The Konica Minolta magicolor 5440DL doesn't offer outstanding features or impressive performance, but it's a workhorse color laser printer that can stand up to heavy office use.

Setting up the 5440DL is easy, as long as you have a strong back (or an unwitting accomplice). It weighs in at about 68 pounds when loaded with paper.

Konica Minolta claims print speeds of up to 27 pages per minute for both monochrome and color printing. We didn't quite achieve those lofty heights in our tests, but the 5440DL is reasonably speedy. Adding memory ($129 to $389) can boost performance. The 5440DL ships with 64MB RAM, which is upgradeable to 576MB.

The 5440DL ships with a 500-sheet paper cassette, a 100-sheet multipurpose tray, and a 250-sheet output tray. You can add up to two 500-sheet paper cassettes ($299 each) for a total capacity of 1,600 pages. An automatic duplexer ($399) is also available.

Output quality is mixed. The 5440DL supports print resolutions of up to 2,400X600 dpi. The quality of text and monochrome line art is very good to excellent. Text is crisp and easy to read, even at small font sizes, while line art is smooth and unbroken. Grayscale images, including photos, are generally smooth with good detail. The output quality of color graphics is also good, but the output quality of color photos is only average, with some loss of detail in both shadows and highlights.

The 5440DL isn't the best choice for printing photos, but if you want to print directly from digital cameras, you can add a direct photo print card ($249). The card requires an additional 128MB RAM ($129) for full functionality and best quality, making this a high-priced option, particularly for the output quality.

Overall speed, output quality and operating costs are middle of the road, but the Konica Minolta magicolor 5440DL is a solid performer that can stand up to the rigors of a busy office environment.

Pros:  Good to very good text quality output, reasonably fast print speeds, accepts high-capacity toner cartridges (up to 12,000 pages), expandable paper capacity and memory, optional card allows printing directly from digital cameras
Cons:  Per-page printing costs are higher than some similar printers, output quality is generally good but not impressive

Warranty
1 year