3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Bambu Lab A1 mini vs Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2)
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Bambu Lab A1 mini comparisonsMore Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2) comparisons
| Property | Bambu Lab A1 miniBEDSLINGER | Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2)COREXY |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Bambu Lab | Prusa Research |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | COREXY |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Bambu Lab A1 mini. Store title: "Bambu Lab A1 mini 3D Printer"[1] | Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2). Prusa's e-shop lists "Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2)" and "Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2) Assembly kit"[2][3] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Shipped in the second half of 2023; Tom's Hardware published its A1 mini review on 13 October 2023, ahead of the full-size A1 review of 14 December 2023[4][5] | The CORE One+ (Gen 2) refresh was announced on 13 August 2026, on sale immediately, with the first assembled units shipping at once and kits, upgrade kits and individual parts rolling out over the following weeks. It succeeds the CORE One and CORE One+ on the same platform[6] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | From $219.00 (base A1 mini) on the Bambu Lab US store, Aug 2026, during an advertised Back-to-School sale; the product page lists A1 mini and A1 mini Combo variants[7][8] | $1,202.78 assembled, $925.00 as an assembly kit, on prusa3d.com, Aug 2026. Bundles run to $1,301.85 with camera and advanced filtration. Prusa's own marketing table on the same page quotes "from $1,299" assembled, which does not match the live e-shop price[3][2] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Two SKUs: A1 mini and A1 mini Combo (adds the AMS lite). Distinguish from the full-size A1 by build volume (180 vs 256 mm cube), bed ceiling (80 vs 100 C), screen (2.4 vs 3.5 inch), Z drive (single leadscrew with a coupling vs dual leadscrews belt-synced) and weight (5.5 vs 8.3 kg)[1][9][10][11] | Three generations share the CORE One name: the original CORE One, the CORE One+, and the CORE One+ (Gen 2), with paid upgrade kits between them (CORE One+ to CORE One+ (Gen 2), and an MK4S to CORE One+ (Gen 2) conversion kit). The specifications recorded here are those published on Prusa's current CORE One+ (Gen 2) page and should not be assumed to hold for a first-generation CORE One. The INDX 4-tool and 8-tool machines are variants of the same product page, and the CORE One L is a larger, separate machine[2][3][12] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Still the entry model in the Bambu Lab US store line-up in Aug 2026 and the cheapest machine listed[7] | Current model and Prusa's mainstream enclosed machine, above the MK4S and below the CORE One L+[3] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 180 x 180 x 180 mm (manufacturer figure)[1] | 250 x 220 x 270 mm (manufacturer figure)[2] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 347 x 315 x 365 mm (Bambu tech specs; Tom's Hardware prints 347 x 314 x 365 mm)[1][4] | 415 x 444 x 555 mm (X x Y x Z)[2] |
| Net weight (kg) | 5.5 kg net[1] | 22.5 kg[2] |
| Frame construction & material | Steel plus extruded aluminium chassis[1] | All-steel exoskeleton (Prusa's own comparison wording, against "aluminium extrusions and frame" for the MK4S)[13] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame, no enclosure[1] | Fully enclosed with a door-open sensor and active chamber temperature control up to 55 C; HEPA/advanced filtration is an optional add-on[2][13] |
| Passive chamber temperature reached (if enclosed; measured values preferred) | Not documented | Active chamber heating, maximum 55 C (manufacturer figure)[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian bed-slinger: toolhead on an X guide rail and crossbeam, print platform moving in Y on a guide rail, toolhead carried in Z[10] | CoreXY - stated as such in Prusa's own comparison table against the Cartesian MK4S[2] |
| X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size) | Horizontal linear guide rail with the printhead on a sliding block; rail size not published[10] | Not documented |
| Y-axis guide type | Horizontal linear guide rail carrying the print platform, belt-driven in Y[10] | Not documented |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Single leadscrew with nut, coupling and stepper motor - the motor drives the leadscrew directly through the coupling. This is the clearest hardware difference from the A1, which uses two leadscrews synchronised by a belt[10][11] | Not documented |
| Stepper motors (frame size, step angle, brand if known) | Not documented | 0.9 degree X and Y stepper motors[2] |
| Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?) | Not documented | Trinamic 2130[2] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 500 mm/s max toolhead speed (manufacturer claim); no independent measurement found[1] | Not documented |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 10000 mm/s2 max toolhead acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1] | Not documented |
| Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s) | 28 mm3/s claimed on a 150x150 mm single-wall model in Bambu ABS at 280 C - note this is the ABS figure quoted for a machine whose own spec sheet lists ABS as not recommended[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Direct drive with hardened-steel extruder gears; toolhead also holds the cutter unit, filament hub and filament sensor[1][10] | Nextruder direct drive, E3D V6 compatible with an adapter; planetary gear system with a 10:1 ratio; aluminium heatsink and all-metal hotend[2] |
| Gear ratio & drive gear material | Not documented | 10:1 planetary gearbox[2] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | All-metal integrated hotend (nozzle plus heatsink in one unit), quick-swap; stainless-steel nozzle, 0.4 mm included, 0.2/0.6/0.8 mm optional[1][10] | Quick-swap nozzle system; high-flow Prusa brass CHT 0.4 mm nozzle supplied. An optional HT hotend raises the ceiling to 400 C[2] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max hot-end temperature[1] | 290 C claimed max nozzle temperature. Prusa's comparison table adds "400 C w/ HT" for the optional HT hotend, which its 13 August 2026 blog post says will only become available in September 2026 - so 400 C is a forthcoming option, not a shipping specification[2][6] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 80 C max build-plate temperature - the lowest of the current Bambu range, and the reason ABS/ASA are listed as not recommended[1][10] | 120 C max heatbed temperature[2] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Textured PEI plate; Smooth PEI and Dual-Texture PEI plates also compatible[1] | Magnetic heatbed with removable PEI spring-steel sheets; whole-bed heating regardless of object size[2] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Nozzle-touch automatic bed levelling and automatic Z-offset; Tom's Hardware confirms the nozzle itself is the probe[4][10] | Load-cell sensor - fully automatic first-layer calibration with the nozzle as the probe[2] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Yes - run-out sensor, filament odometry and filament-tangle sensor[1] | Two filament sensors, plus a door sensor and five Semitec thermistors with fan RPM monitoring[2][13] |
| Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade path | Optional AMS lite (A1 mini Combo); AMS / AMS 2 Pro / AMS HT need an AMS HUB (SA013) accessory[8] | MMU3 for five filaments, or the INDX system for up to eight, both officially supported[2] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | One custom 5015 centrifugal part-cooling fan with two opposing outlets; closed-loop control. A separate MC board cooling fan is also fitted[1][10] | High-performance turbine part-cooling fan with 360-degree cooling, the same arrangement as the MK4S[2] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | Bambu names the motion controller as a dual-core Cortex-M4; no board model or chip markings published[1] | Custom 32-bit xBuddy board with STM32[2] |
| PSU (brand, wattage, rail voltage) | Not documented | 240 W PSU with hardware power panic[2] |
| Total rated power draw | 100-240 VAC 50/60 Hz; max power 150 W for the whole machine. Bed heater wattage is not published separately[1] | Power consumption 90 W printing PLA, 110 W printing ABS (manufacturer figures)[2] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Closed-source proprietary firmware - not a Klipper or Marlin derivative, and no printer-firmware source is published. The bambulab GitHub organisation carries 11 repositories (Bambu Studio, wxWidgets/boost/ffmpeg forks, the wiki); none is printer firmware. Updates are delivered over the air via Bambu Studio / Bambu Handy[14] | Open-source Prusa Buddy firmware. The source tree (prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy on GitHub) explicitly covers the Original Prusa MINI/MINI+, MK4, XL and CORE One and was last pushed to in August 2026. Updates are applied from a USB drive, through Prusa Connect or through the Prusa mobile app[15][13] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 2.4-inch 320x240 IPS touchscreen[1] | 3.5-inch 65k-colour graphic screen with touch control[2] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Touchscreen plus Bambu Handy app and Bambu Studio PC application[1] | On-device touch UI; remote monitoring and printing through Prusa Connect and the Prusa mobile app; firmware updates from USB, Prusa Connect or the app[2] |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz only (802.11 b/g/n), Bambu-Bus, microSD card. No Ethernet, no USB host[1] | Ethernet and Wi-Fi (NFC receiver plus an optional Wi-Fi module), USB drive for print files[2] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Built-in low-rate camera, up to 1080p, timelapse supported[1] | Optional in-chamber camera solution (Buddy3D camera bundle listed at $1,237.03 against $1,202.78 for the bare printer)[2][3] |
| Calibration Routines & QoL | ||
| Assembly level & time from unbox to first print | Arrives mostly pre-assembled - only the filament wiper, spool holder and Bowden tubes to fit[4] | Not documented |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Ideal: PLA, PETG, TPU, PVA. Not recommended: ABS, ASA, PC, PA, PET and fibre-reinforced polymers[1] | PLA, PETG, Flex, PVA, PC, PP, CPE, PVB, and - as advanced materials in the heated chamber - ABS, ASA, HIPS and PA[2] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Not documented | The xBuddy platform carries hardware overcurrent protection that cuts heater and heatbed power above 15 A, and the firmware is open-source and auditable[16][15] |
| Noise & Power Consumption | ||
| Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method) | Manufacturer claim only: the US store page claims "49dB Whisper-Quiet Operation" - the identical sentence appears on the A1 page, so treat it as line-level marketing copy rather than a per-model measurement. No independent dB measurement with a stated distance was found[8][17] | Not documented |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | 2-year limited warranty for consumers in the US, Canada, the EU, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland; 1 year in the rest of the world. Bambu Lab's own policy records the US/Canada term as a 2026 extension from one year to two[18] | 2-year warranty for consumers in the EU, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland; 1 year for EU enterprises and 1 year for the rest of the world, which includes the United States. A printer bought from a reseller or privately carries 1 year from the original delivery date and is handled by the reseller. Prusa advertises 24/7 chat and e-mail support in seven languages[19][13] |
| Independently Measured Performance | ||
| Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date) | Tom's Hardware: Editor's Choice, rating 4.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data (13 October 2023)[4] | Not documented |
Manufacturer claims, independent measurements, packages and test conditions retain their source wording. FDM linear speed and resin vertical speed use different units and are not directly comparable. Unknown values are marked “Not documented”. Prices and source dates remain historical snapshots; check the linked guide for product details. Differences highlight text, not a universal winner.
Sources for this comparison
- Bambu Lab A1 mini - Technical Specifications bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2) product page (Technical Parameters + CORE One+/MK4S/CORE One L comparison) prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa 3D printers category listing with live e-shop prices, Aug 2026 prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Tom's Hardware - Bambu Lab A1 Mini Review, 13 October 2023 tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- Tom's Hardware - Bambu Lab A1 Review, Denise Bertacchi, 14 December 2023 tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- Prusa blog - Better Prints, Easier Use: Prusa XL+, CORE One L+ and CORE One+ (Gen 2), Our Big Product Update (published 13 August 2026) blog.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Bambu Lab US Store - 3D Printers collection listing (base prices, Aug 2026) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab A1 mini store page (A1 mini / A1 mini Combo variants) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab A1 - Technical Specifications bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab Wiki - A1 mini introduction wiki.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Bambu Lab Wiki - A1 introduction wiki.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusa CORE One L+ product page (CORE One L+ Technical Specifications) prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Original Prusa MK4S 3D Printer product page (Technical Parameters + CORE One+/MK4S/XL comparison table) prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- GitHub - bambulab organisation repository list (11 repos, checked Aug 2026) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- GitHub - prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy (firmware for MINI, MK4, XL and CORE One) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusa blog - Original Prusa MK4 is here (published 29 March 2023), including the MK4 specification table and launch prices blog.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Bambu Lab A1 store page (A1 / A1 Combo variants) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab Warranty Policy bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa Knowledge Base - Warranty help.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc