The Prusa MK4S is out—once again, the best printer on the market

On August 12th, we launched the latest iteration of our most popular MK printers, the MK4S. It's clear that the development team has done an outstanding job. Once again, we've proven that we can innovate in areas where it wasn't expected. I can only raise an eyebrow at some internet trolls who seem to have lost many arguments. The criticisms mainly focus on labelling the MK4S as an 'old-fashioned bed slinger' (Cartesian), suggesting that CoreXY is better simply because it's newer, without providing clear arguments. These critics seem unaware that Prusa Research is one of the few, if not the only, companies offering Cartesian, CoreXY, delta, and even resin printers—all developed and produced in-house. With our extensive experience, we know how to choose the best setup for any given time.

The reality is that movement mechanics are just one part of the equation. Other critical factors include the ability to extrude filament quickly and with high quality, and the ability to cool it efficiently—something we learned extensively during the development of the HT90. For example, the Cartesian design offers potential advantages for a bed of this size, such as shorter belt lengths, which make it easier to achieve precision. This is something we often hear from companies and 3D printing experts: "We may own many brands of printers, but when precision matters, when you need two parts to fit perfectly, you choose Prusa."

The results from the MK4S are stunning. I've been testing this printer for the past few months, and the quality of its prints, combined with the beautiful and consistent colours it produces from some of the interesting filaments, is breathtaking. It’s something that’s hard to convey with words alone, but when you see models printed on the MK4S, you immediately recognise the QUALITY.

And now, to the best part: which company in the world sells you their top-of-the-range printer, provides constant free software updates like we did with the MK4, and then decides to upgrade the hardware while only asking you to pay $99 to upgrade your existing one?

This leads me to think—what's next? How far can we push this? How will our engineers utilise the high-flow nozzle and improved cooling? Is this our final word on speed or quality? I'm sure that achieving even greater quality will be more challenging than improving speed. Prusa printers are not the cheapest, but neither are Apple, Mercedes, or Bosch. Yet, these brands remain mainstream because they deliver peace of mind in terms of quality and reliability. The same is true for us—we are Prusa??, the unique leader in 3D printing. With the MK4, we demonstrated that we don’t sacrifice quality for speed just to gain a cheap marketing claim. And with the MK4S, we've shown that by improving quality, we can also improve speed.

So, we will probably never have the cheapest printer on the market—nor do I think we ever have—but I hope we will always have printers that demonstrate our passion for quality and innovation.

Now, you might ask me, if you've never printed before, which printer would I recommend? My answer is always: if you can afford it, buy the MK4 or now the MK4S. It’s a printer that will immediately elevate your 3D printing skills. It will make it easy for you to start, build your confidence, and it’s the same printer used by top engineers at NASA, SpaceX, MIT, Bosch, ZF, ?koda, and many others.

And once you familiarise yourself with 3D printing and perhaps learn one of the CAD software tools, you can unleash your creativity with the Prusa XL, the fastest multicolour "desktop" printer by far. It allows you to mix materials like no other printer—a true beast, a true dream machine. If anyone ever doubts our commitment to innovation, they should look at the XL. We brought that to market three years ago, and to this day, it remains the most inspiring FDM printer you can own.

I’m writing this to express my huge respect for the people developing Prusa ?? products. It is an honor to help market these great products because, when you have a great product, marketing is easy... apparently ????