- Fast print speeds
- Smallest footprint in its class
- 2.5-Inch LCD
- Print and scan anywhere with Epson Connect
- Wireless and Ethernet networking
SHORT REVIEW OF NON-SCANNING FEATURES:
Yes, this does have a small footprint, but note the extra 6 inches of height and 3 inches of depth needed when trays are extended for printing. Setup was easy, though if you know what you''re doing, I recommend connecting the printer to your wireless network BEFORE you install the software on CD to your PC you can then just say "printer is already on network" when prompted during installation. I tested ALL advertised features (including AirPrint and send and receiving FAX) and was able to get them all working to varying degrees. Per page printing costs are fairly standard for an inkjet (7-10 cents per page black and white; 20-25 cents for color including nicer photo paper). Speed is "quick" and not "super fast." Big batch jobs will still require a laser printer. To keep the size of this review reasonable, I''ll leave it to other reviews to supply more specifics other than scanning features.
SCANNING FEATURES:
Note that there is a less expensive version of this printer, the Epson WorkForce WF-2530 which is virtually identical to the WF-2540 being reviewed here. The one major difference in the scanning features, discussed below, is that the cheaper WF-2530 does not have an external USB interface. This means that the WF-2530 must be attached to a computer by wifi or USB cable in order to scan. Otherwise, other than the extra interface option for an ethernet connection and a slightly different control display on the WF-2540 being reviewed here, it appears to be identical in size, speed, and function.
That being said, one of the best features of this all-in-One (WF-2540) is that it does have that external USB port. This actually allows the unit to be a stand-alone, non-attached, non-networked scanning station. If your workstation breaks, your network goes down, or you run out of ink, you can still scan documents to a USB drive and take them elsewhere to print, email, or whatever. As well, you can use as a stand-alone photocopier.
The second best feature for scanning is the automatic document feeder (ADF). It can hold only 30 pages, and was a little finicky when I used thicker source paper to scan. Still, ADF''s are a great feature for an inexpensive all-in-one unit like this. Note that if you scan directly from the control panel of the unit, your only choices are 200, 300, and 600 dpi resolution, and either PDF or jpeg formats only. The PDF is NOT searchable with no default of optical character recognition (OCR). The included ABBYY software cannot convert non-searchable PDFs to searchable (OCRed) PDFs. If you save scans as jpeg images the included ABBYY software CAN load and convert jpegs to searchable PDFs.
Using the workstation as a stand-alone scanner, I was able to create and store to attached USB drive a 5 page pdf document scanned at 200 dpi in color mode in 160 seconds (32 seconds/page). The same test document scanned at 600 dpi in color mode took 260 seconds (52 seconds/page). Rule of thumb would be 30-60 seconds per page depending on resolution.
Using the included EPSON Scan software, which runs on your computer, you can choose from a larger number of options than the limited ones from the control panel of the printer. E.g., you can set resolution from 60-9200 dpi, choose color smoothing, set to scan in gray scale, etc..
Scanning speed with a wireless connection varied greatly depending upon how far the WF-2540 is from your wifi router wifi connection speed and strength is critical. Using the same 5 page document and the EPSON Scan software with the WF-2540 in wireless mode, I needed 20 minutes to produce a document when the unit was 50 feet away from my wifi router. Moving the WF-2540 to about 20 feet away, the same job took about 8 minutes. Connected with a USB cable to my PC, the same job took about 6 minutes. It was STILL much slower than the direct scan to attached USB device.
Rule: scanning and creating documents via wifi WILL be slower, and with a weaker wifi connection can be unusably slow. Consider how far your WF-2540 will be from your wifi router.
I give this 5 stars for being an excellent small office solution with a lot of built in flexibility (especially the USB scan and store capability). Connect by ethernet, wifi network, USB cable, or use as a stand-alone scan, copy or fax unit and you''re ready to go.
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Setup of the printer was reasonably easy though there was a lot of tape holding things closed/in place to remove and it took a while to find and remove it all. Software installation under Windows 7 went without a hitch but even though I hadn''t set up the printer for faxing the fax monitoring software was set to run at start-up. This unnecessary utility was easily turned off.The LCD screen is bright and easy to read. On printer controls are well laid out easy to understand and operate.
I have not yet tested the printer''s fax or wireless printing capabilities.
Printing -
Text print quality is good. Actually it''s very good really. I''m spoiled by my laser printer''s output. Print as small as 7pt was easily readable in both standard and high quality settings. Draft, not so much. Bar codes, pie and bar charts and clip-art print very nicely on plain paper.
