PROS:
At 51 pounds, the all-in-one copier has a footprint 20.4” x 19.4”. The copier is a little large to put on a desk but will feel right at home on any credenza.
The AL-1642CS uses a stationary 8½” x 14” platen for scanning instead of a sliding platform to keep its footprint no bigger than its physical size. The automatic document feeder allows for 30 single-sided copies to be made up to legal-size: more originals can be fed in as the level lowers. By scanning the original once and storing the image into its 8MB memory allows the AL-1642CS to produce copies at the rate of 16 pages per minute, up to 99 copies.
The AL-1642CS has three different exposure modes & resolutions (auto, manual, photo). Automatic (or default) resolution is 600 x 300 dpi. “Photo quality” is 600 x 600 dpi at 256 grayscale levels. The magnification can be changed from 25% to 400% in 1% increments or in 6 jumps.
One of the “gotchas” for 2-sided copying is the originals in the ADF must be single-sided. One option rather than burning through paper making the originals 1-sided is if the originals are in electronic form to use the printer capabilities of the AL-1642CS to print them from a computer as 2-sided duplicates.
Using either Parallel or the USB 1.1 connection, the AL-1642CS can be connected to a computer to double as a modest laser printer. In a small office, the Sharp can be set up to be a shared printer provided the computer it’s connected to remains on during the hours the printer would get used. When connected to a computer, the AL-1642CS can scan color images with resolutions up to 600 x 1,200 dpi.
The control panel for the AL-1600 series is pretty straightforward, so you don’t need to go to the manual to figure things out. In addition to magnification, quantity, and exposure, you can control which paper tray to use and to switch to the toner save mode. Indicators blink for toner and drum replacement, and paper jams. Unfortunately, the jam indicator does not show where inside the copier the misfeed is, so you’ll have to do the sleuthing yourself.
This Sharp has two sliding paper trays, each holding up to 250 sheets of either letter (8½” x 11”) or legal (8½” x 14”) size paper. The two-tray feature is especially nice in an office where legal and standard size papers are often used. Non-standard sizes from 3” x 5” up to 8½” x 14” can be placed singly on the scanning platform, or up to 50 sheets placed on the multi-purpose flip-tray on the side of the copier.
CONS:
Sharp’s does not offer PCL or PostScript print emulation. Instead, Sharp provides their own GDI print emulator. For most printing, users won’t notice any difference in performance and considering the low printing resolution of this all-in-one, it’s unlikely any high-end Adobe graphics will be put to this unit.
The design of the AL series is primarily based to focus on copier features. During its prime, a 16 ppm copy speed was impressive for a small copier. In printer mode, the touted 12 ppm speed can only be achieved at lowest resolution (but that’s the caveat for any printer specs). Don’t expect the faster print speeds of 20 ppm that’s typical of current monochrome laser printers.
INK / TONER NEEDS:
The AL-1642CS only comes with a 50-percent full toner cartridge, which will need replacing after 4 reams of paper. The standard-yield toner can hold 4,000 pages at 5% coverage, the HYPERLINK "http://www.quikshiptoner.com/catalog/sharp-al-1642cs-toner.html"high-yield producing 6,000 pages.
The AL-1642CS has separate toner and drum to help reduce overall consumables costs. The front plate flips open, allowing for the toner, then the drum units to be accessed. Since the cartridges have to be slid out sideways, it will take a little bit of practice to get the hang of replacement.
The drum unit will need to be replaced every 18,000 pages, or on the 3rd toner change. During the course of changing toner, people often forget to keep track when it’s time to change the drum. Combo-packages are available that offer the drum with several toners. By the time the toners are consumed, the remaining drum is replaced. These combo-packages make maintenance easy and increases overall machine longevity and print quality.
