Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4540

A True Business Class Machine The Spits Out High Quality Prints Very Quickly

The Epson WP-4540 is a workhorse business class printer, with fast printer speeds, and two paper trays for added versatility.

The Epson is a large printer - make no mistake about that. It's much larger than a typical inkjet all-in-one, and indeed is about the size of a large microwave oven. This is a business machine first and foremost and is not really designed for strict home and person use. The control panel is comprised of some hard buttons and a large color touch screen. There are two paper trays (which allows the printer to hold over 500 sheets at a time) on the front that accommodate letter and legal paper. When using legal paper the trays extend out of the front of the printer by about 2 inches. For smaller paper sizes, heavy paper stock, or envelopes there is a small feeder around back. A flimsy and finicky output tray extends from the front of the machine. On top are the flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder. Built quality and materials are good. Installing the print cartridges is easy though the large door on the front of the printer.

Feature wise the Epson functions as a printer, scanner, copier and fax. It has built-in Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB, and telephone jacks on the rear of the machine. I used the printer over the wireless network exclusively, and was able to join my secured network quickly and easily. The printer and copier functions can both duplex. You can also print or scan via Wi-Fi. You can also save scans to a USB jump drive via the front mounted USB port. The included software and drivers installed easily and problem free on both Windows 7 Professional and Mac OS X 10.6. Lastly, if you download and install a firmware update (which you can do wirelessly as well) you can print directly from your iPhone or iPad. On thing this printer lacks, however, are and sort of memory card slots.

Print quality is generally excellent with sharp and clear prints that have both good color, and crisp texts. I printed on a variety of paper stock, from 20# copier paper to cardstock. All the paper ran through smoothly and without jamming. While the print quality is excellent, it's the printer's speed that really impresses. Whether you are printing or copying, it spits out high quality prints in seconds, and lives up to the claims that Epson makes.

In operation the Epson is fairly quiet and doesn't draw any attention to itself in operation.

All in all...a true business class machine with fast and high quality prints.

Pretty big printer but delivers big results

This is a very large printer - you should know that up front. But for all that it provides, it's worth the space, especially since it mainly takes up height space rather than desk space.

This printer can hold a ton of paper (580 sheets to be exact) which is convenient if you just want to stock it up and leave it ready to print.

The best feature (which a previous Epson WorkForce I had also had) is that it can be set up wirelessly. This means that you don't have to bother with setting it somewhere that allows it to connect to your computer with a wire. It also means that you can print from any number of computers from anywhere in the house, which is especially convenient. The printing is quick and quiet.

I haven't used the fax capability as I don't need it, but the scanner works perfectly, and allows you to scan to a USB and then transfer files wherever you want, which is another convenience.

Overall this is a great printer, easy to set-up, easy to use, and great results. Just keep in mind that it's pretty hefty (almost 40 pounds without the paper!) and make sure you remove all the tape that keeps it together in the package before using it for the first time.

Great Printer-Difficult Install

Received the Epson 4540 today and now have it all set up and have tested various devices with it. In case you are using the same devices as I have, here are a few tips:

Mac Lion OS X 10.7.2 users: Out of the box the page tells Lion users NOT to install the software from the included CD but to go to their website to install the software. I followed these directions but when it tried to install the software from apple, it wouldn't install. I had to go to Finder-Go (on the menu bar at top)-Mac HD-Library-Printers-PPDs-Content-Resources-Scroll down to Epson WP 4540 and delete this file. (I would have not found this file except I called tech support). Empty the trash and then go and try to install the driver as the Epson website recommends. I was told that the file was from upgrading to Lion from an older OS, so if you have recently purchased a computer with Lion OS X already installed you might not have this file to delete.

Once I got the software installed, I found another issue with using duplex printing by default from computer to printer printing. In Word for Mac, it took me some time to find the correct settings. Here is what I found:

Duplex Printing from Word for Mac: Go to File-Print-Copies and Pages Drop Down Menu-Choose Layout-From Two Sided drop down choose Long Edge Binding. If you want to use this as a default, on the same menu as Two Sided printing you will see a drop down menu called Presets. Choose Save Current Settings and this will save your settings for future printing.

I tried printing from my ipad using email and it printed flawlessly. I printed from ipad using Safari and it again printed flawlessly. I tried printing from Atomic Browser and couldn't get it to print. From my Android Galaxy phone I installed the Epson iprint App which was free from the Android Store. I printed emails from this app but you have to go to the app and connect to your email through the app to print. It has options to print from Dropbox as well as Evernote and Box. I was not able to get the printing to go through using Dropbox. I need to work on trying that one again.