Photograph printing; I used HP 53lb glossy 8.5" x 11" ''Everyday Photo Paper'' (the only photo paper the store had at the time) to print seven or eight full page images. The colors were sharp and vibrant. They matched my display almost perfectly. The ink dried very quickly. The printer is... not super noisy but not quiet. Again, I''ve been spoiled by using a laser printer.
Copying -
The copy feature is handy and the printer has a 30 page sheet feeder for moderate sized jobs. Operation isn''t speedy but it isn''t particularly slow either.
The printer can operate as a stand alone copier when disconnected from the computer.
Scanning -
The WorkForce WF-2540 scans quite well and has a large range and variety of settings. Scan resolution from 50 DPI to 9600 DPI are available. A penny scanned at 9600 DPI produced an 11,000 x 11,000 pixel Photoshop PSD image that was 17.4 megabytes.
I scanned an 8" x 10" photograph at 600 DPI into Photoshop CS using both the Epson Scan software and Windows'' built in WIA drivers. Both clocked in at approximately a minute and a half per scan. The image scanned with the Epson Scan software was slightly crisper while the WIA scanned image smoothed out much of the dust and speckles the Epson software left in. The quality of both scans was very good. I have also scanned a handful of 4" x 6" in photos. All reproduced well though some tweaking in Photoshop helped.
A rather neat feature of the Epson WorkForce WF-2540 is the ability to scan directly to a USB storage device. Maximum resolution appears to be 600 DPI. Scan speed to my 16 GB SanDisk thumb-drive was about the same as scanning to the computer.
That''s the good stuff. Now on to the bad...
I don''t understand why printer manufacturers continue to design printers that feed paper from a near vertical output tray on the back of the unit. This acts as like a funnel directing dust and debris right into the guts of the printer. Dust inside electronic devices shortens their life and can cause failure. Cartridge type paper feeds are, in my opinion, far superior if a little more work to load.
This is a good looking printer but the build quality is really horrible. The paper input and output trays that you have to open and close to use the printer are made of incredibly thin and brittle plastic that feel like they will easily break. The lugs that hold up the scanner lid (which also has the non-removable sheet feeder mounted to it) are NOT up to the job of holding the lid up. The slightest jar or bump will cause the lid to come crashing down. I was lightly wiping down the scanner glass with a microfiber cloth and without even touching it the lid crashed down on my hand. Now after opening the scanner lid no more than a few dozen times it repeatedly will not stay open on its own.
About a third of the time the ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) doesn''t grab the paper you''re trying to copy. It recognizes that there''s a sheet in the feeder but you''ve got to give it a nudge to get it to go in.
I''ve also noticed at the end of every print job there is a extremely high pitched... tone or whine that goes on for several seconds and then stops. I have no idea what this is.
The Epson WorkForce WF-2540 drinks ink. I''ve had the printer for a little over a week. I''ve printed twenty or so pages of text (about 10% coverage) for testing purposes as well as a couple coupons and two letters and envelopes. I''ve also printed several 8.5" x 11" photographs. Currently the black, yellow and magenta ink tanks are just below 50% and the cyan tank is down to about 33%. Using this printer on a regular basis could get quite expensive.
This would be a solid four-star printer if it weren''t for the build quality. I just can''t forgive the cheapness of the materials used. It feels like I''m just waiting for something to break. Most likely it will be the scanner lid, glass or ADF that breaks first. I can only give this three stars. It could be a much better printer if it were made better.
I will, of course, update this review should any long term use issues arise.I''m not quite sure what else you could be looking for that you won''t find with the WF-2540? Epson has made a top of the line, ink jet multi-function printer, perfect for a small office or home use that gives you wireless connectivity.
The Epson Workforce has it all, a flatbed scanner, copier functions, the ability to connect wirelessly from you PC, Laptop and Ipad, and a speedy printer that does not sacrifice quality. I''ve put this printer through it''s paces already. I''ve been scanning in a lot of old photos so that I can share these old photos with other family members. I''ve been scanning in photos from the 1910''s through the 2000''s, and the scanner is quick, provides great quality and the Epson software that comes with the WF-2540 allows me to crop, fix red-eye and enhance some of these older photos so that they really pop. This has been a huge undertaking that the Epson printer has made much easier.
While scanning the photos I''ve found some wonderful pics of my parents as kids and wanted to print them out. Using generic Staples brand inkjet photo paper, the Epson provides great photo quality prints. I''ve framed a few of them and no one has any clue that I''ve given them a copy run off of a home inkjet printer!
I like too that the printer takes seperate ink cartridges for each color instead of the old HP tri-color carts I was used to. So if Cyan runs out, I simply replace the cyan cartridge. I don''t have to toss out the unused Magenta and Yellow ink. In this economy every penny counts!!
