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Budget printers can be a bit of a double-edged sword in some cases, as while you may save cash on the initial payment, the running costs can stack up depending on your usage. I recently got a chance to go hands-on with one of Epson’s more entry-level models, the Epson XP-7100, which boasts some impressive performance even with photos. But the big question is with it’s as budget-friendly as it appears to be. Here’s what I found out.

Epson XP-7100

4 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

Printer Output: Color
Printer Type: Inkjet
Connectivity Technology: USB, Ethernet, WiFi, Wi-Fi Direct, USB host, SD Card Slot
Duplex Printing: Yes, automatic

What We Think

Surprisingly, the XP-7100 offers a lot for the low price. It can print onto various media, including CDs, from different devices, and also scan, copy, and duplex print. The print quality also holds up, especially on photos, making it a viable solution for occasional printing.

But in the long term, it’s not the most economical solution. As it still uses ink cartridges, the costs rack up quickly when you have to replace them after only a few hundred pages, that is if they last as long as they are specified. In that case, an ink tank makes more sense and produces similar results. That said, for occasional printing, this is an excellent, budget friendly option.

Reasons to Buy

Low cost to buy
Quick and easy setup without apps
High-quality text and photo prints
Wide range of different print media and devices to print from
Relatively compact for features available

Reasons to Avoid

Uses chip cartridges
It is not economical to print a lot with a high cost per page
Slow print speeds

Box contents and setup

If you’re getting the printer in, here is what you’ll get in the box. Mine was a bit different, considering it was a review unit, so it was missing some extras, but you won’t need to worry about that.

Individual Ink Cartridges
Main unit
Power cable
Setup guide and Warranty document
Software (CD)

The printer’s packaging is pretty standard compared to Epson’s usual method. Plenty of foam holds everything in place, and foil wraps the central unit to keep it clean and free from debris. There’s a lot of packaging, so I found myself having to unwrap a loads of individually wrapped items. Great for an unboxing video, but slightly tedious if you just want to get to printing.

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After plugging it in and turning it on, you go through the setup process on screen. Being touchscreen and motorized, it’s relatively easy to follow instructions without a mobile app and read from an angle. That is rather nice and saves you from bloat and unnecessary steps, and you can move on to ink installation next. As you prop open the lid, you simply slot in the cartridges that click into place.

Be sure to remove any foam and tape from inside, as there is plenty you might miss that holds the print head in place. After that, when loading the paper, there are two primary cassettes and a rear tray. You can slide out both the bottom ones that hold the various sheets or other media, or at the back, you can unfold the feed tray similarly to the ADF on top.

Design

The Epson XP-7100 goes for a box design in piano black, but it’s not the biggest of printers I’ve worked with; in fact, it’s relatively small for all the features it has on board. Unfortunately, its glossy finish on the display attracts plenty of fingerprints that quickly diminish its look. Luckily, that seems to be just the front and edges as it has a black textured finish on top instead.

As for features, the top has the automatic document feeder (ADF) that folds up neat and flat, but also gives you space for 30 sheets to scan or copy automatically when folded out. Lifting that first tier, you get access to the scanner bed with the contact image sensor with a resolution of 1,200 DPI x 4,800 DPI. In the next tier, lifting the lid grants you access to the printer’s insides for refilling cartridges or clearing out any jams.

Most of what you’ll need to work with is on the front of the machine, starting with the motorized panel with the on switch and the 10.9cm touchscreen display for all the controls. Below are the two cassettes for paper and print media, as the top one is rated for smaller sizes (3.5×5, 4×6, or 5×7-inch photo paper), and the bottom mainly fits up to letter sizes. Interestingly, the output tray is hidden behind the display, so it is also motorized to come out when it is needed.

The external print media options are on the left side, with an SD card and USB slot for printing directly from storage. The right front has nothing else but the printer’s model and information stickers. The same is true for the sides of the unit, which feature indents to help you lift the lid when required but otherwise stay blank.

The back has a few more features, including various ports and access to the inside. That includes a USB, ethernet, and power port along with two big sliding clips that hold in the majority of the panel, which you can then take out and get access to the paper feeder, letting you clear out any jams with easy access.

