Why You Can Trust CNET Epson Stylus NX430 Small-in-One All-in-One Printer review: Epson Stylus NX430 Small-in-One All-in-One Printer
Epson Stylus NX430 Small-in-One All-in-One Printer
Released in time for the back-to-school season, Epson squeezes a printer, scanner, and copy machine into a small device it's calling the "small-in-one." The Stylus NX430 occupies roughly the same amount of desk space as your average Blu-ray player, and it performed twice as fast as the four other competitive models, with high-scoring quality results to boot. We recommend investing in Epson's extra-large-capacity ink refill tanks if you print a large volume of full-color documents and photos, but if price and space hold top priority on your printer shopping list, the $99 Epson Stylus NX430 is worth your dollar.
Epson Stylus NX430 Small-in-One All-in-One Printer
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Design and features
The Stylus NX430's space-saving design is the printer's main focus, measuring a little more than 15 inches wide, 20 inches deep, and 11 inches tall. Relative to other printers, its size falls somewhere between a single function inkjet and a color laser printer, but at 9 pounds it's only half the weight of the average color laser printer and ideal for offices that frequently move workstations.
The center control panel sits within a console that rotates up to a suitable viewing angle. Though I'm not usually a fan of virtual-only button layouts, I like that the only buttons that light up on the NX430 are the four-way directional pad and the power on and off controls--the rest of the functions illuminate depending on the particular function you're accessing.
I did notice that the screen on this machine feels distinctly less responsive than the capacitive touch dials on the higher-end WorkForce 845 All-in-One. By contrast, NX430's plastic surrounding the screen has a tendency to flex as you press down on it, lending a mushy feeling to menu navigation. The screen itself never gave me trouble in terms of virtual button actuation, however.
I can't fault a $99 device for not including an auto-document feeder or multiple paper input trays, so all paper handling is fed through the single tray on the back and exits through the "mouth" below the controls. You'll also notice a memory card reader up front that lets you walk up and print from an expansion card without actually touching a computer. You can preview your photos on the ample 2.5-inch LCD touch panel, and even make simple adjustments to crop dimensions, resize, or perform one-button touch-ups.
Epson gives you the option to connect the printer to your computer using direct USB or Wi-Fi. I assume most of you will prefer the latter, since Epson doesn't include a USB cable in the box. Smart setup on the touch panel is a two-part process: turn on the machine and click Network Setting, then designate your wireless network and enter its password, and that's it. The entire setup from start to finish, with a connection established on our lab network, took us less than 2 minutes. The installation process also includes a step that asks if you want the system to automatically hunt and install firmware updates, and we recommend you click "yes" when prompted; the appeal of Web-connected printers like the NX430 means you don't have to wait for Epson to ship you software updates, so take advantage of it.
Connecting through Wi-Fi also means you can take advantage of Epson's host of free mobile printing apps that let you print directly from mobile devices. First, the Epson iPrint application for iOS and Android devices enables you to print Web pages, photos, documents, and anything else on a smartphone directly to the WorkForce NX430, though I noticed the printer cropped photos when I flipped orientation from portrait to landscape and vice versa, so I wouldn't recommend using the app to print important images like business presentations this way; it's more appropriate for quick outputs of snapshot photos and to-do lists.
Performance
In our speed tests, the Stylus NX430 performed at an average rate printing photos, but it sprints ahead of the competition with presentation output speed, color graphics speed, and especially text speed. To widen the margin further, the NX515 printed a staggering 14.11 pages per minute of plain text on plain white paper.
Meanwhile, the next fastest printers are the Lexmark Interpret S405 and the Canon Pixma MX410 that both registered only 7.65 and 6.08 pages per minute (PPM), respectively.
In fact, the Epson churned out more pages per minute (text, graphics, and presentations) than most inkjet printers I've tested to date. Look no further than the Epson Stylus NX430 printer if you need hard copies of your documents in your hand as quickly as possible.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 | Presentation Speed (PPM) | | Photo Speed (1 Sheet) | | Color Graphics Speed (PPM) | | Text Speed (PPM) |
The printer also doesn't disappoint in terms of print quality. With so many driver options to choose from, Epson makes it easy to cater to your prints in the most efficient way possible. I tried to cycle through most of the options, including using Epson's Vivid colorspace as opposed to Adobe's RGB, but I found that Epson's preset setting produced the most pleasing and accurate images. By far, the most accurate samples came from black and colored text and graphics containing thick, black lines.
Considering the cost of the printer and the consumables, the Epson's print samples are some of the most evenly saturated, fully formed shapes I've seen in a while. I'm satisfied with the weight of thin and thick lines, and the readability is clear even down to the smallest fonts on normal white document paper. I'm equally happy with the photo quality that continues to live up to the Epson name. All the printouts display smooth quality and are free of graininess or blotchy facial tones.
Service and support
Epson backs the Stylus NX430 with a limited one-year warranty that includes toll-free customer support weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT. Further support is available online through a model-specific troubleshooting guide, FAQs, e-mail support, driver updates, and document downloads.
Conclusion
The Epson WorkForce NX430 lives up to its "small-in-one" moniker with the size and features to match. Students and small offices cramped for space will have to sacrifice an auto-document feeder and double-sided prints to get the NX430 under $100, but its Wi-Fi connectivity, quick print speeds, and the most recent addition of iPrint apps for smartphones make this multifunction a worthwhile grab.
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