36 APRIL2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE386
EPSON’SWORKFORCEWF-110Wisa
portablecolourinkjetprinter.It’sadiminutive
thing –we’ve eaten bigger boxes of
chocolates –aimed strictly at people who
need to print on the go.Assuch, you
shouldn’t expect the same breadth of features
as you’d get from afull-sized MFP: there’s no
scanner,noautomatic duplex (double-sided)
printing, and even no paper output tray.
Instead, the WF-110W is focusedon
quick and easy printing awayfrom the
facilities of atypical office.For astart,
there’s abuilt-inbattery,good foraclaimed
50 colour or 100 black pages. Youcan directly
power and recharge the printer from its
supplied AC adaptor,orleave that at home
and just use aUSB connection to recharge
from aPC, in acar,oronbuses or trains
with powered USB ports.
ALL BASES COVERED
The WF-110W also supports wireless
networking, so you can set it up either with
an access point such as arouter,orinan
ad hoc partnership with your laptop.Epson
has covered everything: even if you find
yourself having to borrow astrange PC, and
with no internet access, you can install a
basic Windows print driver via aUSB
connection to the printer itself.
Considering this focusonportability,it’s a
shame the WF-110W doesn’t come with
acase,but it feels reasonably solid. The body
plastics seem tough, andthe paper input tray
folds over to protect the colour screen and
keep dust out of the paper slot. While the
trayisrated at only 20 pages, we had to fill it
beyond that to completeour 25- and 24-page
tests. We founditcoped with asmall amount
of overloading,but experienced misfeeds when
we got to around 30 sheets of 80gsmpaper.
Forperformance,don’t expecttoo much
from the WF-110W and you won’t be
disappointed. Epson says it will print black
text at amodestseven
pages per minute(ppm),
and we measured 6.9ppm,
rising to 9.6ppm at draft
quality.While Epson says it
will hit 4ppm on colour
prints, we measured only
2.2ppm on our complex
graphical test, on apar with
some cheaper home office
inkjets. Onbattery power,
the print speed almost
halves to conserve charge:
we measured just 3.9ppm
on black text.
BACKTO BLACK
Happily,there’s little
compromise on print
quality.Black text was firm
and dark, while graphics
were also strong, exhibiting
just some subtle banding on
acouple of presentation
slides. That said, the WF-110W isn’t agreat
photoprinter.Six 6x4in postcards took more
than half an hour,and the results lacked the
high-gloss finish you’d get from aphoto-
focused printer,thoughtheywere otherwise
acceptable forveryoccasional use.
Unfortunately,running costs are higher
than usual, particularly when it comes to black
ink. While the supplied 250-page black and
200-page colour cartridges still had plenty of
ink remaining after our standard tests –not
something we can always say–their
replacements work out at 12.5p per page.
Of this, the black component is ahuge 6p per
page; 2-3p is more typical foraninkjet.
The WorkForce WF-110W is not without
compromise,then, butit’s almost ideally
suited to the role it’s built for. Don’t expect to
use it forhigh-volume printing back in the
office andyou’re likely to love it. We’d
certainly recommend it as agenuinely
portable printer forthose who need one.
SimonHandby
SPECIFICATIONS
Mono speed
Monocolour
speed
Mono page cost
Colour page cost
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
See page 84 forperformancedetails
TECHNOLOGYPiezoinkjet•MAXIMUM PRINT
RESOLUTION5,760x1,440dpi•DIMENSIONS
61x309x159mm•WEIGHT1.6kg•MAXIMUM PAPER
SIZEA4/legal•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILS
http://www.epson.co.uk•PART CODEC11CH25401DA
6.9ppm
6.5p
6.0p
2.2ppm
EPSONWorkForce
WF-110W
★★★★★
£190•From http://www.epson.co.uk
PORTABLEINKJET PRINTER
VERDICT
TheWF-110Wisaversatileandcapable
colour printer forthe road, but it’s not an
office workhorse
⬆The WorkForce WF-110W’s feature set is unsurprisingly basic
