Ricoh MP C300HW and MP C300HT Spec Review

On April 17th Ricoh added two additional MFP's that are specifically designed for the Healthcare Industry.  Loyal readers may remember that a few years ago I mentioned that the next "Big Thing" is that manufacturers would start designing and introducing vertical market imaging systems. It seems Ricoh is practicing what I preached at least for the Healthcare Industry.

Both of these systems are similar to Ricoh's MPC300 (Color) MFP system that was launched a little over two years ago.  The major difference between the MPC 300HW and the MPC 300HT is that the "HW" model will be able to print patient wristbands (from the paper tray) from electronic medical records.  It's my understanding that this feature will enable users to eliminate expensive single purpose thermal printers.  Both the HW and the HT model are both equipped with Teflon Coating paper trays which can assist in minimizing paper misfeeds and the ability to print on wristband stock

What we'll do is go over a few of the specs for these new devices:

Print Features:

32 pages per minute: Color & Black
1200x1200 dpi
160 GB hard Drive
1.5 GB RAM
1 GHz processor
Adobe PS3, PCL 5c and PCL 6
Locked Print Feature:  (enables users to select a pin code at the printer driver before sending the print job to the MFP, the print job is held on the hard drive and is "locked" until that users inserts their pin code).
Hard Drive Encryption:  Will encrypt passwords, address books and other data stored on the device
Data Overwrite Security:  This features enables the system to protect information on the Hard Drive by overwriting images on the hard drive.

Paper Handling:

Maximum Paper Capacity for the MPC 300HW is 2,000 sheets
Maximum Paper Capacity for the MPC 300HT is 2,300 sheets
Auto Duplex (two sided) for letter and legal
Utilize Media up to 8.5" x 14"
MPC 300HW standard paper supply is one 250 sheet tray and one 100 sheet by-pass tray
MPC 300HT standard paper supply is one 550 sheet tray and 100 sheet by-pass tray
Media weight is 14 lb - 58 lb bond/120 lb index for standard and optional paper trays
Media weight is 14 lb to 68 lb bond/140 lb for by-pass tray

The above specs are some of the specs for the device, more specs for scanning and copying can be found on Ricoh's web site.

My Take:

Ricoh's Healthcare imaging systems now stand at 10 systems including MFP's and printers.  I like the take on the vertical market strategy to introduce printers and MFP's that have certain feature sets that are designed for that vertical market.

When I was pouring over the brochure for these systems I did notice that two important features where not included on this device that were included on a couple of the 52 page per minute black MFP models.  Tray Lock is not an option on the new HW & HT series (the tray lock provides a key and lock to restrict access to the media in the paper tray) which is invaluable if you are going to use the MFP to print prescriptions.  Another feature set that is not available on the HW & HT is the "Portable Print Configuration".  This feature allows the user to set up an MFP device with paper trays configurations, sizes, media, etc and then copy the MFP configuration to an SD card, IT can then take that SD card with the print configuration to other MFP's and duplicate the setting for each additional device.

I would have also like to have seen a secure print stream feature, this would allow prescription departments in medical centers to stop purchasing secure media (which is very costly) and would enable MFP's and printers to print prescriptions on regular bond paper.

-=Good Selling=-