Xerox XJ4C

The XJ4C is no speed demon either. Plain black text on plain paper revealed a best real-world print speed of just below two pages per minute. You can get a high-speed black cartridge, but it's an optional extra (£49) and wasn't supplied for testing. Printing on better paper stock is considerably slower. A six-page mixed text and business graphics report printed at the highest quality setting on coated paper took more than 16 minutes, and a full-page photograph on glossy paper took 27 minutes.

The XJ4C provides reasonable print quality at a very competitive price. However, print quality can't quite match that which is produced by the more expensive models, such as HP's 890c (reviewed issue 38, p168), Epson's Stylus printers, Canon's BJC 7000 (reviewed issue 39, p179) or the Lexmark Color Jet Printer 7200 (reviewed issue 40, p168).

In fact, even Canon's diminutive BJC 80 managed to produce more impressive results (reviewed p168), and as our tests showed it's not the quickest of printers either. A lower cost of printing would have made a more compelling case for the XJ4C.

Author: Barry Plows