Labs

TallyGenicom was the only manufacturer to submit a monochrome printer for this month's business category, while its competitors all went for colour. But not every workgroup needs to print in colour, and there are good reasons to go with a mono model such as the 9045N instead.

The main benefit is speed. If you want to churn out those pages, this printer's quoted rate of 43 pages per minute puts it top of the table this month by a clear margin. And our tests proved this isn't just a marketing claim: the 9045N delivered our 50-page test into the 250-sheet output tray in a mere 1min 15secs - a rate of 40 pages per minute.

The 9045N was equally swift with more

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complex material, with none of our tests taking more than a minute. The complex photo montage printed in a swift 24 seconds and we were impressed at how promptly other pages started printing. Once warmed up, the 9045N pumps out its first page in seven seconds.

Another good reason to go mono is lower running costs, and this is certainly a strength of the 9045N. Although the purchase price may seem high, especially considering it doesn't have a duplex unit built in, its huge 22,000-page toner cartridges and exceptionally durable parts keep ongoing costs to a minimum.

Sadly, the 9045N didn't impress us with its quality. Despite only having one colour to worry about, it came second to last of our business lasers. At its default settings, the 9045N produced banded images and heavily dithered shading. Increase the resolution to the maximum 1,200 x 1,200dpi and things improve, but banding remains visible while speed drops dramatically.

The embedded web server does a reasonable job on the manageability front, with email alerts and toner levels catered for, but that's no consolation for the unremarkable print quality. Still, if your priorities are speed and low running costs, and you can live without colour, the 9045N is the obvious choice.