Kyocera FS-1700

Kyocera has a reputation for paying close attention to the environmental impact of its printers. This is no bad thing, since the amount of printing that goes on in millions of offices every day, and the consequent waste, isn't to be underestimated. One of the key environment-friendly features of this printer is that its drum and developer unit isn't designed to be replaced; it's a permanent, ultra long-life component, designed using Kyocera's own ceramics technology which removes the periodic hassle and expense of replacement.

The FS-1700 has the same cubic form as most of the other laser printers, but its appearance is softened by the rounding-off of the corners and a stylish colour. The model we tested had 6Mb of RAM, expandable to a maximum of 66Mb via two SIMM sockets. This printer had an extra 4Mb already installed, so you'd only be able to take it up to 38Mb. A novel feature is the presence of a PC Card RAM slot for extra non-resident fonts and the like. The card used can be up to 16Mb capacity, although it can't be used as extra main memory for print job buffering; it's effectively ROM which is loaded into the main memory at power-on. Another innovative feature is the selectable paper path; output can be sent to either the top tray in a standard fashion or directed to a tray, which clips onto the rear of the unit, and delivered face up. This potentially useful option adds a foot to the length of the printer, though.

Standard power-saving and sleep modes are implemented, but it's a pity that around 19W of power is still consumed in sleep mode, and although better than many, it's not especially low. An ultra-low power mode might have been more in keeping with Kyocera's green philosophy.

It doesn't matter how responsibly a printer is manufactured if nobody buys it because the print quality and speed aren't up to scratch. Fortunately, the FS-1700 performs well on both counts, although its relative quality is better than its speed. On the performance front, its 12ppm engine brought it home in eighth place, ahead of the Canon, Lexmark and Brother units, while its high print quality put it ahead of all but the Lexmark and the Oki. The error-diffusion dithering scheme gave very smooth reproduction of photo images and sharp text, even under high magnification.