3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Bambu Lab P1S vs Original Prusa MK4
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Bambu Lab P1S comparisonsMore Original Prusa MK4 comparisons
| Property | Bambu Lab P1SCOREXY | Original Prusa MK4BEDSLINGER |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Bambu Lab | Prusa Research |
| Class | COREXY | BEDSLINGER |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Bambu Lab P1S. Store title: "Bambu Lab P1S 3D Printer"[1] | Original Prusa MK4[2] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Not documented | Announced 29 March 2023 with assembled printers shipping immediately from stock; kits opened for ordering about two weeks later[2] |
| Launch MSRP (USD) | Not documented | 1099 USD assembled, 799 USD as a kit, VAT included, at launch[2] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | From $369.00 (base P1S) on the Bambu Lab US store, Aug 2026, against a stated typical price of $399.00; with the P1S AMS 2 Pro Combo variant selected the same page shows $539.00 against a typical $579.00[3][1] | Not documented |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Enclosed version of the P1P and mechanically the same motion platform. Three SKUs on one product page: P1S, P1S AMS Combo and P1S AMS 2 Pro Combo (the AMS 2 Pro adds active filament drying). Sibling figures that get mixed up: net weight 12.95 kg (P1S) vs 9.65 kg (P1P); depth 389 mm vs 386 mm; ABS/ASA Ideal (P1S) vs Capable (P1P). Also distinct from the 2026 P2S, which is a different machine (600 mm/s, 110 C bed, 5-inch touchscreen, 14.9 kg)[1][4] | Superseded by the MK4S, which is the same machine plus a 360-degree turbine part-cooling fan, a high-flow CHT nozzle and firmware/profile work; Prusa sold a 99 USD MK4-to-MK4S upgrade kit and automatically converted unshipped MK4 orders to the S version. The MK3.5 and MK3.9 upgrades convert an MK3S+ to part of the MK4 electronics stack but are not an MK4[5][2] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Still sold in Aug 2026, but Bambu now markets the P2S as "The Classic Evolves" above it in the same enclosed-CoreXY slot[3][6] | Discontinued. No MK4 appears in Prusa's Aug 2026 3D-printer listing, and the MK4 product-page slugs redirect to the MK4S page, so no live first-party price could be recorded[7][5] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 256 x 256 x 256 mm advertised. Bambu's own footnote sets the default printable height in Bambu Studio to 250 mm to prevent heatbed collisions, and notes the collapsible filament-cutter stopper occupies part of the print area when popped out[1] | 250 x 210 x 220 mm (manufacturer figure)[2] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 389 x 389 x 458 mm; package 485 x 480 x 530 mm[1] | Not documented |
| Net weight (kg) | 12.95 kg net, 17.60 kg gross; the AMS Combo ships at 21.60 kg gross and the AMS 2 Pro Combo at 21 kg gross[1] | Not documented |
| Frame construction & material | Steel chassis (shared with the P1P) inside plastic and glass panels[1] | Die-cast aluminium frame - Prusa replaced the MK3S+'s cut-aluminium frame for the MK4, keeping only the Y-axis profiles, some bearings, the heatbed and the power supply[2] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Fully enclosed - plastic and glass panels with a glass front door and lid, plus an activated-carbon air filter. No active chamber heater; the chamber temperature regulator fan is closed-loop controlled[1] | Open frame; the Original Prusa Enclosure is an optional add-on[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | CoreXY driven by two stepper motors, each with an independent belt to the printhead; the P1P and P1S share the same motion system[8] | Cartesian bed-slinger of the Prusa i3 family - Prusa's MK4 announcement records that the MK3S+ Y-axis profiles and heatbed were carried over[2] |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Three leadscrews belt-driven from a single stepper motor, whole bed moving in Z; manual tramming by three knobs under the bed, no motorised Z-tilt[8] | Not documented |
| Belts (type, width, e.g. Gates?) | Rear adjustable belt tensioners with a Belt Tension Monitor[8] | Not documented |
| Stepper motors (frame size, step angle, brand if known) | Not documented | 400-step (0.9 degree) stepper motors, stated by Prusa to prevent vertical fine artefacts[2] |
| Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?) | Not documented | Trinamic TMC2130-LA silent stepper drivers on the xBuddy board[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) | 20 m/s2 = 20000 mm/s2 max toolhead acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Direct drive; the service part is the "Stainless Steel Extruder Unit (P1 series)"[8] | Nextruder direct drive with a planetary gear system, 1:10 gearbox ratio; aluminium heatsink, all-metal hotend, no PTFE tube in the filament path[2] |
