I’ve been 3d printing with an Ender 3 v2 for about 4 years now and I think its time for something new. I’ve been looking at both the P1S and the A1 and all I want to know is the advantages and disadvantages of both printers and what would be best suited for me.
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A couple easy ones
- Material types; the P1S is designed to support more material like ABS whereas the A1 is more focused on low temp stuff like PLA and others. A1 can do ABS, though Bambu Lab does not recommend. See FAQ, search for ‘Can A1 print ABS and ASA?’ A1 FAQ | Bambu Lab Wiki
- P1S can support up to 16 colors if you purchase the AMS Hub and more AMS units: Bambu Lab AMS Hub | Bambu Lab US. Where as right now the A1 can only do up to 4 colors. Maybe things change in the future, but at least right now there’s nothing like that for A1.
So if say you need to print ABS (or other high temp materials) and need 5 or more colors in a single print, P1S is a clear winner.
Asides from that, everything else is a bit more nuanced. So to help find one that suits you:
- What do you like about your Ender 3 V2 that you want your next printer to keep doing
- What do you dislike about your printer, and hope your next printer won’t do
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Having both an E3 V2 and a P1S I can tell you a few things I really like and why if I needed to make that choice now, I would take a P1S over an A1 if I did not already have a P1S.
Being a fully enclosed printer the P1S gives me more choices with filaments and makes printing slightly quieter. It also helps keep dust out of the printer and makes the area look neater. You could, in theory, add an enclosure to an A1 but the A1’s electronics are probably not designed to be inside an enclosure (heat issues) whereas the P1S is.
The P1S also uses the full-size AMS which I like primarily because it has a lot of room for me to keep desiccant so I have four rolls of dry filament ready to go at all times. Yes, you can also string up to four of them together but honestly 95% of the reason I bought the AMS was as a glorified dry box. I have done exactly ONE multicolor project (and a few other multicolor prints just to see what it could do).
From the reviews I have seen the print quality and speed of the P1S is >>SLIGHTLY<< better than the A1. The reason I stressed that so much is that if you are looking for differences to justify the P1S I think you can absolutely find them. If you are just printing, I think anyone else would be hard-pressed to see much difference between the items printed.
That’s my take on it, and worth every penny you paid. 
All of that being said, my E3 V2 is upgraded enough that even though slower than my P1S, it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I do have another printer that I am considering replacing with an A1 Mini or Klipper equivalent as I need something small, reliable, with good quality and speed.
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My opinion is based on having used nearly every bambu printer as well as several other 3d printers in the past. Personally I think the P1S is the best value printer you can get right now. Its not perfect, and honestly no printer is, but the highlight as to why are as follows 1) price. the P1S is an enclosed core xy printer capable of printing most filaments out of the box with minimal set up. honestly the only reason I personally can justify the price of moving to the X1C is if i were doing alot of carbon filament printing since the X1C bed temp can go higher. The Lidar aspect im not sold on so I dont count that as a plus, however the X1C user interface is much nicer then the P series. 2) Its enclosed. I mentioned this in #1 but i think youd be surprised how often you might want to have an enclosure. 3) its a core xy. Again I mentioned this in number 1 but after years of messing with bedslingers im very hard pressed to go backwards. 4) not from personal experience since i rarely if ever multi color print but the ability to use multiple ams units is a nice feature. no other manufacturer offers the level of colors you can use with 4 ams units, 16, so that is a unique feature that potentially could be useful.
At the end of the day you know what your printing, and how it would work for you. the A1 likely isnt a bad buy. Depends on what your using it for. If it were me considering for personal use Id buy a p1s then come back around and buy an A1 but i have a prototyping business that ive been fortunate enough to add on printing some fun stuff for commissions as well so my needs are unique.
With all that said ill also point out that any bambu printer is much easier to use then any other printer ive used thus far. I havent messed around with an A1 but did play with an A1 mini and I have to say that it is a good printer, much nicer then other bedslinger types and coupled with bambu slicer (or orca slicer) just easy to use. I can see the value on the A series printers and i even understand why bambu labs introduced those specific printers and honestly think it was smart. personally im considering an A1 purchase just so i can do simnple projects without tying up a core xy printer and have the option of up to 4 colors multi printing or do lithopanes. As i said previously i personally cant justify tying up one of my core xy printers for a lithopane or multi color print.
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