Kyocera FS-1030D review

The FS-1030D is an update to the FS-1020D, which has been retired after just over two years. The FS range has always impressed us, and the 1030D is no exception. There's a built-in duplexer and 32MB of RAM, as well as compatibility with PostScript 3 and PCL 6.

Kyocera claims 22ppm for the 1030D, and it isn't far off that in practice, churning out our 12-page Excel test in just 42 seconds. Printing a text document with 5 per cent toner coverage took two minutes, 27 seconds, which translates to 20ppm. Although a network card isn't included as standard, these speeds make the 1030D a practical addition to a small workgroup.

Quality was a strong point with the 1030D's predecessor, and the same is true here. Plain black text was perfectly crisp, as we'd expect from virtually any laser printer. Lighter greys printed with obvious dithering, but overlying text remained perfectly legible. Obviously, the 1030D isn't a natural candidate for demanding graphics or photo printing, but our photos were at least recognisable, making this an acceptable option for early proof documents.

Kyocera's maintenance unit, which includes toner, the image drum and transfer belt, will last for 7,200 pages and costs £53 to replace, making the Kyocera very cheap to run at 0.7p per page.

Although the price of the FS-1030D is high, the low running costs and addition of a duplexer make it ideal for small but busy workgroups: it's a good choice if you need cheap-to-run, fuss-free mono printing.