Panasonic KX-MB2030

One step down from Panasonic's top of the line Panasonic KX-MB2061 ($250 street, 3.5 stars), the Panasonic KX-MB2030 ($190 street) offers almost all of the same features, except for a built-in telephone and answering machine, for roughly a 25 percent savings. If you don't need those capabilities, but need a full-function mono laser MFP that can print, scan, copy, and fax, that makes the KX-MB2030 the obvious pick of the litter.

Like the other printers in the line?including the KX-MB2061, the Editors' Choice Panasonic KX-MB2000 ($130 street, 4 stars), and the Panasonic KX-MB2010 ($160 street, 3 stars)?the KX-MB2030 is meant primarily for personal use in any size office or for shared use in a micro or home office. It can print or fax from as well as scan to a PC even over a network, and it can work as a standalone fax machine and copier. It also offers a 20-page automatic document feeder (ADF) to handle multipage documents as well as legal-size pages.

Note too that the printer includes a 250-sheet input tray, which should be more than enough for a personal printer or micro office, along with a manual feed, so you can print on different paper stock without having to swap out the paper in the tray. It's also suitably small for its intended use. At 12.0 by 16.5 by 17.0 inches (HWD), you shouldn't have any trouble finding room for it, and at 26.5 pounds, it light enough for one person to move into place.

Setup, Speed, and Output Quality
For my tests, I connected the KX-MB2030 to a network using its Ethernet port, and ran the tests from a Windows Vista system. Setup was standard fare. On our business applications suite, I timed the printer (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing) at a relatively slow (for the price) 8.7 pages per minute (ppm).

Not surprisingly, since all four printers in the KX-MB2000 series are built around the same 24 page per minute (ppm) engine, the KX-MB2030 was essentially tied with its three siblings. As a point of reference, the similarly priced HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf MFP ($199 direct, 3.5 stars) was convincingly faster, at 11.3 ppm.

Output quality on my tests was within the typical range for a mono laser MFP, making it suitable for most business needs. You shouldn't have any complaints about the text, for example, unless you have an unusual need for small fonts. Graphics are easily good enough for any internal business use, but also show enough flaws so that you probably won't want to use them for output going to important clients. Photo quality, similarly, is more than good enough to print Web pages with recognizable photos, but not up to the level I'd want for client newsletters.

Other Issues
One convenience the KX-MB2061 offers that the KX-MB2030 lacks is the ability to resend incoming faxes to an email address as PDF attachments. However, that's not enough to justify paying the extra $60 if you don't need the phone features. One nice touch that it shares with the KX-MB2061 is that you can save faxes to memory without printing them. You can then log on onto the printer with a browser, view the faxes on screen, and decide whether to save, delete, or print them.

Note too that the KX-MB2030 shares a high running cost with the other printers in the series, at a claimed 4.2 cents per page. It's not hard to find printers with the same initial cost and a lower running cost, including the directly competitive Brother MFC-7360N ($200 street, 3.5 stars) for example.

The KX-MB2030 would be a much stronger contender if its running costs were lower. As it is, if you print many pages, you should be looking at printers that will cost less to own, like the MFC-7360N. If you don't expect to print enough for running cost to be an issue, however, the KX-MB2030 offers all the MFP features you'll likely need in a compact size and at a reasonable price.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Panasonic KX-MB2030 with several other MFPs side by side.

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