prints look great with excellent saturation, sharpness, and color, but the surface is too reflective for my taste. I prefer Hammermill Color Laser Copy paper using the 2530DL's Glossy setting. This produces excellent quality prints overall without the reflective properties of the glossy paper. I still use Office Depot's cheap copy paper and get consistently good results for general printing.

VIEW PRINTS
I've scanned a few prints from the 2530DL and posted them at http://www.knology.net/~drcannon/km2530/km2530dl.htm. The process of doing this degrades the original print quality, and the monitor quality/adjustment on the viewer's end will enter into it as well. But I think you'll be able to see that the 2530DL is a quality printer. The process and scanner used is on the print sample page. All prints were printed at the 2530DL's 1200 x 600 setting.

ROLLER MARKS
I bought a second 2530DL a few days ago (I'll explain later) and it produces the same excellent color quality, but when printing on 28# and heavier paper using the glossy setting, I'm seeing lightly indented roller marks (lines) running vertically down the center of the prints that can't be eliminated. It's mostly visible in black or dark areas of photos and graphics. There are three thin tracks. The widest two are 3/8" apart and the third is 1/8" in. I don't see them when using the Plain Paper setting and I don't get any roller tracks at all with the first 2530DL. I called Konica-Minolta tech service and the tech I spoke to said he has a 2430 (an earlier version of the 2530) at home and it does the same thing. He said there's a set of rollers in the fuser that can't be accessed, and the center roller is the one responsible for the marks. So I don't know if this is the norm and my first 2530DL is just an exception to the norm since I don't see these indented tracks....just clean, beautiful prints. From experience, I do know that dealing with roller marks/tracks from color printers in particular is just part of the territory. And some are much worse than others. For a long time, I was exclusively an Epson user. I can't tell you how many Epsons I've had that produced such deep roller tracks, I was amazed the paper hadn't been cut through. Some of the tracks looked like a cookie cutter had scored the paper, leaving rows of deeply indented dots. For what I do as a graphic designer, this is unacceptable and all those printers were returned. Actually, I've had very few color printers that didn't leave telltale roller marks of some sort. My Canon i960 is one of the few printers that leaves no tracks at all, and is the closest to a "perfect" inkjet I've ever owned. I guess the bottom line is nothing's perfect (at any price), and everything's relative. All of these printers are mass produced and there are always design and production flaws, usually the result of keeping production costs down and making them as cheaply as possible...cutting corners. But then, I've seen plenty of expensive, top-of-the-line products with similar or worse problems.

The reason I got a second printer is simple economics. As with most inexpensive color lasers, replacing the toners can cost more than a new printer WITH fresh toner cartridges AND a new drum. The 2530's drum is the only other consumable that will eventually need replacing and costs about $150 to order. Thankfully, the drum is supposed to last about 10K+ pages for color, and 45K for B&W, so at least it won't need replacing for a while. So I basically bought it for "parts". I have four new toner cartridges and a new drum sitting here for a LOT less than they'd cost to buy individually. And if my first printer develops a problem, I'll have a new printer to boot. So with that in mind, I'm going to exchange the second printer and see if I can get one that doesn't leave roller tracks on the prints. The nice thing about buying at SAM's is the no-nonsense return/exchange policy. They had eight in stock when I bought this one a few days ago, so there should still be a few left tomorrow. If I get one that prints as cleanly as the first one this review is based on, I'll be way ahead of the game.

UPDATE
I returned the second 2530DL for another one, and this one produces an even more obvious center roller track than the one I returned. Judging from what the KM tech said about his printer doing the same thing, I'd guess this may unfortunately be the norm for the 2530DL unless you get a "lucky one" like my first one that prints cleanly. Hopefully, the first one will last me a while.

BOTTOM LINE
The Konica-Minolta 2530DL is an excellent printer for the price, or even at a higher price. Overall print quality is consistently very good, it seems pretty well made compared to the more expensive HP 1600, accurate color reproduction, crisp text, sharp images, many features not found on more expensive printers such as print quality adjustments, image shift adjustment, to name just a couple that surely come in handy. This is a nice looking printer that doesn’t appear overwhelming like the Lexmark or HP. I’m impressed with the quality of photos on plain paper. Again, not top-notch inkjet quality, but what I’d consider excellent for a color laser. I’ve printed some photos that look superb at a normal viewing distance. It definitely surprised me! I’d just about given up on color lasers, and tried the 2530DL as a last shot…and glad I did! I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a color laser for everyday printing but don’t plan on using it for networked office printing where speed is a main concern. In this case, print quality wins out over speed, and that’s just fine with me.

SPECS
As with all of my reviews, I prefer to supply a link to the specs instead of copying it all here. So here it is: http://printer.konicaminolta.net/products/color/mc2530DL/tech.asp

UPDATE AFTER 1,800 PAGES
This printer continues to produce excellent, consistent results for my needs. In fact, I don't use the Canon i960 anymore since it eats ink cartridges (6 of them), and I'd either be running to the store for more ink at $13 each, or having to keep several cartridges on hand...and it gets expensive. Those small cartridges don't last too long. Plus, in order to get good quality results with the inkjet, I had to use a more expensive paper. With the 2530DL I can get excellent quality prints using much less expensive paper. The 2530DL has become my main color printer and so far, I've been very pleased with this purchase. Again, this is based on my own personal needs. And as we all know, everyone has diffferent needs and expectations. If your main concern is the absolute best photo quality and that's all you do, you should probably stick with a good photo quality inkjet printer. If you want an everyday printer that produces consistent results for general use and an occasional photo, the 2530DL is worth taking a look at.

UPDATE 7/26/07: 2530DL No Longer at SAM's
I'm not seeing the 2530DL anymore on the SAM's web site or in our local store. You'll have to check your local SAM's to see if they're still selling it. If not, it's a shame since they had the lowest price by far.

UPDATE 2/12/08: This printer continues to turn out excellent prints and has been a reliable addition to my graphic design business. Very pleased for my needs.