Review: Printing At Warp Speed
CRN Test Center engineers looked at the Phaser 6360/DN, which offers 1,200 x 600 dpi native resolution and up to 2,400 x 600 dpi enhanced resolution.
At $1,599, Xerox touts it as the value model of the line. With standard automatic two-sided printing, it's a step up from the base-model 6360/N at $1,399, but comes with less memory than the 6360/DT, the next model in the family. At the top of the line is the DX, which includes an internal hard drive.
Performance is where the unit really excels. It can produce output at speeds up to 42 pages per minute (ppm) in color and black and white, with the first page out in as little as 9 seconds. A 1GHz processor and 256 Mbytes of memory help it attain those speeds, and its memory can be upgraded to 1 Gbyte if necessary to boost performance. The Phaser 6360's duty cycle is a generous 100,000 pages per month, and it offers true Adobe PostScript 3 printing.
Engineers tested for performance and image quality using a stopwatch and select files from the SpencerAssociates Printer Test Suite, a collection of documents and photos designed to push printers to their limits. In one example, the Phaser 6360/DN printed a photo of a castle in 10.2 seconds, compared to 13 seconds to 90 seconds for previous generations of the product.
In order to achieve such performance, Xerox has reduced image quality in the default print mode. While produced quickly, the printout lacked some of the vividness of the output produced by older models. To match the image quality of its predecessors, the Phaser 6360/DN also offers a fully enhanced mode, which took 34 seconds to produce the same image.
Text, on the other hand, rarely needs enhancing. The Phaser 6360/DN printed a 10-page monochrome Microsoft Word document in 21.5 seconds and a 10-page Word document with color headings in 22.1 seconds. In each case, the first page printed in just 8 seconds. Not counting the 8 seconds that the printer takes to get itself going, those performance numbers correlate to a print speed of about 40 ppm, close to its rated speed of 42 ppm.
It is amazing enough that paper can even be fed through the printer at such speed, let alone the fact that images are laid down at the same time. For comparison, previous generations took as long as 50 seconds to produce the same print job.
Intended for shared use, networking is standard on all Phaser 6360 models: The printers feature a 10/100 NIC and a USB 2.0 port for connection to a local computer. The Phaser 6360 also supports Xerox's CentreWare Web printer management software, which allows solution providers and network administrators to remotely configure and manage multiple printers. A remote printing feature allows printing to any networked Phaser printer from anywhere in the world via e-mail.
The printer has a standard input capacity of 700 sheets; that combines the main paper tray's capacity of 550 sheets and the multipurpose tray's capacity of 150 sheets. The main paper tray will accept a maximum size of 8.5 inches by 14 inches.
The multipurpose tray, which can handle heavy paper, transparencies, envelopes and labels, allows banner printing up to 8.5 inches by 36 inches. With optional paper trays, the maximum input capacity increases to 2,350 sheets. The output tray holds 250 sheets. A realtime paper tray status shows all available media types and sizes on users' desktops.
Other special printing features include poster printing, where a single-page document can be printed on nine sheets of paper that can be linked together to form a single poster-size document. Booklet printing automatically arranges documents so they can be folded and stapled. Watermark printing allows text such as "Draft" or "Confidential" to be printed in the background of each page.
Toner cartridges are easy to change. The standard capacity toner cartridges are good for up to 9,000 pages for black and 5,000 pages for color while high-capacity cartridges are good for up to 18,000 pages for black and 12,000 pages for color. A Run Black feature allows printing to continue in black-and-white if one or more of the color toner cartridges is empty.
Next: The Bottom Line Setting up the Phaser 6360/DN is easy, as everything but the imaging unit comes pre-installed.
Partners can look for service opportunities by preparing network infrastructure to support shared printing. Another sales opportunity not to be overlooked is proper furniture to support the printer and store paper.
Solution providers are generally pleased with the performance of Xerox's products.
"The printers deliver consistent build quality and good value, and they excel at printing graphics," said Don Federman, Xerox sales coordinator at Microtech Computer Center, Syracuse, N.Y.
Customer support also is strong, he said. "Xerox goes farther than other vendors to support the customer, which is very important after the sale is completed. Its compensation programs are very generous with lots of sales rewards for loyal customers."
Xerox's channel program offers two levels: Peak and Peak Elite. With $10,000 in sales, Peak resellers can earn quarterly back-end and instant rebates. Resellers who are authorized service providers, participate in Web-based quarterly training, maintain a current demo unit and meet a minimum quarterly sales volume of $25,000 are eligible for Peak Elite status.
Peak program benefits include incentives, special sales programs, promotions, a demo program, MDF funds, free training, education discounts and sales and marketing tools. In addition to Peak program benefits, Peak Elite resellers also receive prioritized leads, Web referrals and Web placement for Xerox Office products and supplies and up to $1,000 worth of sales and promotional literature. Product margins range from 10 percent to 14 percent.