


Zebra Card Printers · Genuine Zebra Hardware
Zebra ZC100 — Single-Sided Colour Card Printer, 300 dpi
The entry point into Zebra card printing: 300 dpi edge-to-edge colour on CR-80, single-sided, up to 150 full-colour cards an hour. Slim enough to sit under a counter, simple enough to plug in and print, and covered by Zebra's three-year warranty on printer and printhead. Zebra rates it up to 30% faster in monochrome than the ZXP Series 1 it replaced.
Quick Glance
Key Features
Fits Where Other Printers Do Not
258 mm high, 157 mm wide and under 4 kg. Zebra designed the ZC line around the slimmest profile and lowest clearance in its class, so it goes under a counter or shelf at a reception desk rather than needing its own table.
Feeder Adjusts to Card Thickness Itself
The same auto-adjusting feeder as the ZC300, across the full 10 to 40 mil range. Move between 30 mil staff badges and 10 mil day passes without changing a setting or touching a lever.
Three-Year Warranty Including the Printhead
Zebra lists a three-year limited warranty on printer and printhead as a standard feature. On the entry model in the range that is unusually generous, and it is the specification that most affects total cost of ownership.
Detailed Specifications
Throughput figures are Zebra's, based on batch printing over USB. Times vary with computer configuration.
As published in the Zebra ZC100 card printer specification sheet.
Operating temperature 15–35 °C, operating humidity 20–80% non-condensing. Driver languages include Arabic.
Zebra states the ZC100 is designed to work only with Zebra genuine ribbons, and the cartridge carries a smartchip the printer authenticates. Unlike the ZC300's, ZC100 ribbons are not region-coded, so there is no EM suffix to match. Send us the model from the badge and we will confirm the part before you order.
Specifications are provided by the manufacturer and may be updated or changed without prior notice. AtomOffice is not responsible for any discrepancies between the information shown here and the manufacturer's official documentation.
Need-to-Know
The ZC100 and ZC300 share a body, a feeder and a warranty. What separates them is dual-sided printing, networking and how many ribbon types you can choose from.
| ZC100 — this page | ZC300 | |
|---|---|---|
| Printing | Single-sided only | Single and dual-sided |
| Colour throughput | 150 cards/hr YMCKO | 200 cards/hr YMCKO |
| Ethernet | Optional extra | Built in as standard |
| Display | Status indicator lights | Graphical colour LCD |
| Best for | One desk issuing single-sided badges, membership or event cards | Shared departmental use, dual-sided badges, networked printing |
Official & Recommended Options
Everything this printer consumes, in genuine Zebra stock. Click through for full specifications.
Frequently Asked Questions
Only two of them. The ZC100's colour ribbon is 800100-150, a different part from the ZC300's 800300-350 or 800300-550 — the colour cartridges are not interchangeable between the two machines. The exceptions are the mono black 800300-303 and the half-panel colour 800300-370, which Zebra lists for the ZC100 and ZC300 jointly. Order by the printer badge, not by family resemblance.
Yes, with the field-upgradeable magnetic encoder fitted. Zebra's specification sheet lists an ISO 7811 encoder handling tracks 1, 2 and 3 in both high and low coercivity, for new and pre-encoded cards. Two limits worth knowing: it writes stripe-down only, and it is specified for 30 mil cards only. If you need stripe-up flexibility, that is a ZC300 dual-sided capability.
Three things push you to the ZC300: anything printed on the back of the card, more than one department sharing the printer over the network, and a wider ribbon choice such as YMCKOK or the KrO and KdO specialty ribbons. If your card is single-sided, one desk owns the printer and USB is fine, the ZC100 does the same 300 dpi job for less.
No. USB 2.0 is standard on the ZC100 and Ethernet is an optional extra, where on the ZC300 Ethernet is built in. Wi-Fi 802.11ac is optional on both. If several people need to send cards to the printer, price the Ethernet option into your comparison, because it can narrow the gap to a ZC300 that includes it as standard.
A ribbon, blank cards and card design software. For a straightforward staff badge that means the 800100-150 colour ribbon, a box of 104523-111 30 mil blanks and the 105999-310 cleaning kit. If your cards carry no photograph, the mono 800300-303EM gives 1500 images instead of 200 and costs far less per card. Tell us the design and we will spec it.
Need a Zebra card printer in the UAE?
Talk to our team about stock, lead time and the right ribbon and card combination for your badge design.