Overall the printer is much faster than the HP I replaced and has options not usually seen until you get to higher end laser printers (such as duplex printing). It is quiet and I like the fact that I can put in a lot of paper and not have to always be putting in more paper. I also like the larger capacity black cartridge. I got tired of replacing the black cartridge so often in the printer I replaced.

I would have given this product 5 stars except installation was not easy on a Mac Lion device. Once it was installed I have not had any other problems and I really like it. I would recommend this item if you are tired of constantly replacing ink cartridges, waiting for slow print times and tired of loading paper. I considered a color laser but they do not print color as well and to get duplex printing, wireless, scanner, printer, combo was a lot more in cost over this Epson.

Works really well - but huge!

This is a serious printer! It takes up quite a bit of space and is very heavy. Even my normally calm UPS deliveryman was a bit alarmed by this one! We struggled to get the box to fit through my front door. Once in, however, it was pretty easy to set up. I set it up wirelessly from the beginning, with only a small amount of confusion. There is a 15 minute set-up period, and it does not come with a USB cord, but, once set up, I have found this easy to use. The quality is excellent. What I tried in "economy" mode was not very impressive, but the regular mode worked well. The quality of color copies was also quite good. Particularly noteworthy is how fast this is to start up and print. It is impressively speedy. In sum, an excellent choice for those with a big place to keep it.

A Powerful, Flexible and Feature Rich Unit

Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4540

As you might guess from some of my other reviews, I have become a pretty big Epson printer fan, and this unit is no exception. It's workhorse that prints quickly, does pretty good quality photos, has a lot of bells and whistles, including e-mail printing, and really you couldn't ask for a lot more from this series of printers without having to take the next leap and just going for a commercial unit.

Now the first thing you do need to know about this unit is it's HUGE. I mean this is not the kind of thing for someone who trying to keep a relatively small you could go a step smaller with the 840 hundred, which I also love and save yourself several inches... at the cost of some features and large paper trays of course:

4540 Dimensions:
*Printing: 18.1" x 25.7" x 18.2" (W x D x H)
*Storage: 18.1" x 16.5" x 16.5" (W x D x H)
840 Dimensions:
*Printing: 17.6" x 22.3" x 12.0" (W x D x H)
*Storage: 17.6" x 14.5" x 11.8" (W x D x H)

You'll be amazed at what a few inches will do to a space, but now onto the review of this unit.

I always like to start out by saying that I've set-up several printers now wirelessly without ever having to touch a USB cord. Clerks in the store and even manuals will suggest to you that you should temporarily hook up your printer through a wired network... not necessary unless you feel pretty uncomfortable with your network. I've done this with Linksys and Netgear routers with no problems whatsoever. Installation was pretty easy, just a step by step process that moved smoothly and took about 45-50 minutes which included updating the firmware, installing optional software, ABBY, and installing the software on other computers. I did have one small hiccup where some blue foam fell into a crevice in the machine that I simply can't get without tearing apart the entire unit. It seems to have no effect on regular operations at this time.

I've had this printer for a few weeks now, not just a couple of weeks, and I've tried to put it through some just minor tests to see how it handled it. I printed a 100 page story, 2 sided, and that went pretty quickly. I even accidently shut down the computer it was printing from, booted it back up, and the machine continued where it left off without a hiccup. Throwing paper into the paper tray and having multiple cassettes to select from is just way too convenient. I love it! Also, if I load photo paper into the tray I don't have to tell the printer to use that tray, it just seems to know that the other two are loaded with regular paper and pull from the tray for the photo. I really appreciate that little extra because sometimes I just forget. Speaking of Printing Preferences, this is not one of my favorite UI's for it. The techie part of me likes the load of information; the consumer part of me just wants a quick easy snapshot. I prefer the simpler windows the 840 and 610 gave me to this. Part of this is alleviated by the Show Settings button which reminds you about your more unusual settings like Watermarks. This adds another window to the right that is also nice for showing you how multi-page settings will work which is very nice.

Scan/Copy/Fax: I can't emphasize enough of how handy it is to have the ABBY Fine Reader is. The 840 came with this, and faxing, copying, scanning is wonderful, having this software which allows you to scan to say a Word doc is wonderful for trying to get old work into a modern system or an old form that needs to be tweaked in some way. It's not perfect by any means, especially since making a doc into a search able PDF seems to tweak the orientation of the document. I should mention too that scanning and copying and faxing were flawless.

Lastly, as another reviewer has mentioned, the back buttons isn't always available. Although the 840 has a Home button, they removed this from this unit most likely because the 840 is almost all Touch buttons and the 4540 has several "real" buttons that make a home button less necessary. I do wish they had kept the back button available on a permanent basis.