| Gear ratio & drive gear material | Not documented | 1:10 planetary gearbox[2] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | All-metal all-in-one hotend with the nozzle integrated into the heatblock, replaced as a unit; 0.4 mm stainless-steel nozzle included, 0.2/0.6/0.8 mm optional[1][8] | Quick-swap nozzle system, 0.4 mm default, other diameters supported[2] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max hot-end temperature[1] | 300 C claimed max hotend temperature in Prusa's MK4 announcement table - note the MK4S product page publishes 290 C for the same hotend family[2][9] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 100 C max build-plate temperature[1] | 120 C max heatbed temperature[2] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Textured PEI plate; Cool Plate, Engineering Plate and High Temperature Plate compatible[1] | Magnetic heatbed with removable PEI spring-steel sheets; compatible with the MK3 sheets (smooth PEI, satin, textured PEI, PA nylon)[2] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Nozzle-touch probing using three ceramic force (piezo) sensors mounted under the heatbed - Z homing is done by detecting the force of the nozzle contacting the bed[10][8] | Load-cell sensor: fully automatic first-layer calibration with the nozzle as the probe, plus automatic mesh bed levelling over the print area[2] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Yes - filament run-out sensor[1] | Built-in Hall-effect filament sensor supporting automatic filament loading[2] |
| Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade path | AMS-compatible; sold as P1S AMS Combo and P1S AMS 2 Pro Combo, up to 16 colours with four AMS units[1] | Not documented |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Part-cooling fan plus auxiliary part-cooling fan, control-board fan and chamber temperature regulator fan, all closed-loop controlled (all four are merely Optional on the P1P)[1] | Not documented |
| Chamber/exhaust fan & filtration (activated carbon / HEPA) | Chamber temperature regulator fan with an activated-carbon air filter[1] | Not documented |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | Not documented | Custom 32-bit xBuddy board with STM32, designed and built in-house, with a separate extruder breakout board[2] |
| PSU (brand, wattage, rail voltage) | Not documented | 240 W Delta PSU with hardware power panic[2] |
| Total rated power draw | 100-240 VAC 50/60 Hz; 1000 W at 220 V, 350 W at 110 V[1] | Not documented |
| 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[11] | 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[12][9] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 2.7-inch 192x64 monochrome screen, not a touchscreen; control by button, app or PC application (P1 series)[8] | 3.5-inch 65k-colour graphic screen[2] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Button-driven monochrome on-device UI; job setup happens in Bambu Studio or Bambu Handy[8] | On-device colour UI with one-click printing and status LEDs; Prusa Link is integrated and Prusa Connect adds remote printing[2] |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Bambu-Bus, microSD card storage, 5 V/1.5 A USB output power (P1 series)[8] | Ethernet built in, optional ESP Wi-Fi module delivered with the printer, USB drive; print files can also arrive over LAN or the internet via Prusa Connect[2] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Low-rate chamber monitoring camera, 1280x720 at 0.5 fps, timelapse supported[1] | Not documented |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Ideal: PLA, PETG, TPU, PVA, PET, ABS, ASA. Capable: PA, PC[1] | Prusa's launch table says "any thermoplastic including Nylon and Polycarbonate"; the enclosure is still needed in practice for ABS/ASA-class materials[2] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Not documented | xBuddy hardware overcurrent protection disconnects heater and heatbed power when total current exceeds 15 A; firmware is open-source and auditable[2][12] |
| 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[13] | 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[14][9] |
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 P1S store page - 'Parameters Comparison' table giving P1P and P1S in separate columns us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- 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 US Store - 3D Printers collection listing (base prices, Aug 2026) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab P2S Spec Sheet (PDF) store.bblcdn.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusa blog - The Original Prusa MK4S is Here! (published 12 August 2024) blog.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Bambu Lab P2S store page us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa 3D printers category listing with live e-shop prices, Aug 2026 prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab Wiki - Introduction to P1 series wiki.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Original Prusa MK4S 3D Printer product page (Technical Parameters + CORE One+/MK4S/XL comparison table) prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab Wiki - Replace the Heatbed Sensor Unit / Heatbed Piezo Interface Board wiki.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
- 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
- Bambu Lab Warranty Policy bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa Knowledge Base - Warranty help.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc