Epson’s new line of all-in-one printers, designed for small business and home offices, include scanner, copier, fax machine, built in Ethernet, and Wi-Fi networking. The Workforce 600 is an inkjet printer that Epson claims can print at nearly the same quality and speed as a laser printer. This all-in-one printer also includes a memory card reader and an LCD screen to select options and view pictures before printing.

The Look

The outer case of the WorkForce 600 is made of a mixture of matte and glossy black plastic. One problem with the glossy sections is that they seem prone to scratches, but since printers are generally kept in one place, this should not be much of an issue. The front of the printer sports the main controls on a tilting panel that you can be adjust to three different positions for viewing from different angles. All the printer’s functions can be controlled directly from the device, including maintenance functions, such as head cleaning and alignment.


I configured the printer to run wirelessly on several computers with no problems whatsoever. Initially, I set up the WorkForce 600 on an Intel iMac and later connected Windows XP and Vista laptops and desktops. The included well thought out instructions provide step-by-step guides to properly set up the printer. In less than an hour, I set up the printer up and ran it on five different computers with all of its functions working properly.

The WorkForce 600 uses four separate ink cartridges, a black cartridge, and one cartridge for each color ink, magenta, yellow, and cyan. The separate inks make it easier to replace only the needed color, unlike multiple-color ink cartridges found in older printers. Epson’s DURABrite Ultra inks are smudge, water, and fade resistant. Although I can’t test their claim that the ink lasts up to 105 years without fading, I did test the water claims. Even while using a photo as a target for my water pistol, the ink did not run, although the paper got a little funky after a while. They recommend you use Epson paper for the best print results.

Epson offers three different capacity cartridges that range from standard to extra-high. You can buy each of the color cartridges separately in the standard ($13) or high capacity ($17) options while the black cartridge is available in standard ($17), high ($20), and extra-high ($29). Epson claims that the extra-high capacity option provides 3.5 times more prints than the standard black ink cartridge (About 835 pages) and my experience bore this out. I recommend buying the extra-high capacity black cartridge, because I printed over twice as many prints as the standard cartridge for less than double the price. The Epson WorkForce 600 ships with one extra-high capacity black cartridge and standard color cartridges.

by Bradley McBurney