Print results and speed

After setting it up and getting to know the printer, I tested it by running a few prints, timing them, and evaluating its effectiveness as a printer option. I put these in the gallery below to try and show the printer’s results, with a range of color, monochrome, and photo prints to test the XP-7100.

To start, I needed to do a few runs of printer head cleaning as the printer alignment test showed some skew in alignment. But even after multiple runs, it created a few streaks here and there. This is due to ours being a review unit with slightly used ink cartridges, as they began to run out, too. This is an annoying problem, as they started to drain quickly when cleaning and running these checks.

However, apart from the occasional magenta streaks, the print quality was impressive for the price of the printer. It keeps the lines clean on the prints; even the smallest fonts are visible without smudging or cramming in on the letters. But the photos are where the printer shines, producing vibrant prints on glossy paper, creating a decent-looking option for a low cost.

Then, I timed the run of prints with three color and monochrome pages to see how long it took. I noted that when printing the first time, it takes about 8 seconds for the output tray to roll out, but this doesn’t add to the sheet’s print time. Instead, printing a color page took between 13 and 18 seconds, with a monochrome average of 11 seconds. These are a bit slow for prints but not terrible for speed.

Specifications and cost

Printing Technology	Epson Micro Piezo print head
Maximum Print Resolution	5,760 x 1,440 DPI
Ink Type	Claria Premium Ink cartridges
Operating Systems	Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP3, XP Professional x64 Edition SP2
Dimensions (W x D x H)	390‎ x 339 x 183 mm
Weight	8.2 kg
Connectivity	USB, Ethernet, WiFi, Wi-Fi Direct, USB host, SD Card Slot
Mobile and Cloud printing	Apple AirPrint, Epson Connect (iPrint App, Creative Print App, Email Print, Remote Print Driver, Scan-to-Cloud)
Paper Sizes	Legal, 16:9, 13 x 18 cm, 10 x 15 cm, Letter, No. 10 (Envelope), DL (Envelope), C6 (Envelope), B5, A6 (10.5×14.8 cm), A5 (14.8×21.0 cm), A4 (21.0×29.7 cm), User defined
Input Paper Capacity	100 Sheets Standard, 20 Photo Sheets – paper trays 30 pages – ADF
Display	10.9cm interactive touchscreen

Here are the extended Epson XP-7100 specifications, which give you a good idea of the printer’s capabilities. It also lists the supported operating systems, connection types, and paper sizes it supports. The dimensions give you a good idea of how much space it takes up, although that is when it’s folded, so you have to account for some expansion.

The cost of the printer is relatively low, as it is available for $239.99/£139.99. But it’s not the initial price that can rack up fees. It will be the refills. Compared to its ink tank printers, this one uses cartridges and will have fewer page prints per use. Two options are available for the XP-7100 standard ink or XL that doubles the rated capacity.

The standard 410(US)33(UK) inks cost $13.99/£14.60 each, while the XL versions are $25.99 black/$19.99/£23.10 each. These are rated for a job count of 200 photos black, 250 black, and 300 color pages, and the XL goes up to 400 photos black, 530 black, and 650 color pages. The cost is roughly around $0.07/£0.08 per black photo, $0.06/£0.06 per black page, and $0.14/£0.15 per color per page for the smaller cartridges. The XLs are $0.05/£0.04 for black pages, $0.05/£0.06 for black photos, and $0.09/£0.11 for colored.

Conclusion

Epson XP-7100

4 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

Printer Output: Color
Printer Type: Inkjet
Connectivity Technology: USB, Ethernet, WiFi, Wi-Fi Direct, USB host, SD Card Slot
Duplex Printing: Yes, automatic

Overall, the Epson XP-7100 is an impressive budget photo printer. It produces good-looking prints with a refined finish. It even has many other features that make it a robust, all-in-one printer. With the available scanner, copier, and ability to print from many media, it’s a good all-rounder.

However, it’s still a cartridge printer, so if you print hundreds of pages, you can quickly start racking up the price, as two to three refills will start costing more than the printer itself. At that point, investing in an ink tank is a more valuable solution. Something like the ET-8550 we reviewed produces great-quality photos, too, and is much cheaper to refill and run. However, with the high upfront cost, I can see the appeal of having a cartridge printer to print the occasional prints.

Epson XP-7100 review: high-quality printing, and cost-effective for occasional use

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