I am the kind of person who likes a lot of features in my printers, and I am willing put up with size and the price of ink cartridges to get those features, also, in this case, minor user interfaces I don't care for. It's a great unit, a powerhouse compared to most of the units you'd find in the discount stores and many of the machines in the office stores. Epson makes a real quality unit with the Workforce and Artisan lines. Aside from very minor gripes, I just wish they'd bring their ink cartridge costs down. At 25 for each color and almost 40 for black... that's a little steep for my tastes. I wish I could give it 4.5 stars just to reflect that minor ink price issue, but the unit itself is wonderful and there are other sources for ink so... 5 it is.

Epson WorkForce Pro 4540 Wireless Wonder

I've been using the WorkForce Pro 4540 for just over a week, and felt compelled to write this review even though it might get overlooked in the dozens of reviews that have already been posted by VINE members. For starters, I disagree with the many comments that describe the printer as large and heavy. I admit the box is large (mostly due to great packing), but the printer weighs about half as much a similar-priced laser printer I own, and only a few pounds more than an Epson WorkForce 840 I have. Ok, perhaps calling it large is a valid description from someone who's only had a small desktop printer or All-in-One in the past, and doesn't need the capabilities of the WP 4540 (and got one anyway for free to review). But for its commercial features, performance, and potential in a busy office, I think the WP 4540 is a compact marvel.
WHY I REALLY LOVE IT:
1) Printing Speed: This printer is incredibly fast, and even beats out my fairly new laser printer. Duplex printing happened so quickly I thought I had set it to single-sided printing the first time around. It doesn't make that much noise during printing either, which is a surprise considering how fast the prints are coming out. A plus? The back feeder allows you to print from thicker stock (like cards and watercolor paper).
2) Super-easy WIFI setup: It took a two button pushes, and less than 4 minutes to connect the WP 4540 to my office network, thanks to its compatibility with my WPS-enabled router! Loading the software took longer (as did peeling all the blue packing tape off the machine). It would have been shorter, but I first chose to download updates to all the programs and utilities (always a wise move with a new device.)
3) Remote printing and mobile device printing: The directions on how to do this were a bit cryptic, but once I found the Epson Connect web page ([...]) the setup of a special email address for the printer (so I can send reports and documents to my office from my laptop in the field) went quickly. By the time I finished registering on Epson Connect, there was a printout from the 4540 showing its unique email address that basically anyone I chose to share it with can use. I'd already downloaded Epson's iPrint app to my iPad 2 after I bought my Workforce 840 last year, and it found the WP 4540 in seconds and was able to print and scan from it.
4) Advanced scanning controls: That's another reason I like the Epson WorkForce models that I've used in the past. There are more sophisticated and accurate scanning controls, including faded-photo fix utilities and software-based dust removal. Hoping that someday Epson includes Digital ICE dust and scratch removal, and slide/negative film holders so I can get back the desk space used by my Epson Perfection V600.
5) Fax from my computer (no print needed first!): Well, this is a time saving (and paper saving) feature, but for the last few months I've not used my WF 840's fax at all. Instead, I send PDF documents via email, and both it and the WP 4540 let me scan receipts and other documents right to PDF format--which is a more significant time saver.
6) Large ink tanks and paper capacity: This is actually the main reason I bought this printer, and I expect over time the amount I actually save in ink costs (and time to change cartridges and load paper) will help pay for the printer. Epson claims up to 2400 b&w or 1200 color documents per full set. That's just short of the number quoted by my Laser printer--but when I refill the laser printer I have to take out a loan to purchase the toners!

WHERE IT DOESN"T THRILL ME:
1) Ships with starter ink cartridges containing about half the ink in a full cartridge (up to 1000 b&w documents, or 900 Color). At first, that really bothered me, but when I did the math I discovered that the number of prints I could expect from the starter inks was about the same as the full ink set that shipped with my WorkForce 840 (which by comparison are about half the size). The real savings will start when I purchase full ink cartridges (with a lower price per ml than on the 840). And guess what? My laser printer also came with starter cartridges--with slightly lower capacity--but a much bigger $$$ shock when I discovered how expensive those toners were to replace. And to be fair, it looks like just about every other printer manufacturer ships starter cartridges in higher-end printers like the 4540, so who can fault Epson for being competitive? At least Epson inks are water and smudge resistant, unlike most in Canon, HP, and Lexmark models I've owned or used.
2) Missing the memory card readers: That was a surprise, since every All-in-One printer I've ever owned had a card reader built in. However, I can attach my USB card readers to the USB port on the printer and get most of the same capabilities--like using the 3.5-inch monitor to select and fix photos, or scanning a document and saving it to PDF on my memory card. And just like the 840, the USB port is powered, so I can charge my iPad and other USB devices from it.

