PANTUM BP2300W Review – Great For Light Uses

Unboxing

PANTUM is one of the lesser-known printer makers in the Malaysian market, and today we’re taking a look at one of its latest single-function monochrome laser printer, the BP2300W. This model is one of the three variants under the BP2300 series, with the ‘W’ denoting Wi-Fi connectivity support.

The items in the box include:
– Printer installation manual
– Mobile app setup manual
– Driver installation disc
– USB-A to USB-B cable
– AC cable (Type G, C13/C14)
– Printer output tray
– PANTUM BP2300W main unit

Note that the laser cartridge is pre-installed in the printer, though you’ll need to remove some tapes off during the setup process.

Walkaround

The BP2300W is a fairly compact printer that only has one function: print. No scanning or copying, so there’s not much going on aside from three buttons, some LED indicators, and all the access panels that you’d expect from a printer like this. This printer feeds paper via the bottom compartment, with the output tray located on top (the tray plate has to be manually installed during the initial setup).

As a cost saving measure, PANTUM apparently re-uses the exact chassis that is designed for all three models under the BP2300 series lineup. The highest-end model (BP2300NW) features an Ethernet port, though it’s not available in the BP2300W model which is what we have here. In this case, the port is simply blocked with a piece of removable plastic, with the USB-B port located below for offline printing.

The maintenance panel gives you access to the TL-C2310E cartridge good for 700 pages, though the refills will be available only with the TL-C2310H model that provides 1,600 pages of yield. Swapping the cartridge is as simple as lifting the handlebar along the slope of the printer, then install the new one sliding it back in. (Note: this photo shows the additional padding and tapes that needs to be removed during the setup process.)

Specifications

PANTUM BP2300W Single-Function Monochrome Laser Printer

Full specifications available in product webpage.

Feeder / Paper Tray
Max. Supported Paper Size	A4, Letter
Supported Paper Type	Plain, Transparent paper, Cardstock, Label, Envelope (60-163gsm)
Paper Tray Capacity	Max. 150
Printing & Copying
Ink/Cartridge Type	PANTUM TL-C2310H (Monochrome)
Page Yield	1,600 pages *700 pages for default cartridge (TL-C2310E)
Printing speed	22ppm (A4) 23ppm (Letter)
FPOT (First print-out time)	<7.8 seconds
Duplex Printing	Not supported (manual)
Printing Resolution	600 dpi, 1200 dpi (High resolution mode)
Scanning
Scanner Type & Dimensions	Unsupported
Optical Resolution	Unsupported
Scanning Bit Depth	Unsupported
Scanning Speed	Unsupported
General
Colors	White
Connection Mode	USB 2.0 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Bluetooth
Processor	800MHz
RAM	256MB
Onboard Display	None, LED indicators only
Noise	52dBA printing, 30dBA standby
Duty Cycle	Max. 10,000 pages/month
Supported OS	Windows XP and above macOS X 10.10 Yosemite and above Linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and above iOS 11 and above Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and above
Dimensions	337 x 220 x 179 mm
Weight	4.8 kg

User Experience

Setup

For setting up on Windows devices, PANTUM says everything from Windows 8 and up will be essentially an instant process – though our installation process does take a bit of puzzle solving as it’ll only work via the USB cable at first. Once that is set up, going through the installation process with Wi-Fi enables wireless connections to the printer from our machine.

Setting up via smartphone is a lot more intuitive, however. Simply download the PANTUM app from Google Play Store (or App Store if you’re on Apple devices), and you can configure from there with a very simple setup process that only takes a minute. Once done, you’re greeted with the home page that shows several functions the printer can do – though scanning is not one of them as this printer doesn’t have scanning capabilities. Sending a print job is as straightforward as selecting a file, and tap ‘Print’.

Quality Tests

We test the printing quality with 80gsm paper – on 100% scale, the printer will discard up to 5mm of content on all edges, and it also has some misalignment with the content printed at a small but visible angle (we tried to re-align the feed tray but it didn’t change things). As with all laser printers, the PANTUM BP2300W can print edges on texts clearly, however the print quality of the text itself isn’t as good as we imagined, with a fair bit of graininess seen throughout the paper.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

*Note: TL-C2310H cartridge prints 1,600 pages; TL-C2310E included in-package prints 700 pages. TCO calculations below do not account for price changes for the printer or associated accessories.

Monthly printing volume	TCO (5-year)	Cost breakdown
100 pages / month	RM 1,095	Printer: RM299 Cartridge: RM199 x4
500 pages / month	RM 4,080	Printer: RM299 Cartridge: RM199 x19
1,000 pages / month	RM 7,861	Printer: RM299 Cartridge: RM199 x38
2,000 pages / month	RM 15,224	Printer: RM299 Cartridge: RM199 x75
Cost per page: RM0.124 / page, RM12.44 / 100 pages

While the PANTUM TL-C2310H cartridge costs a significant portion of the printer’s price, it’s still relatively cheap to print compared to competition. Above is a chart of total cost of ownership (TCO) over a 5-year period in various monthly printing volumes, and for a low-volume usage like 100 pages per month, the overall cost including the printer itself is only slightly over RM1,000.

The Good

The PANTUM BP2300W has a few great things as a simple and straightforward laser printer: printing speed is generally solid, essentially you never have to wait if you’re just occasionally printing a page or two. Even for high-volume printing, its 22ppm speed means you can print at reasonably fast speeds as well. On the topic of speed, setting the printer up is also quick and convenient, which is great for novice users or anyone less familiar with tech products in general.

The mobile app also deserves some praise for its user-friendliness: it’s simple, straightforward, and gets the job done easily; the total cost of ownership (TCO) of operating this printer is also great for light users, as the inherent benefit of laser printers is that they never dry out – so for occasional use, it can be a great investment in the long run.

The Bad

Two small things worth improving: one, the printing noise can be pretty loud, which is especially noticeable in quiet environments (think offices or even libraries). Also, for those printing frequently on duplex formats, this can be a bit of a pain as this printer has no automatic duplex printing support, meaning you’ll have to flip the papers manually once a side has been printed.

Verdict

At RM299 for the printer and RM199 for its cartridges, the PANTUM BP2300W single-function monochrome laser printer is a great option if all you want is print documents on the cheap, and wants the convenience this printer is capable of offering. Aside from a few minor annoyances, I think this printer is especially great if you’re a light user or wants something for family use.

Special thanks to PANTUM for providing the BP2300W monochrome laser printer for this review.