We actually went to a trade-show in Las Vegas to view this particular machine. In my opinion the print quality was every bit as good as their Imagepress series. It uses the same toner as the 7000vp, and the same drums. According to the sales monkeys on the floor at the show they have changed pricing on toner for this machine to make it much more competitive with Xerox's current 0.049 click. There was also rumor that this would also make it feasible to offer black clicks on this machine for about the same price as a stand-alone black and white of around 0.005 per click.
It is positioned to compete head to head with the Xerox 700, and KM 6501.
MSRP on the machine loaded with the external fiery RIP, Interposer, bookletmaker, in-line punch, stapler, and three drawer POD deck is $135,000, so street price would be considerably lower.
The POD deck is not air-fed but uses an air-knife to "fluff" the paper. The drawers under the marking engine are only rated up to 220gsm, heavier stocks need to be run either through the bypass or POD deck if added. In addition all trays run all sizes up to 13x19.2
Duplex is 220gsm max, but it will run simplex up to 300gsm. The machine does slow down on heavier stocks, very similar to Xerox 700
As far as finishing the punch is interchangeable by the operator to any available die (wire-o, spiral, etc.)
External Fiery capabilities include all mainstream VDP cababilities (PPML, etc.) and seems on par with the EX700 fiery.
Document scanner is very fast for this speed of machine. It will scan 120 A4 sheets per min single side, and 240 A4 sheets per minute duplex due to it's duplex scanner.
The specs also state that it's rated for envelopes but I'm sure it's capabilities are limited in this regard.
de la rive Nord de Montreal.