Highly recommended, this is a slick, fast, quiet and great looking printer that packs the same punch as a printer twice it''s price.
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I used to repair PC''s and always dreaded the call when some would start by saying "My printer..."I hate dealing with printers. Not because of the hardware but because of the software packages that are notoriously bloated and buggy, some have even been borderline malicious.
The last Printer I bought was a black and white Brother Laser Printer/scanner and I bought it specifically because I only needed a driver package to make the whole thing run, windows print menu''s handle every aspect of the printer from scanning, to faxing and printing, so, that said, let me just jump into this.
SET UP:
Set up was pretty typical, follow the installation instructions closely and you shouldn''t have any problems. I''m running Windows 7 64bit and the software even configured the wireless set-up through a USB cable I attached to my PC temporarily. I basically sat back for about 5 minutes and just clicked next, filled out my account info for registration (and Epson Connect), plugged in the USB cable, unplugged it once it was done and then started using the printer. I was impressed. Like most printers the USB cable is not included so you might want to pick one up unless you have a spare lying around, it''s not necessary but it makes set-up a lot easier.
SOFTWARE:
While Epsons software isn''t a huge break from what I expected it is definitely a little bit friendlier (both user and resource friendly) than some of the other packages I''ve dealt with. HP''s drive me nuts, total resource hogs and massively bloated software.
Aside from the lengthy instal and registration for Epson Connect now that the software is installed it uses about 33MB''s of RAM as it runs in the background, comparatively that''s actually pretty good and as a Multimedia developer it''s really important to me to squeeze every drop I can from my system.
Software aside, the printer itself was a big surprise. I got it for review from the Amazon Vine program so I wasn''t really sure what to expect, I usually do a lot of research before I add to my studio but I needed a high quality color printer for my proofs so I gave it a shot.
STANDARD USAGE:
I haven''t had it long so I can''t speak to it''s durability but so far it''s performance (with some small exceptions) it''s really impressive. It''s easy to use and once I figured out the alternative printing methods I''m really happy with it. It''s a quick little printer too, which is nice. I''ll go into some detail below.
EPSON CONNECT (print via email):
The first thing I set up was the Epson Connect service. This basically allows you to email a document or image to your printer as long as it''s set up on your wireless network.
So I sent a 16 megapixel photo (I''m including an image in the user photo''s) and it printed out quickly and beautifully even on standard settings.
PHOTO PRINTING ON PHOTO PAPER:
Next I set set up the high gloss photo paper and printed out some 6x4''s. This is gunna sound like an exaggeration but I really can''t tell the difference between these prints and orders I get from companies like shutterfly. I am thoroughly impressed by the quality of the photo''s that come out of this thing. I printed 2 from my PC and one more from my Samsung Galaxy tab (more on that below)
HIGH QUALITY PRINT ON STANDARD PAPER:
Next I printed another photo on standard paper through Adobe Photoshop and switched to high quality print settings. As is typical this saturates the paper with ink and regular weight paper comes out a little warped from the wetness. They do this because standard paper absorbs ink and causes it to look lightened or dull. Aside from the warping and slightly lighter color saturation from the regular paper the print looks pretty exceptional. Almost on par with the photo paper prints that I ran on standard quality.
PRINT VIA MOBILE DEVICE (YES!):
Next I wanted to try to print from my tablet. As part of my profession I do a lot of photography, I have a class 10 microSDHC card in my Canon Rebel t3i that I pop out of the adapter and stick right into my Galaxy Tab 2 10.1". From there I can check and edit my RAW files on the job. I was really hoping I''d have a way to print some draft developed photo''s straight from the tab as well.
Out of the box most smart phones and tablets don''t come with this (my Samsung Tab only supported Samsung printers) but Epson forunately has a free app in the play store called Epson iPrint. It recognized the printer via the WiFi network and once I edited the RAW files, converted them to JPG and moved them to the internal card I was able to print straight to the printer. The app took a little fiddling and set up to get it to work and do what I wanted but I figured it out within 10-20 minutes and had it working.
Alternatively I could''ve just emailed the photo from my tab as well. This is a huge selling point for me, especially when paired with the quality of the photo prints.
SCANNING:
This is where I run into some issues and minor gripes. For the life of me, while using the network connection, I can not get this thing to scan in Black and White by simply pressing B&W button on the printer, so far I can only scan in color. I also can''t get it to communicate with Adobe Acrobat (though this seems to be an issue with acrobat). My Brother on the other hand has absolutely no issues.
I will keep trouble shooting and look for software updates, if I make any progress I''ll update this review and change my rating accordingly.
The Auto Document Feeder works fine for me and does a pretty good job of feeding the papers straight (a slight rotation but barely noticeable.)
