Okidata MB471 Toner Cartridges

Okidata MB471 Printer Review

The Okidata MB471 is fully equipped to handle the daily tasks of a semi-busy office, with a maximum monthly print capacity of 60,000 pages. This unit weighs only about 44 pounds and measures 16.8x16.7x17.9 inches, yet packs the punch of a printer, copier, scanner, and fax machine. Though it can only produce documents in black-and-white, color scanning is available. Most operating systems are supported and its Energy Star qualification means it can help reduce power consumption, saving users money.

Some laser printers on the market may offer better speeds, but the MB471 can deliver about 35 pages per minute, making it an efficient addition to small or midsized offices. The first page out will begin printing in about 11 seconds, and the warm-up time will not have the office waiting too long to begin printing in the morning. The fax function can receive a fax in less than 5 seconds while the scanner can scan a document in 1.6 seconds for black-and-white and 6 seconds for color.

The ethernet interface provides a networking option, meaning everyone in the office can share the MB471. There is, however, a USB port on the back of the unit for connection to a single computer. The unit is sometimes referred to as the MB471 MFP, and a version with wireless support is available as the MB471w or MB471w MFP.

This unit can also serve as a stand-alone copier or fax machine, meaning no computer is necessary at all. The flatbed scanner can handle media up to 8.5x11 inches, and is covered by a plastic lid that holds a 50-sheet automatic document feeder for faster multi-page scanning of up to legal-size media.

The provided Okidata MB471 toner cartridge can render about 2,000 pages, but replacement toners have a higher capacity. In fact, the Oki MB471 toner cartridges that users can purchase are double the size of the starter printer toner, yielding up to 4,000 pages. This equates to an impressively low cost per page, which is one of the strongest selling points for this machine.

Double-sided printing is built-in and the standard input tray holds about 250 sheets of paper. There is a 100-sheet bypass tray that will hold alternative media types like envelopes. Users also have the option of adding another tray that will increase the paper capacity to 880 sheets. Regardless of the type of paper being used, the Oki MB471 toner can generate a maximum resolution of 1200x1200 dpi, which will create professional, crisp documents.

Though it is the low cost per page provided by the high-yielding Okidata MB471 toner that is most appealing, the speed, quality, and versatility also seem to appeal to offices. This machine is not designed for the busiest of offices, but frequent daily demands in a midsized office will not be a problem for the MB471.