Ricoh Aficio SG 2100N review

On the surface, Ricoh’s Aficio SG 2100N is a cheap colour printer with speeds to embarrass a mono laser printer, as Ricoh claims up to 29 pages per minute (ppm). While it’s similar to an inkjet we’re not allowed to call it one; Ricoh’s proprietary Geljet system uses a soy-based pigmented gel ink that dries smudge-free without soaking into plain paper like a dye-based ink. There’s a range of Geljet models, among which the SG 2100N is rather basic, as it’s a single-function, network-ready printer with a single paper input, and without automatic duplex (double-sided) printing.

^ This printer won’t print on both sides automatically, but the driver will help you do it manually

This printer’s design owes more to a small mono laser than an inkjet. Compact and rugged, all of its trays and controls are accessed via the front and all of the cords route to the rear, meaning you could put it in a narrow alcove or shallow shelf, or even put other office equipment directly on top. The 250-sheet paper tray seems far more robust than we’d expect at this price, and the paper output above it is made from agreeably chunky plastic. For added reliability the paper transport mechanism uses a belt, like a laser printer, rather than pinch rollers. Overall, it feels comfortably up to Ricoh’s claimed 10,000-page duty cycle.

^ The web administration interface (seen here with administrator access) is comprehensive

However, the SG 2100N won’t arrive at its headline speed that quickly. Like any printer, there’s a trade off between speed and quality, but at the default Speed Priority setting neither is especially impressive. The first side of our 25-page text test arrived in 10 seconds, with the printer going on to reach an underwhelming 11.4 pages per minute (ppm). At the fastest setting this rose to 19.5ppm. At 7.9ppm, our colour graphics test was quicker than on a typical inkjet, but not as quick as many cheap colour lasers.

^ Some of the print driver tabs need a better layout – the Detailed Settings page even has a scroll bar

Pigment inks usually give strong results on plain paper, but here colours lacked impact unless we chose the driver’s Quality Priority setting, which was slower. The standard results were also better on matt coated inkjet paper, but using this pushes the cost of printing up. Talking of which, the SG 2100N takes only standard capacity gel cartridges that are rated for 600 pages. Using these, running costs work out to be more than 14p for a mixed page of text and colour graphics. While real life costs are likely to be lower, especially using the driver’s Economy Colour mode, this isn’t a competitive figure.

^ Ricoh’s Android app is the first we’ve encountered that couldn’t automatically detect a printer

The Aficio SG 2100N is impressively robust for the price, but is neither as fast as a laser nor as cheap to run as a small office inkjet. We’d pay more for a single-function inkjet from Epson’s WorkForce range.