The table scanner is a document scanner. What I mean by that is that it doesn''t seemed to be geared at generating high quality scans of photo''s or reproductions of artwork. I tried using the settings in the scan utility and still got grainy images or lines through my photo''s. When scanning documents with text or vector style artwork it seems to work just fine. If you want to reproduce photo''s or art you''re gunna want a dedicated, high quality scanner.
It seems that you cant use the Epson Scan Utility Software without having a USB cable connected however once it is connected the Scan Software works fine, it''s pretty basic but I can scan B&W documents through the auto feed and export them to PDF without issue. Obviously you''re going to get the best results using Grayscale or Color, B&W scanning will significantly degrade the quality of any text that isn''t super crisp. Using Grayscale I can OCR scanned documents without any issue.
The speed is pretty average to slow, my brother definitely goes much faster when scanning via auto-feed or table. I ran about 3 pages and my total time was about 1:50.
COPYING:
Copying works about as good as you might expect with documents. It''s actually pretty speedy (prints while scanning) and the quality is definitely acceptable. Again with color photo''s and art it''s a bit grainy and lined.
FAXING:
I cant say anything about faxing since this is a feature I haven''t used in years, I don''t even have a land line at the moment. All of the software and capability seem to be there however.
INK:
This is a traditional 4 color printer, C,M,Y & K. The cartridges provided are pretty slim though when I checked Epsons site they sell XL versions that have 2.5x the capacity, at a price of course but still a small savings over buying the smaller cartridges in a comparable quantity.
The magenta is burning up quick as it will do with photos of people. I''ve only run about 5 color prints so far (2 8.5x11" and 3 6x4" photos)and the magenta is down by about 10%.
Fortunately a whole set of the standard cartridges is only about $37 which isn''t nearly as bad as I remember ink cartridges being. The XL''s are a little more than twice the price but again you get a small savings, not bad.
PROS:
Great color prints!
Print via Tablet or Smart phone
Print via email
Set up was a breeze even with Wi-Fi
Does everything
Affordable Ink
Small footprint
Decent speed when printing and copying.
CONS:
Scanning quality is average. Good document quality but not suited for photos or art.
Scanning is somewhat slow.
Some issues with scanning in B&W
Ink cartridges are small and look like they will empty quick.
OVERALL:
Overall I really like this unit for printing photo''s, color docs or art proofs. It has a USB input port on the front that I haven''t tried yet but I''m assuming it allows you to scan docs straight to your thumb drive.
I can''t help feeling like this is a really nice inkjet with some Office Features thrown on as an after thought. If that''s how you plan to use it then this is a great deal. It definitely gets the job done but not at the speed and efficiency of some of the laser jet all-in-ones I''ve used.
For a home office where most of your work requires printing from the PC this is a great buy, it''s fast and small and has really nice quality. Having the ability to scan and copy documents when needed is a plus but if you use these features often you may want to look at a unit that is specifically geared towards that kind of usage, there is a considerable speed difference.
All-in-all, I like it. I will definitely keep using it and it does what I wanted and does it well so I''m really happy with it.
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This is tentative 5 stars as I just got this today.I am replacing an Epson WF-1100 that was total junk for me, even though it came highly recommended by people in my field. I was leery of trying another Epson, but I need pigment ink and I need something that is made to print a lot of color prints-I have a lovely Cannon printer, but it''s not made for loads of printing and it''s mostly dye ink.
Things that I really like. It does have a manual paper feed in the back. That was a big must on my list. Based on reading reviews about other Epson connecting the wifi to Macs I was nervous, but it was as easy as selecting my network and entering my password... the two machines did the rest.
I also like that it has a really small footprint. I will use the scanner, maybe the copier, but not the fax... so those features aren''t relevant to me.
I knew it came with the teeny starter ink, but I was bummed that I couldn''t buy the high-capacity ink at Amazon yet, I had to go to Epson, but when I registered my printer I got 10% off from Epson''s store. Sweet.
In my other Epson the color profiles were off I spent a lot of time adding color profiles just to get it to print right. In my test prints with the WF-2540 I have been really impressed with the colors. As good as my beloved Cannon Pixma... which says a lot.
It prints fast, as fast as I need, I''m used to slower color printing and didn''t mind that, so this is just an added bonus. It also prints quiet. I set this up while my toddler was sleeping in the same room and he didn''t even budge.
I haven''t tried syncing it with my iPad or iPhone, I don''t usually print from them, so it''s not high on my must-do list.
To sum up, I am very pleased that out of the box it does what it''s supposed to quickly, easily and with good quality prints.
I will update if things change. This printer will get a lot use so I hope it keeps up.
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