Printing in color, especially on A3+ paper, was always the fastest way to burn through your ink budget, but the cartridge-free Epson EcoTank ET-14100 promises full color prints with a knockout 90% cost saving. Vying to be one of the best small business printers, this print-only inkjet is aimed at the small office where its low-profile form-factor makes most of the best A3 printers we’ve tested look decidedly clumsy. In this pared back design, there’s no paper drawer, no touchscreen display and no auto duplex mode, but any office or home worker who needs to produce quality color printouts on large format paper should read this review. 

Epson EcoTank ET-14100: Design & build

For an A3 office printer, the Epson EcoTank ET-14100 looks quite stylish in its black and grey livery. It’s certainly a vast improvement on the clunky ET-14000, which housed its five ink reservoirs in a compartment that bulged out of the side. The new model has a double-sized tank for black, instead of two separate ones and the four tanks are now seamlessly integrated. And to keep things sleek and minimal, there’s no paper drawer at the front, just the rear paper in-tray, no USB Host port, no Ethernet port and no LCD. This is a simple print-only device with no scanner bed or ADF, so there’s no real need for a touchscreen interface. Instead, there are just four buttons on the front panel and one port at the rear for a USB data cable. By stripping back to the bare essentials, you’re left with a low and lightweight printer with a flat top that’s ideal for inspecting your printed documents.  

Epson EcoTank ET-14100: Features & specifications

The main attraction of the Epson EcoTank ET-14100 is its ability to print on any size paper up to A3+ or Ledger and, of course, its cartridge-free credentials. Swapping cartridges for bottled ink makes a saving of 90% and ensures this Epson will trounce any inkjet or laser when it comes to cost per color page. You also get plenty of inbox ink. A standard 104 EcoTank bottle contains 65ml and yields 4,500 black and white pages. There two bottles of BK and one each of CMY, yielding a total of 9,000 black and 7,500 color pages. This being the first installation, some of that ink is needed to prime the pipes between the tanks and the printheads so those numbers drop to 6,400 and 5,600, but that’s still a lot of printing before you have to refill. It’s this high capacity for ink that makes this the best printer for an office with a high-volume workload. 

Epson describes the ET-14100 as ‘feature-rich’ in the brochure, but I’d call it decidedly feature-lite. There’s the inbuilt wi-fi and a rear tray that can hold 100 sheets of paper and that’s it. There’s no LCD, no NFC, no front USB or Ethernet ports and no front paper tray. It can’t even auto duplex, meaning you have to turn the paper over yourself to print the other side. However, I do appreciate this printer’s focus on quality high-volume printing. With 400 black nozzles and 128 color, tiny dye ink droplets measuring 3.3pl (picoliter) are used to make up images with a resolution of 4,800 x 1,200. That’s sharp enough for a good photo. It prints quickly too, with a claimed print speed of 30ppm (pages per minute) for simplex black and white A4 prints.

Epson EcoTank ET-14100: Setup & operation

The Epson EcoTank ET-14100 comes with clear printed quick start instructions, but it’s much easier to download the companion app for iOS/Android and follow those step-by-step prompts instead. The Epson Smart Panel app helps you join your new printer with your existing Wi-Fi and also tells you when and how to fill the ink tanks. With key-lock ink bottles, it’s impossible to fill the wrong tank. We’ve tested a number of the best ink tank printers, and we can say that this system is so well designed, it’s hard to spill any ink. The black ink tank is larger than the others and takes two standard 65ml bottles to fill. 

The lack of a touchscreen display, which has become a common feature among office printers, didn’t make the Epson EcoTank ET-14100 any harder to operate. There’s no need to set the paper type at the printer because this can be done on the computer and you can check the remaining ink levels via the app. The lack of a front paper tray proved more inconvenient, because it means you can’t load up a stack of fresh paper and forget about it. The exposed rear tray isn’t a great place to store paper and it can only hold up to 100 sheets. 

Epson EcoTank ET-14100: Performance

The Epson EcoTank ET-14100 passed all of our tests and printed quite quickly in some cases too. In draft mode this printer claims to turn out simplex monochrome pages at a staggering 30ppm, while the FPOT (first print out time) is given as a fairly prompt 8 seconds. However, our speed test revealed a figure closer to 15ppm and I wouldn’t describe this as a particularly fast printer. Photo printing on coated paper takes much longer (around 8ppm), but I won’t mark it down for that because the image quality is well worth waiting for.

Black text on plain white paper looks acceptable. Each character is imprinted well enough, but the black dye-based ink seems to soak into the paper leaving softer edges than you would get with a pigment based black. Office printers more often use soluble dye only for the CMY inks and pigment for BK because ink droplets in suspension tend to give you bolder and more durable text. In other words, the Epson EcoTank ET-14100 is okay at churning monochrome documents in simplex mode, but that’s not its strong point.

Color documents, and especially photographs, are where the Epson EcoTank ET-14100 excels. Any of the best inkjet printers can print a photo on photo paper, but for anyone searching for the best photo printers, this Epson manages a significantly sharper image than most. The small ink droplet size and high resolution combined with the four dye-based inks manage to produce pleasingly lifelike photos on glossy paper. The EcoTank 104 inks are not necessarily the brightest colors we’ve seen, but the fine detail achieved here ensures a superior print quality to rival A3 inkjets such as the Brother MFC-J6540DW.    

Epson EcoTank ET-14100: Final verdict

There’s a lot to like about this office-oriented A3 inkjet. Firstly, the minimal design means it will fit into a small workspace, while handling large format paper with ease. Secondly, it’s an EcoTank which means cheap ink. Thirdly, it prints great quality color photos. What it’s not so good at is running out monochrome text documents because the black dye ink doesn’t look as sharp as printers that use a pigment black.

It’s also a little too light on features. I don’t need a display, or a front USB port, or an Ethernet port, but the absence of a front-loading paper tray is an inconvenience. With only a 100-sheet rear tray, you have to keep refilling, and switching paper stock, while the lack of an auto-duplex mode is definitely a saving too far. All of these issues are addressed in one of the best Epson printers out there - the EcoTank ET-18100, so I would recommend taking a look at that six-color printer before pulling the trigger on this one. Alternatively, if you already have a decent auto-duplexing A4 printer in the office, then the Epson EcoTank ET-14100 would make an excellent addition.  

The Fezibo Executive B standing desk is a high-quality standing desk that commands your attention wherever you put it—the name is the only boring thing about it. It's certainly one to consider for the best standing desk, regardless of whether you're building out your home office or looking to make a clear statement at work.

Fezibo Executive B: Specs

The materials are fairly premium, well-finished, and weighty—coming in at over 100 KG. You're not going to get real, solid walnut on a desk that costs US$799.99 (£699.99). Instead, you're getting veneered chipboard. Don't let that put you off, though, because a lot of thought went into making this desk, and it shows.

Because it's an L-shaped standing desk with built-in drawers, shelves, and a cabinet, there's a bit more to consider than with your standard I-shaped desk. Take a look at the image below to see the exact measurements of the desk.

Note: the site claims the desk raises up to 115 cm (46 inches) from the floor, but I got it to 119 cm without issue—that should be high enough for most people. I'm 5 foot 7 inches, and use the desk quite high at 93.5 cm for standing, so it should accommodate anyone up to 6 foot 8 inches with relative ease.

Fezibo Executive B: Shipping & unboxing

The desk shipped a lot quicker than expected and arrived in 3 boxes (one for the main desktop, one for the motorized frame, and one for everything else), which is incredibly helpful because it would be impossible to carry everything together.

Even with the 3 packages, you'll still need a strong second person to help you with the main box. Otherwise, you'll have to do what I did and open the box downstairs and move everything upstairs piece by piece.

Thankfully, everything was thoroughly padded and secured within the box, and even though the frame's box had a hole in it (for whatever reason, I'm unsure) it was totally unscathed. A lot of thought has gone into the packaging to ensure the desk arrives safely and securely, and I'm immensely grateful for that because I don't think it was handled delicately by the courier.

Fezibo Executive B: Assembly

There's a certain joy that can only come from having every single part of a flat-packed piece of furniture labeled, with clear, image-led instructions that make it almost impossible to go wrong. 74 steps might seem intimidating, but many of them are just images of how the elements should look when you've completed that set of steps.

An Allen key is included in the assembly kit, but not a screwdriver. I don't really mind this, and you'll see why if you continue on to the monitor stand. You're going to want to bring a decent screwdriver and a drill to put this together, but that shouldn't be too much for most people.

I recently bought a chest of drawers from a particular hardware store, and that was far more difficult to put together than this, despite being an order of magnitude simpler. 

Putting the desk together was incredibly easy, but that doesn't mean it was quick. All in all, this desk took me six hours to build, which may seem like a lot, but bear in mind that I wasn't trying to speedrun putting this together. I took my time with it, had a few cups of tea, stepped back every once in a while to observe how it was all coming together, and generally made the most of the event.

The only issue I encountered during my construction was that, if you don't screw in the drawer brackets enough, the runners will catch on the screws.

Fezibo Executive B: First impressions

Straight away this desk absolutely stunned me. I love the way it sits in any space with a sense of professional grace that's hard to find with a lot of modern desks—especially standing desks. This isn't just another clumped-together piece of wood and metal that you have to break your back for every time you want to adjust it.

In short, it's aesthetically beautiful, deeply intuitive to use, and wonderfully practical.