All told, I'd recommend the WorkForce Pro 4540 to anyone who owns a busy office or who prints a lot of documents, either from their computers or from mobile devices.

Solid beast! Like a full-size copy machine (in good ways and not-so-good ways)

This is your big-boy right here! Here are some observations after using the printer for a few weeks:

The printer is large and really seems more like an actual copy machine than a multi-function/all-in-one printer. If you're thinking about this for home use, you may want to reconsider. I had the space for it's huge footprint BUT because it is also really tall, it just ended up being to big and unsightly to put it where I had originally planned to put it. My suggestion is to measure well.

The printer prints fast, but it takes a few seconds to start going.

The paper catch is pretty cheap and flimsy feeling, but if you don't have it fully extended, it simply spits the papers out on to the floor.

A few times when I printed quantities of 30, the printer spit an sheet out that would get caught on an already printed sheet and cause a jam. Once it jams, you need to open the doors on the front and back and clear it out, just like on a full-sized copier.

The menu has a way to password protect the settings, but doesn't have a way (that I could find) to password protect the printing. It would have been nice to have a password feature to keep colleagues/coworkers from sneaking in and making prints and copies.

A major annoyance is the lack of a permanent 'Back' button from the menus. There is a 'Back' button in some, but in others it's missing. This is especially vexing when you get too far into a menu and want to go back to the last one and can't. I always end up having to hit the copy button to bring it back to the beginning.

Installation was easy, although the install disk did want to install more than was necessary. I opted for the bare-bones installation. Also note that you must install the software on each computer that is going to have access to it.

The huge paper capacity is such a nice thing to have that it almost makes up for it's size. It's so nice to print without having to stop so often to put in more paper.

I can't say how well it does with ink, although I've made hundreds of copies it hasn't run out yet. Please note that the ink that comes with it are "starter" inks and are not at full capacity. I believe it said they'd print about 900 copies. The cartridges are BIG like the size of a box of Junior Mints from the movies, only thicker!

All in all I am very satisfied with this printer and would recommend it to anyone wanting heavy-duty printer/copier.

Excellent printer!

Printer was shipped in an enormous box, and I thought I'd never find the space for this beast in the home office. I was pleasantly surprised, when I opened the box, to find that most of it is just packing material to protect the precious printer inside. I thought I'd spend the whole day assembling and reading through setup and installation instructions, but there was really not much to do but to set the printer on my desk, plug it in the outlet, follow simple instructions to connect WiFi and load new ink cartridges. That's it, really! It took me 5 minutes from start-to-finish.

The unit is not much bigger than a normal printer from the 90's but packs the features of the whole back office: Fax Machine, Scanner, Copier, Color Printer. I guess the only thing it lacks from that era is the phone itself. For a multi-functional unit for small business use, it has a fairly low profile.

Several of the many advantages worth noting is the rapid preparation for printing, fast two-sided printing (Epson claims it is the fastest in the world), massive high-capacity ink cartridges which can handle 2,400 pages of black print and 1,200 pages of color printing, scanning of two-sided originals and saving them directly as PDFs, and optional paper cassette for a total of 580-sheet paper capacity. The printer has an 80-sheet rear-feed tray for envelopes, labels and card stock.

Display is a 5.8" smart touch panel with a 3.5% LCD screen and menus are very intuitive and easy to navigate through.

It prints 16 black pages per minute and 11 color pages per minute and the ink dries instantly.

The only things you need to buy to start using the printer immediately is paper and USB cable if you don't have a wired Ethernet connection or WiFi.

A pretty great, though big, printer

This is a very large printer/copier with double paper cartridges, paper feeder, scanner, photo printing, faxing, copying, and wireless features. The copy/print quality is very good (not laser-like but very good). The ink cartridges are high capacity and very easy to install (no messy ink on the exterior of the cartridges to deal with). The set up was almost doable without looking at the instructions as was operation on different levels - a very straightforward machine. Printing is faster than copying, for some reason, with color copying slower than black and white. The two major things you'll need to consider with this machine is space (it's tall and wide) and whether you need laser quality copies/prints. But overall, this is a quite a good deal for the money and would work well in a home office environment with multiple users.

Recommend without hesitation. Very much.

A monster printer

Setup was a little tricky, the amount of styrofoam and plastic that had to be removed is high, and in the case of the plastic, sometimes hard to differentiate from the real printer parts.

After setup, the printer is a beast. Great software, fast printing, and very easy to use. Print double sided? Everyone figured it out the first time they tried. Love it, love it. And it's incredibly fast, both with color and b&w. I'm happy to get rid of my old Brother printer.