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The Sharp AL 1020 printer is a fine unit in the Sharp 1000 to 1200 lineup of laser printers. It combines a nice quality flatbed scanner to enable the home office or small office entrepreneur to keep his or her business machine budget down to manageable levels. Known as a "multifunction printer, " this printer using Sharp 1020 Printer Toner Cartridge does a lot of things well and nothing poorly, making it a good investment for most offices.

For those users looking to enhance the quality of their printed documents, this machine may make the most sense. Its digital reproduction capabilities have been proven over time to be far better than the product that's put out by older-style analog-based copiers. Add in the fact that they're more compact and can contribute to the space savings in a small office and it's hard to go wrong.

With the Sharp Printer Toner, printed output emerges in nice black-and-white monochrome, which is something most any business values, especially when it is trying to impress prospective clients with a nicely presented piece of work. It will also handle copying on transparencies and envelopes equally as well, and eats up standard plain paper like it's nothing at all.

The Sharp 102 comes in at a relatively svelte 40 pounds and it's all packed into a 20.5 inch by 17.5 inch by 11.5 inch housing that presents its looks in a standard corporate white outfit. As far as print speed, the unit delivers copies at a rate of up to 10 pages per minute in black-and-white, which is acceptable for a multifunction printer in this price range.

The AL 1020 printer uses parallel ports to allow interface between a personal computer or laptop and the unit. It uses wire technology to accomplish all this -- with wireless not being available. Two parallel ports are supplied, and both are industry-standard IEEE 1284, 36 pin Centronics types. It doesn't come with any expansion bay slots, but that isn't surprising.

Paper capacity is a more than adequate 250 sheets in a single paper tray, and it can hold standard size legal paper along with three different letter size paper types (A, A4 and A5). Again, this is pretty much standard in the industry for units like this particular Sharp. There really isn't anything that will jump out and surprise or disappoint a person who is looking for good quality printed output.

From print task to first page output, it normally takes about 9. 6 seconds to do the job. This is fine, especially considering that the machine is multifunction and aimed more for the home office or small business office than for large networks, although it can be integrated into such a network. This is because it can work with most Windows and Mac operating systems up through 98 and NT (Windows).

Standard print resolution is offered at 600 dpi by 600 dpi. This is enough to ensure that any page that comes out will look clean, clear and ready to go. Also, it can shrink down to 50% or enlarge up to 200% a print tasking that is sent to it. The supplied flatbed scanner is also more than acceptable and meets or exceeds every benchmark for industry-wide performance.