Epson Debuts Workforce Printers

By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 8/19/2008

Long Beach, Calif. — Epson will ship a new printer family this month targeted toward micro businesses.

The new WorkForce brand will appear on two new all-in-ones and two single-function printers geared toward businesses of five or fewer employees, home-based workers and freelancers.

All the new printers will offer double-sided printing, individual ink tanks, Energy Star compliance and the company’s DX3 micro piezo print head. They will produce photos at 5,760 by 1,440 dpi.

The WorkForce 600 all-in-one, for $199, features 27 ppm black-text printing, 19 ppm color printing and built-in Wi-Fi and wired networking. It is compatible with a high-capacity black-ink cartridge.

The unit also sports a 2.5-inch tilting LCD display, 30-page automatic document feeder, fax capability and will include a two-year limited warranty. Registered users will receive free lifetime phone support.

The $129 WorkForce 500 offers most of the features of the 600 but loses the wireless/wired networking and clocks in at 33 ppm in black and color.

The WorkForce 40, for $129, ships in September. It features built-in wireless/wired networking, 27 ppm black-text print speeds and 19 ppm in color.

The $69.99 WorkForce 30 loses the networking features and offers color-text print speeds of 11 ppm. It can accept a second black-ink cartridge.