3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Bambu Lab P2S vs Formlabs Form 4
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Bambu Lab P2S comparisonsMore Formlabs Form 4 comparisons
| Property | Bambu Lab P2SCOREXY | Formlabs Form 4RESIN |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Bambu Lab | Formlabs |
| Class | COREXY | RESIN |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Bambu Lab P2S; spec sheet header "P2S Spec Sheet"[1] | Formlabs Form 4 3D Printer[2][3] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | From $549.00 on the Bambu Lab US store, Aug 2026; the product page shows $749.00 with the P2S Combo variant selected[4][5] | Starting at $2,625.00 at GoEngineer, in stock, checked Aug 2026. Formlabs sells the printer as part of packages (Form 4 Complete Package etc.), so package prices are much higher than the printer-only figure[3] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Two SKUs: P2S and P2S Combo (with the 2nd-generation AMS, which adds filament drying). Do not carry P1S figures across - the P2S differs on nearly every headline number: 600 vs 500 mm/s, 110 vs 100 C bed, hardened-steel vs stainless nozzle, 5-inch 854x480 touchscreen vs 2.7-inch monochrome, 14.9 vs 12.95 kg, 1920x1080 30 fps camera vs 1280x720 at 0.5 fps[1][6] | Three machines share this platform and are constantly conflated. Form 4: 200 x 125 x 210 mm, 50 um pixels, 18.3 kg, 480 W, one resin cartridge, NOT biocompatible. Form 4B: identical hardware but validated for 38 Formlabs materials including 15 biocompatible. Form 4L: 353 x 196 x 350 mm, 46 um pixels, 58.5 kg, 900 W, two cartridges[2] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Current model, marketed by Bambu as "The Classic Evolves" - the direct replacement for the P1S, which is still sold below it[4] | Not documented |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 256 x 256 x 256 mm (manufacturer figure)[1] | 200 x 125 x 210 mm (Formlabs quotes 5.25 litres)[2][3] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 392 x 406 x 478 mm[1] | 398 x 367 x 554 mm[2][3] |
| Net weight (kg) | 14.9 kg net[1] | 18.3 kg[2][3] |
| Frame construction & material | Plastic and steel chassis with a plastic and glass outer frame[1] | Not documented |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Fully enclosed with a door sensor and an activated-carbon (granulated coconut shell) filter with VOC and particulate filtration. No active chamber heater is listed[1] | Enclosed cabinet with a hinged UV-blocking cover. Operating temperature 18-28 C[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | CoreXY - Bambu positions the P2S as the successor to the P1S platform. The spec sheet itself does not name the kinematics[1][5] | Masked stereolithography (MSLA). Formlabs brands the engine Low Force Display; straight-lift peel[2][3] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 600 mm/s max toolhead speed (manufacturer claim); no independent measurement found[1] | Not documented |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 20000 mm/s2 max toolhead acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1] | Not documented |
| Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s) | 40 mm3/s standard-flow hotend, measured by Bambu on a 250 mm round single-wall model in Bambu ABS at 280 C[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Direct drive with hardened-steel extruder gears, driven by a Bambu Lab high-precision permanent-magnet synchronous motor rather than a plain stepper; built-in filament cutter[1] | Not documented |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Hardened-steel nozzle, 0.4 mm included, 0.2/0.4/0.6/0.8 mm supported[1] | Not documented |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[1] | Not documented |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 110 C max heatbed temperature[1] | Not documented |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Flexible steel plate; Textured PEI plate included, Smooth PEI Plate and Cool Plate SuperTack supported[1] | Not documented |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Yes - run-out sensor, tangle sensor, door sensor; filament odometry with AMS[1] | Not documented |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Part-cooling fan, hotend cooling fan and auxiliary part-cooling fan, all closed-loop controlled[1] | Not documented |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | Motion controller is a dual-core Cortex-M4 plus a single-core Cortex-M7; application processor is a quad-core 1.5 GHz ARM A7 with a 2 TOPS neural processing unit. Board model and chip markings not published[1] | Not documented |
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 100-240 VAC, 4.8 A, 50/60 Hz, 480 W[2] |
| Total rated power draw | 100-120 VAC / 200-240 VAC 50/60 Hz; max 1200 W at 220 V, 1000 W at 110 V; steady state 200 W printing PLA[1] | 480 W[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[7] | Proprietary. Print preparation is PreForm; fleet management is Formlabs Dashboard[3] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 5-inch 854x480 touchscreen[1] | 7-inch interactive touchscreen, 1280 x 800 (control panel — not the masking LCD, see W1)[2] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Touchscreen plus mobile app and PC app; Bambu markets on-device AI error detection[1] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n, 2.4 and 5 GHz), built-in 8 GB eMMC and a USB port. Ethernet not available; no network kill switch and no 802.1X[1] | Dual-band Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbit), USB-C 2.0[2][3] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Built-in camera, 1920x1080 at 30 fps - a real video-rate camera, unlike the 0.5 fps unit in the P1 series[1][6] | Not documented |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA, TPU, support materials, PET, PA, PC, PVA, PLA-CF, PETG-CF, ABS-GF, ASA-CF, PA6-CF, PA6-GF, PAHT-CF, PPA-CF, PET-CF[1] | Formlabs resins across rigid, tough, general purpose, flame retardant, silicone, elastic, ceramic and castable families. Biocompatible resins require the Form 4B, not the Form 4[2] |
| 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[8] | Not documented |
| Independently Measured Performance | ||
| Dimensional accuracy measurements (third-party, with numbers) | Not documented | XY dimensional tolerance +/-0.15% — a manufacturer specification, not an independent measurement[2][3] |
| Resin & MSLA | ||
| Masking LCD | Not documented | Low Force Display masking LCD with a 50 um pixel size and pre-tuned anti-aliasing. Formlabs does not publish the screen diagonal or pixel count[2][3] |
| Light source | Not documented | Backlight unit with 60 uniform-wavelength high-power LEDs behind collimating lenses, with integrated cooling[2][3] |
| Vertical print speedmm/h | Not documented | Maximum 100 mm/h; average 40 mm/h at a 100 um layer height (manufacturer figures — GoEngineer publishes both, which is unusually explicit about the basis). Formlabs separately claims most prints finish in under 2 hours[3][2] |
| Layer height range | Not documented | 25-200 um per Formlabs' own tech-spec page; GoEngineer's listing for the same machine says 25-300 um. Unresolved[2][3] |
| Resin vat & feeding | Not documented | Single next-generation resin cartridge; Formlabs claims 5-10x faster filling and 63% less waste. Resin tank rated for 75,000+ layers with any Formlabs material. No vat capacity published[2][3] |
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 P2S Spec Sheet (PDF) store.bblcdn.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Formlabs resin printer technical specifications (Form 4 / 4B / 4L) formlabs.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Formlabs Form 4 3D printer listing store.goengineer.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab US Store - 3D Printers collection listing (base prices, Aug 2026) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab P2S store page us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab P1S store page - 'Parameters Comparison' table giving P1P and P1S in separate columns us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- GitHub - bambulab organisation repository list (11 repos, checked Aug 2026) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Bambu Lab Warranty Policy bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor