BLI Summer 2013 Color Printer and MFP Award

July 18, 2013 – Hackensack (NJ) - Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI), the world’s leading independent tester of document imaging products, has announced its “Pick” awards for color printer and MFP models. While BLI put numerous color devices through their paces during this “Pick” period, only five models—one from Lexmark and four from Hewlett-Packard—made the cut and earned these prestigious awards. And the winners are…

HP Wins for Economy, Quality and Innovation          

The Officejet Pro 251dw and Pro 276dw, which won for SOHO printer and MFP, respectively, earned awards thanks in part to their ease of use and affordability. “HP business-class inkjets have rarely disappointed us in testing and the Officejet Pro 251dw and 276dw are no exceptions,” said BLI Senior Test Technician Tony Maceri. “These two inkjets deliver HP’s high-level ease of use and good quality color output for a low price. Mobile printing via ePrint and the ability to download web apps for added functionality is nice bonus.”   

“The HP Officejet Pro 251dw Printer and 276dw MFP combine the reliability and all of the best features of our inkjet lineup with the management features that large and enterprise customers need for their remote office and branch office print operations,” said George Alonso, senior director of marketing for HP Printing and Personal Systems. “HP is proud to be recognized by BLI in this category as it highlights our commitment to delivering fast and professional-quality color prints at an affordable price.”         

In the small workgroup category, the Officejet Pro X551dw and X576dw were chosen for their speed, innovative design and low cost of ownership. “With HP’s PageWide technology, the Officejet Pro X551 and X576 are real game changers,” said BLI Senior Analyst for Printers and A4 MFPs Marlene Orr. “Not only are they a viable replacement for low-end laser devices, but in many cases these inkjets are a better choice as they offer faster speeds, laser-quality output and lower cost of ownership. From an environmental perspective, these units also use significantly less energy and create less consumables waste than comparable small workgroup laser printers and MFPs recently tested.”

“We are thrilled that BLI has recognized HP’s work in developing the Officejet Pro X576dw MFP and X551dw Printers,” said HP’s Alonso. “The HP Officejet Pro X Series prints at up to twice the speed for up to half the cost per page of comparable lasers and underscores HP’s commitment to developing efficient and cost-effective products for the SMB market.”

Lexmark Provides Big Value for Small Workgroups          

Perfect reliability, stellar ease of use and low TCO are just a few of the reasons BLI has chosen the Lexmark CS510 Series to receive a “Pick” award in the small workgroup color category. “Further rounding out the package of this budget-friendly choice are ‘green’ features such as standard automatic duplexing, toner-save mode and an ECO mode to reduce power consumption, as well as Lexmark’s embedded Solutions Framework,” noted BLI Associate Editor Carl Schell. “The open platform enables organizations to download time- and money-saving software developed by the manufacturer or third parties, to be run on the device,” added Schell. Other noteworthy features include the customizable Lexmark e-Task interface, which has an intuitive flash-enhanced menu system that makes viewing and printing jobs at the control panel easy; print from USB; and the Lexmark Coverage Estimator, which informs users of toner coverage on printed pages.   

“Lexmark's CS510 color laser printer family offers numerous enterprise-level capabilities with robustness and quality that Lexmark has brought down through its product lines to reach small and medium-sized workgroups—all in a compact footprint. In addition, the color output and color-matching capabilities for an A4 product like this are unparalleled in the industry,” said Marty Canning, Lexmark executive vice president and president of Imaging Solutions and Services. "We are pleased to have the Lexmark CS510 honored with this Pick award distinction from BLI.”         

Stay tuned for the announcement of Buyers Lab Outstanding Achievement Awards tomorrow.

About Buyers Laboratory LLC          

Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI) is the world's leading independent provider of analytical information and services to the digital imaging and document management industry. For over 50 years, buyers have relied on BLI to help them differentiate products’ strengths and weaknesses and make the best purchasing decisions, while industry sales, marketing and product professionals have turned to BLI for insightful competitive intelligence and valued guidance on product development, competitive positioning and sales channel and marketing support. Using BLI’s web-based bliQ and Solutions Center services, 40,000 professionals worldwide create extensive side-by-side comparisons of hardware and software solutions for over 15,000 products globally, including comprehensive specifications and the performance results and ratings from BLI’s unparalleled Lab, Solutions and Environmental Test Reports, the result of months of hands-on evaluation in its US and UK labs. The services, also available via mobile devices, include a comprehensive library of BLI’s test reports, an image gallery, hard to find manufacturers’ literature and valuable tools for configuring products, calculating total cost of ownership (TCO) and annual power usage. BLI also offers consulting and private, for-hire testing services that help manufacturers develop and market better products and consumables.    

For more information on Buyers Laboratory LLC, please call (201) 488-0404, visit www.buyerslab.com, or e-mail info@buyerslab.com.