Setup
Setup is simple, as you only have to remove some blue tape and slot in the four ink tanks. These are keyed to prevent users inserting the yellow tank in the cyan hole.
Epson's install program is also foolproof. The software package includes EpsonNet Config for network management, but there's no utility for scripting an installation, which can be a timesaver in larger rollouts.
The bundled software allows remote discovery and configuration of printers
The printer has no control panel, so the button dedicated to printing a network configuration page is a useful touch. Less useful is a web admin interface, which only displays information; network names, locations and settings can only be changed through the configuration app.
Overall
With a robust design, simple maintenance and good quality prints, the WP-4095DN is a alternative to a cheap colour laser, particularly where high-speed colour printing isn't essential. Running costs are significantly lower than equivalent lasers. A mono page cost around 0.8p and colour pages coming in at 2.5p (excluding VAT and paper).
At just 22 watts, the Epson's peak power use is also around a tenth of the amount a small laser printer averages during printing, which should provide additional savings over time.
The Epson's advantages are less clear when compared to rival inkjets, though. It was significantly quicker than the OfficeJet Pro 8000 Enterprise in all of our tests, and it produced slightly better quality prints overall. Its second paper input also makes it more flexible, but in other important regards the two printers are an extremely close match.
This makes the Epson's price premium something of a stumbling block. It's hard to understand why adding printer control languages and some extra RAM makes the WP-4095DN more than twice the price of the WP-4015DN, and even harder to fathom why HP's similar printer is so much cheaper.
Verdict
This sturdy, simple printer feels like it would give years of service, producing high quality prints with the minimum of fuss. Unfortunately, it's more expensive than HP's similar OfficeJet Pro 8000 Enterprise, which is a better choice where print language emulations are essential. Where host-based printing is fine, Epson's own WorkForce Pro WP-4015DN does the same job for less.
Print capability: 4,800 x 1,200dpi, pigment-based colour ink, ESC/P-Raster , PCL6, PCL5c and PostScript 3 emulation Speed: 26ppm mono/24ppm colour Maximum duty: 30,000 sheets/month Paper handling: Input 250-sheet cassette plus 80-sheet tray, output 150-sheet tray Interfaces & protocols: USB, 10/100 Mbit Ethernet, TCP/IP: LPR, IPP, Port9100 and WSD print protocols, TCP/IP: TCP/IPv4, TCP/IPv6, SNMP v1, HTTP, DHCP, BOOTP, AutoIP, DNS, Bonjour (mDNS), SNTP, SSDP, WSD, LLTD, LLMNR, SLP and ENPC network protocols Supported operating systems: Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows XP/Vista/7 (32 or 64 bit), OS X 10.4.11 or later Power consumption: Sleep 1W, Standby 6W, Active 22W Size: 460x420x284mm Weight: 10.9kg Test results TTFP: 9s Draft speed: 14.3ppm Document speed: 13.5ppm Graphics speed (colour): 5.7ppm Duplex speed: 1m 38s (10 sides/5 pages) Duplex speed (colour): 3m 07 (10 sides/5 pages) 6x4" photo speed: 59s Cost per page: 3.3p