When it comes to the on-board motor, it's smooth and consistent, and the control module offers plenty of customization. The only downside I could find, and this is incredibly minor, was that it doesn't have any built-in device charging capabilities.

Fezibo Executive B: Design & build quality

The Executive B desk only comes with two options: 

• Dark walnut with black accents
• Light walnut with white accents

It's limited compared to the options with some of Fezibo's other desks, so I would like to see more customization on offer with the control mechanism and the color configurations.

When it comes to the quality of the materials, the chipboard may put some people off. However, the simple reality is that it compromises a sturdy build with cost-saving materials. If it was solid wood, you'd be paying a whole lot more for little noticeable difference.

I only found one small fault with the quality, and that was a lack of coverage for the connecting screws on the shelves. The simple inclusion of two black stickers to cover them would offer an additional layer of protection for any books or trinkets I would want to put on there.

It'll come as no surprise that a lot of thought and care went into the design of this desk, and it shows. The quality is there, and if you follow the build and usage instructions properly, it should last you a long, long time.

If that's not enough, the control module comes with a five-year warranty, so you know you're getting your money's worth.

Fezibo Executive B: In use

What I haven't mentioned so far, is that I built this desk in my bedroom (where my old desk used to be) before partially disassembling it and moving it into my tiny living  room where I intend to use it every day moving forward.

Moving the desk was surprisingly easy, I unbolted the main desktop, detached the lifting mechanism, and found myself with three sections: the main desktop, the shelving unit/left leg, and the secondary desktop with the drawers and cabinet still attached.

Together, my partner and I managed to maneuver it into the living room without issue, and here it now lives. Moving this desk was a useful stress test to see what it would be like if ever I were to move office elsewhere. If and when I eventually move this out of here, I'll likely dismantle it further to get it down the stairs safely, but for a two-dimensional shift, it's a quick and easy move.

As for the day-to-day of raising and lowering the desk, the motor handles everything seamlessly, and the multiple settings mean that I can customize it for both my seating and standing positions, as well as for my partner's, too. If something's not quite right, I can always check the information that came with the control module.

Fezibo Executive B: Accessories

Alongside the desk, I also got my hands on a couple of accessories from Fezibo to make the desk feel more personal:

• The Cord Management Organizer Kit: I wanted to see how much of a difference it made to my cable management beyond the sticky cable ties already offered with the desk.
• The 65 cm by 22 cm Monitor Stand with Pen Tray: I like to make the most of shelving on a desk, and the monitor stand is a great way to both accentuate the desk and increase its practicality, depending on your setup.

The cable management kit offers some incredibly useful gear, including modular sleeves to hide your wiring, sticky cable grippers of various sizes, zip ties, and a variety of fabric pull and velcro ties. It's a simple and effective add-on to make your setup sleek and seamless, but I had a few minor gripes.

You certainly get your money's worth with this bundle—it's enough to organize two or three desks. However, I think it would be improved by removing some zip ties and the second roll of velcro tape, and including more sleeves and some of the sticky under-desk cable clips that come as standard with the Executive B standing desk.

The monitor stand is another great example of how you can personalize the desk to fit your needs. Personally, I mount my monitor on an arm, but I love using these types of stands as additional shelving and organizational elements for my setup.

I did notice, however, that the stand had some minor quality issues, but nothing I would actually pay attention to/notice during day-to-day use. That said, the tool that came with it to set it up was so low quality, that the few turns it took to assemble the stand resulted in its total deformation.

I'd rather just know that I have to bring my own screwdriver, like with the desk, instead of being given something that's not fit for purpose. This would also reduce the cost of the stand, even if only by a fraction.

Fezibo Executive B: Final verdict

I genuinely struggled to find a fault with this that I couldn't put down to user error. Despite all of my stress tests, moving it from room to room, and actively trying to make it struggle under the weight of my setup, it powered through with elegance and resolve.

Even the little nitty-gritty things I did find were so minor that I honestly forgot about them after five minutes of using the desk. I'd still like to see some black stickers included with the desk to cover the silver connecting screws, but nothing is stopping me from just buying some online if it bothers me (which it doesn't).

If you're just wanting to put a small laptop and a notebook on this desk, it may feel a bit sparse, so I'd recommend it for anyone running a proper desktop setup that's going to fully utilize the space and features on offer.

To put it simply, I love this desk. The way it classes up any space you put it in, how practical and intuitive it is, and even the functionality of the control module—everything works like you'd want it to, and I don't think I could ask much more of it. Whether you're considering this for work or at home, US$799.99 (£699.99) is no small sum of money. 

It's most definitely an investment, but in my opinion (as someone who works from home every day) it's worth every penny to get a high-quality product that is as practical as it is beautiful. Now I just need to get myself a good standing desk mat so I can make the most of it all.