In late 2009, the Geeks reviewed an Epson WorkForce 600 multipurpose printer/fax/scanner printer and we thought the WorkForce 600 was an excellent all-in-one printer. Fast forward a year and the Geeks received an Epson WorkForce 635 to review and several months and after testing every feature on the all-in-printer, we’re still impressed with the quality of prints, copies and scans not to mention the quality of the device.
The list price is $199 (but you can find it for much less at Amazon.com). The device has Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity, automatic (no hands needed) two-sided printing, copying, faxing and scanning. The 4 ink system uses DURABrite Ultra ink which does not smudge even when touched directly after being printed and the ink does not bleed through even with plain paper printed double-sided.
Another major plus besides the two-sided or duplex printing, built-in wired and wireless b/g/n networking and non-smudging DURABrite Ultra ink is the speed of print. The WorkForce 635 produces 15 black and white pages per minute and around 7 color pages per minute (and you can cut that in half for duplex printing).
So what’s new? Well first, you’ll notice that the printer seems a bit larger overall and the control panel is also redesigned and includes a prominent 2-sided printing button. The larger body is mainly for the now-automatic 2-sided (no manual page flipping) printing.
This model has 802.11n WiFi, so that’s a step up in networking speed, although honestly, unless you’re printing a lot of high-density graphics, you probably won’t notice a difference and the printer would be the bottleneck at any rate.
Surprisingly, print speeds aren’t up; in fact the color printing speed is a tad bit lower at 7.2 ppm (pages per minute), but a quality color page every 9 seconds doesn’t faze me.
After our great experience with the 600, the 635 lives up to being a quality follow-on product at a (still) excellent price.
Not only is this printer a great choice for a small business or home office, but the personal user will enjoy the flexibility of this all-in-one Epson machine.
(Disclaimer: Gizmos for Geeks received a complimentary review copy of this product.)