Pros & Cons
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- Serves as a laser printer, color scanner, standalone copier, and standalone fax machine.
- 30-sheet ADF.
- Excellent text quality.
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- Relatively slow for the price.
- Copies and faxes from front panel only.
- Graphics and photo quality are both at the low end for monochrome lasers.
Ricoh AC104 Specs
| Maximum Scan Area: | 8.5" x 14" |
| Maximum Standard Paper Size: | Legal |
| Printer Category: | Laser |
| Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono): | 17 ppm |
| Scanner Optical Resolution: | 600 pixels per inch |
| Scanner Type: | Flatbed with ADF (Standard or Optional) |
| Standalone Copier and Fax: | Copier |
| Standalone Copier and Fax: | Fax |
| Type: | All-In-One |
If you're in the market for a laser-based personal AIO or an AIO for a small office or workgroup, Ricoh's AC104 is aimed at you. It doesn't quite hit the target, though, despite an assortment of highly welcome features, including a 30-page automatic document feeder (ADF), a built-in 33.6-Kbps fax modem, and the ability to function as a standalone fax machine and copier.
At 16.4 by 18.7 by 17.2 inches (HWD) and 28.8 pounds, the AC104 is a little too large to share your desk comfortably. Unless you plan to use it strictly as a fax machine and copier, however, you'll have to keep it near some computer, since it doesn't have a network port. We tested using a USB connection.
The 17-ppm engine in the AC104 is relatively slow by today's standards. On our tests (using QualityLogic's testing software and equipment, www.qualitylogic.com), however, the printer proved even slower than we expected. The total time on our business applications suite was 14 minutes 13 seconds. By comparison, the $500 Canon ImageClass MF-5500 ran the same tests in 9:01.
Text quality is a bright spot. We rated the AC104 as excellent, with more than half the fonts we test with easily readable at 4 points. On tests of both graphics and photos, however, it managed only a fair ranking because of visible dithering and other flaws. It's not unusual for a monochrome laser to score only fair on graphics or photos, but few score as low as the AC104 did on both. The Canon MF-5500, on the other hand, earned a rating of good on both tests.
The AC104's other functions work as promised for scanning, copying, and faxing. It has no bundled utility to let you fax from a program, however. If you want to fax a Microsoft Word file, for example, and you don't have a fax program, you can't simply chose File | Print, and then choose the fax driver. Instead, you have to print the file, then scan and fax it, which is clumsy to say the least.
Aside from this oversight, there's nothing really wrong with the AC104. If it were, say, $200 less, it would be well worth considering. At its current price, however, it makes more sense to get the Canon MF-5500.
Sub-ratings:
Text: 
Graphics: 
Photos:
More multifunction printer reviews:
Final Thoughts
Ricoh AC104
The Ricoh AC104 AIO has lots of desirable features, including an automatic document feeder and built-in fax modem, but it just misses the right balance among speed, output quality, and price. If it delivered better speed and quality or cost $150 to $200 less, it would be a much more attractive choice.