Better than the best: The new bizhub C224, C284 and C364

Bidvest company, Konica Minolta South Africa’s bizhub C224, C284 and C364 are the successors to the BLI Pick of the Year 2009 award winners bizhub C220, C280 and C360. Together these three new multifunctional devices (MFDs) fulfil the requirements for a wide variety of tasks and are aimed at small and medium sized businesses as well as workgroups in larger businesses.

Konica Minolta’s Info-Palette design highly improves the overall usability of the bizhub C224, C284 and C364. Important operations like copying, printing, scanning and faxing are all accessed in the same way through the system’s nine-inch colour multitouch panel, which works as effortlessly as in most high-end smartphones or tablet PCs. All three multifunctionals also have an identical graphical user interface (GUI) for printer panel and PC printer driver – based on the “know one, operate all” concept. This concept also applies to other Konica Minolta multifunctionals such as the bizhub C654 and C754. Optional individualisation of the MFP panel and printer driver menus (MyTab) makes the new systems highly flexible.

The new bizhub devices feature either RADF (reversing automatic document feeder) for everyday office tasks like regular scanning and copying or Dualscan ADF, which can scan both sides of a document in only one operation. Dualscan ADF is the perfect choice for tasks that require a high scan performance, such as document archiving. Scanning speeds are 80 images per minute (ipm) with RADF and 160 ipm with the Dualscan feature. For copying and printing, the speeds the individual new machines offer are 22 (C224), 28 (C284) or 36 (C364) pages in full colour or monochrome per minute (ppm).

The entire series is characterised by green technology for lower power consumption and less environmental impact. Able to scan without engine warm-up, the bizhub C224, C284 and C364 save both time and money. Konica Minolta’s next generation of Simitri HD polymerised toner reduces the fusing temperature furthermore – improving print media compatibility and also reducing power consumption. New features like the dynamic eco timer, which analyses working conditions and automatically adjusts sleep mode and ready timings, contribute especially to the ecological and economical performance of the devices.

“To produce a series that even outperforms the bizhub C220, C280 and C360 was not an easy task,” says Andrew Griffith, product manager at Konica Minolta South Africa. “Those three devices have been the most successful in the Konica Minolta colour MFP portfolio. With the new level of overall usability provided in response to our customers’ demands and with the latest technologies, we are sure we can convince a great many decision makers to choose the successor models.”