BizHub C450P vs. BizHub C352P

[ExHvMedia]

Hello to all
we all know the BizHub is KonicaMinolta
I recently purchased a C352P
and
also recently I found a very convenient price offer for a C450P
my problem is not the acquisition price per model
but I do not want both to keep
so
important is reliability and cost per print and we all know all of that depends on the prices per consumables and ease with which you can find them on the market and of course the prices per service or ease with which you can solve simple problems by your self at least the the simplest ones
I should mention that for both models I have the Service Manual and the WinSim application for service mode
my problem is more in terms of choice
what to choose ???
I am tempted to buy C450P and sell the C352P for several reasons ... only 40,000 prints on board configuration comes with 4 trays and booklet finisher FS-603
currently C352P has 270,000 print on bord and only 2 trays
but do not tell me to choose only by the number of prints on bord


from the information that I could squeeze from the web :

Consumables :

C352P - you can found all over the chips for toner and image units and then the image units and fuser and belt ... prices ok

C450P - not so easy to find ... and they are a little steep for the price ... toner is ok for the price

Technology :

C352P (Laser Electrostatic Tandem indirectly)
C450P (Tandem Type Indirect electrophotographic LED technology)
which is better ?

Speed :

C352P has both color and black and white at 35ppm
C450P 45ppm black and white and 35ppm color
I'm interested in color so the difference does not exist for me

Quality Print :

I am pleasantly shocked and impressed by the quality of print in C352P without the RIP .. it is super OK quality for me ... for what we seek and that is something I need to print lowcost book covers and interior book some fyers here and there ...
on the C450P I did not comment ... I have not yet seen a print from a C450 / C450P

Media :

C352P works only from Tray 1 with thicker paper and the banner width is only 297 mm
C450P works from any tray with thicker paper and the banner width is 311mm ... is important for staf with multiple openings

Age :

from what I could found on the web C450P was launched somewhere in 2005 and C352P somewhere in 2006 or 2007 I'm not sure

So what do I do?

buy the C450P and sell the C352P or I should be happy with what I already bought the C352P

how about you what you advise me to do ?

[UberTech]

As you are probably aware neither of these machines are designed for 'production printing' so me telling you one is better than the other is a false positive.

But anyway, I have seen more people try and run a business off a c450 than the c352 which in my mind is a super light wieght. Yes it is laser but you really can't deny LED has it's place. If I were in your postion and found that the c450 quality was as good as the c352 (I don't know I usually compare prints between a x700 and c6501) then I would almost certainly go for the c450. I have seen a few c450 go over 1 million prints (thats a4 prints) but not a c352.

The image units can be reset by a commonly availabe tool and they will go a few times before they completely fail. The c352 units are lucky to make it to life, from what I have heard.

[ExHvMedia]

I have not bought something like this for super production
for printing max 5.000 - A3 per month is ok I guess
and I said generally only book covers
what interests me most is price per print
and C352P seems to be cheaper and easy to find consumables
is not about the quality of print
I do not expect great quality from some predestined for office machines
is all about :
the price per print
ease of finding supplies
ease with which it is maintained
reliability

thx

[sbus]

1. Consumables for the C450 are readily available, as are chipsetters. If you don't believe me, check ebay.

2. Lasts FAR longer than a C352.

Usually less expensive...

[GusG]

If you are relying on being able to print at all times then I suggest you get both machines, you NEED redundancy when dealing with these bizhubs.

I had a C352P, it just went on and on though I did have to change tray 1 at some point (which took the KM agent 5 weeks to do). I've now sold it with over 700,000 prints. I also had a C451 (not C450) and with less prints on it and I eventually told the KM agent to take it back after the machine stopped picking A3 papers over 135 gsm and they couldn't fix that for half a year. Bypass on both are very weak but on the C352 you can put custom size papers in tray 1 which is a big advantage, on the C451 you can only do that via the bypass, that was a serious problem for us as the bypass never really worked beyond a couple of hundred thousand prints.

[ExHvMedia]

Thank you to everyone for your views on this dilemma of mine
still do not know what to do
I mean if I buy a 450 and sell 352
I think before I venture too far considering it's the first time using machines from KM
so far I was Xerox man I had 3 pieces DC12 and I sold all

My problem is quite confusing
I am working on a list of acquisitions besides this C352P
and
I swing a lot between Xerox and KonicaMinolta products
and occasionally appear on the view the RISO

I believe that I want the impossible
I want to print as cheap as possible with a quality as good as possible and with a speed as quickly as possible
as you can see the word that is often used : "as possible"
I need to find one product which makes the balance between these demands and does not cost more than 30.000 euro (40.000 USD)
so I took a look at these machines :

Xerox DocuColor 260
KonikaMinolta BizHub Pro 6501
Xerox ColorQube 9203
Riso HC 5500

I know they are equipments that do different things
if I had to group them by class will be like this

Xerox DocuColor 260 vs. KonikaMinolta BizHub Pro 6501
and
Xerox ColorQube 9203 vs. Riso HC 5500

and if we analyze in terms of servicing ... at KonicaMinolta the services are disappointing in Romania ... service engineers are ????no words???? ... as an example with my new (SH) bizhub that I've bought ... they are reluctant to come to the service call because the printer has no display ... WTF ... so I searched the web I made some phonecalls and I find the JIG soft named WinSim for my model and with a NullModem Cable I made posible for them to have a diplay on my PC ... disappointing on their part

while at Xerox ... from 2005 ... I had DC12 machines ... any problem I had there it was solved in timp with no problems

without being on anyone side ... my interest is to solve my problem whatever equipment I have ... at list in Romania ... Xerox rules in terms of service call

ok
thx to all

[UberTech]

A machine is only as good as it's service.

[andreisarbu]

look also at DC252, there is a price difference.... for X700/KM6501 you need more than 50k A4 to become resonable to have such eq....

PS Colorqube is not designed to print on coated paper, the wax will crack if you want to use that machine for book covers.