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Office Productivity: The Better Buys Editor's Blog

Panasonic DP-C354 and DP-C264

For years we've been complaining about the blah looks of most office machines. In a time when Apple keeps winning design awards, where Dell has migrated to handsome black cabinets, and where copier and printers companies keep telling us that color output has impact, why are almost all of the copiers and printers we cover so boring to look at. Until recently, you never saw any colors except the blandest beige, platinum, or gray. In the last few years, a few companies have introduced black and blue machines.

Now Panasonic has broken open the Crayola box and started to sell colorful copiers that support the premise that color sells. The DP-C354 and DP-C264 families are made up of solid copiers with good features at a good price. But they also come in four designer colors: bright yellow, cherry red, dark purple, and basic black.

The DP-C354 runs at 35ppm in black-and-white and 26ppm in color, while the DP-C264 runs at 26ppm in both color and black-and-white. These machines have solid features, with standard copy, print, and scan (including scan-to-email). They have over 4,000 sheets of paper input, PostScript printing, and a choice of finishers. The prices $12,295 for the DP-C264 and $13,695 for the DP-C354 are right in line with the competition.

The colorizing of the machine may be a gimmick. But in a world of increasingly me-too products, the color exterior makes these products stand out. If color printing is used to make a bold statement, the machine that color is printed on should make a statement as well. Your next visit to the copier may actually brighten your mood.