Ink jet printers are notorious for high ink costs. While the printers themselves are often attractively inexpensive, the cost of the ink over the life of the printer, make consumers shiver in pain. Yet the ink jet technology works quite well, so there must be a way to lower ink costs, even if it means increasing the initial cost of the printer. To that end, a few ink jet printers with higher initial costs but lower maintenance costs are starting to appear. Initially these printers are being placed in the business category. One that we were excited to see is the Epson B-510DN. Although the printer costs USD 599, the cost of consumables is cheaper than those for many laser printers.

The Epson B-510DN comes in a large cardboard box, shown in Figure 1. The size of the box is not really surprising as the B-510DN is a large printer. The printer itself is shown in Figure 2 before the packing materials have been removed. It measures 18.9" x 21.6" x 12.3" (480 mm x 549 mm x 312 mm). It weighs 24 lbs (10.84 kg), excluding the ink cartridges.

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Figure 1: The big box

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Figure 2: The Epson B-510DN

Also included are the four ink cartridges and power cable, a software disk, a Network Installation guide, and a Start Here Guide, which was included in our box in both English and French. These are shown in Figure 3.

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Figure 3: In the box

In Figure 4, you see the paper trays and cover.

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Figure 4: Paper trays and cover

Everything about this printer is super-sized. At 6.5" x 3.9" x 0.9", each of the ink cartridges is about as big as a paperback book.