A Great All Round Laser Printer, Scanner and, Copier (Sharp AL 1457D)

Member Name: RichPrice

Product:	Sharp AL 1457D
Date:	27/03/07 (663 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well Made and Sturdy

Disadvantages: Only A4 and Consumables can be quite Expensive

A couple of years ago I decided to set up a Home Office and to work from home. I decided on the main equipment, The first was A good Multifunctional System ( a combined Laser Printer and a digital copier, I decided that I wanted a separate fax). I decided that Black and white and A4(ish) sized would be fine. I also needed relatively quick printing.

So I went shopping, with a budget of around £500. I was surprised that there were quite a number of machines on the market. A significant proportion were ruled out as they seemed quite flimsy, the top covers seemed as if they'd come off the machine with any real use), a second group had built in faxes. I decided that as the fax would often be quite busy that rather than tie up the printer that I'd buy a separate fax.

After several office suppliers I visited Office World (since taken over by Staples) where I discovered the Sharp AL 1457D. Which seemed to tick all the boxes, it was on Special (always a good sign) at £210 - well under budget. The current equivalent machine in the Sharp range is the AL1553 which retails for around £320. The display model looked really solid and substantial, not only was the top lid securely attached the whole thing seemed to have an industrial feel to it. The nice man in the shop ran off some trial copies from it. They seemed extremely good quality. The deal was done, they even delivered it several days later.

When it arrived it was in a huge box, with absolutely loads of polystyrene (as usual). I unpacked it to discover, a drum, a toner cartridge, a power lead, the machine itself, a user manual and a CD. I have to say that I have found the user manual really helpful. It is very well written and easy to follow. The only complaint I have about the manual is that it is not totally comprehensive. The CD which apart from containing the software also has what is referred to as the online manual, which is more detailed than the paper one. That said I've never really needed to consult it. I've had a look out of interest, it's well written, has a bit more information on problem solving and a bit more information on the operation of the printer and scanner. The paper manual has adequate information.

This was, apart from the computer (a Sony Vaio PCV RS404) was my first big equipment purchase. So I read the handbook through from cover to cover before I tried to install it. The Sharp doesn't come with any cables and has a couple of different ways of being connected to the PC, the first question was which one (cos I had to go and buy the cable), USB or Parallel interface. I hadn't a clue - so quick call to a mate. I was told that Parallel was the old way of connecting printers to computers and that the USB connection was the best one and to buy a good quality USB cable. I then realized that the scanner also only works with a USB connection. As I do as I'm told off to the shops one USB cable. My PC has lots of USB connections (seven - if you include the three on the front), so no problems about where to plug it in..

Then, the real fun, the installation. I have to say it went like an absolute dream. I just followed all the instructions carefully. The first job was make sure that I'd removed all the bits of tape etc, the manual helpfully told me where they all were, release the head locking switch. There is a switch which secures the scanning/copying head for when you move the unit. Install the toner, the drum comes pre-installed. Plug it in and turn it on. One fully functioning stand alone photocopier. Like most photocopiers it jams occasionally, I've always been able to sort it out, again its' in the manual.

The next stage was to connect it to the computer, again text book, Insert the disc load all the software up, plug the USB cable into the printer at the correct time. Job done. It was literally a piece of cake. Installed in under 15 minutes.

The instructions in how to print are a doddle, it operates as a standard copier, only prints A4 but will reduce and enlarge. It has a really clearly marked instrument panel for copying and scanning. You can either use the scanner from the computer or directly from the AL1457D

I've only ever used it as a straightforward printer, copier and scanner. There are lots of extra settings contained in what is known as the Sharpdesk and the Button Manager. To be honest I've never bothered to use them. They're actually designed to make operating the Sharp quicker and easier - it is so easy anyway - even a complete technophobe can work it.

A bit more detail. The Copier produces extremely good quality black and white images. Start up to copying is under 60 seconds. It has a countdown counter for up to 99 copies.
It has a sheet feeder on the top, holds about 30 pages. I actually use this quite a bit. Yes on occasion it jams but then I have yet to find one on any copier that doesn't. It copies quickly and almost silently. It has a paper tray that holds 250 sheets. This is where, had I more experience in buying copiers, I might have bought a different copier. It is fast enough for me in terms of copying speed, around 12 pages a minute. When Printing it has never jammed.

The instruction manual says that the paper tray can only handle 56 g/m2 to 80g/m2 paper (that's the weight of the paper). Anything heavier and, only up to 128 g/m2, has to be fed in through the bypass feeder which only holds about 25 pages. I write most of my letters on 100g/m2. I've found however that the paper tray copes perfectly well with the 100g/m2 stuff for both copying and printing. It is a point to think about. When the sharp goes to the great photocopying room in the sky I'll check more carefully the specifications of its' replacement.

The Scanner, well its' a scanner - 600dpi x 120dpi (that's all about the resolution of what it scans) - it scans in colour and a reasonable quality image. For Scanning documents its' fine. It takes a bit longer to scan than it does copy. It's also a three stage process, it scans, you preview, it finalizes the image. The only quibble about the scanner is that if you've been printing it can take a few attempts to persuade the scanner to scan, it keeps telling you that the scanner is busy. You can't scan, copy or print at the same time.

The Printer gives a good quality laser print. Print speed is probably between 6 and 10 pages a minute, depending what I'm printing out. The manual says 12. Its' more than fast enough for what I need.

When I was looking for a copier/printer one of the things' I didn't think about and, with hindsight should have thought about, was running costs. That is the number of copies per toner cartridge and also per drum (as that needs to be replaced periodically – I’m on my third). Toner cartridges are quite expensive, around £80 per cartridge with replacement drums around £100, although it does help to shop around. A Toner Cartridge lasts around 3000 copies (the manual says 4000 but that is at 5% coverage - the industry standard) a Drum lasts 18000 copies. Both are really easy to change. It is possible to buy machines with better returns (or yields), they cost more. I'm actually fairly happy with the costs, although next time I am going to factor it in

It weighs around 19kg (around 39Llbs), so it is heavy. It is 607.6mm wide, 492.5mm deep and 380.4mm high. It doesn't actually have that big a footprint and is actually fairly compact. It is a quiet machine to operate, although when its' scanning it makes quite a loud clicking noise.

One drawback is that it only a small memory 16mb, so you can't send a load of stuff to print and then turn the computer off and it just prints it, you need to leave the computer on.

It has been extremely reliable, never once broken down, the odd copier jam is always easy to sort out. I've never had to call out the engineer.

Would I buy another, probably, but this time I'd work out all of the comparative costs of different products before I bought it. It has been a solid reliable machine.

NB - Does not include a Fax, Sound and Battery talk time are both irrelevant so you can ignore those ratings

Summary: An Extremely Reliable Multi Function