Sharp AR-M160 Toner Cartridges

Sharp AR-M160 Printer Review

The Sharp AR-M160 is designed for fairly light-duty work, with maximum speeds of only 16 pages per minute. It does handle laser printing and copying, with color scanning that requires a PC connection, but its compact size and affordable Sharp AR-M160 printer toner do make it appealing for small office use.

Although there are some major limitations, like the 250-sheet main tray and 100-sheet bypass tray, it is surprising how many features are included in such a compact machine, or available as upgrades. It measures 18.5x23.3x21.5 inches, and weighs just 70 pounds, even including the Sharp AR-M160 toner supplies.

If the paper capacity seems limited, users can add an extra 250 or 500 pages, depending on their needs, without increasing the unit's small footprint. If users find the flatbed scanning surface isn't cutting it, they can upgrade to a 40-sheet single-pass document feeder that also handles duplex pages, for faster scans and copies.

Copies and prints are limited to a 600 dpi resolution, so it doesn't provide the sharp output one would get from a 1200 dpi machine, but its price is also lower. The scanning resolution can reach up to 9600 dpi, however, for very detailed color scans.

One aspect of the unit that is not so small is its replacement toners. Each Sharp AR-M160 toner cartridge has a rated page yield of 16,000 pages, which should last a small office a very long time. Prices for Sharp AR-M160 toner cartridges are also some of the lowest in its class, so its cost per page is impressive.

Buyers looking for a compact device that is affordable to operate should definitely consider the AR-M160. It won't handle a large volume of output, but the simple design and low operating costs are very appealing.