Xerox Phaser 6110 review

The Xerox Phaser is one of a growing breed of machines that cost less than £100 before VAT – proof that a colour laser printer is a more practical choice than ever for home users. A glance at the specification sheet reveals it to be a decent choice, too. A 300MHz processor, backed by 32MB of non-upgradeable RAM and a claimed monochrome print speed of 16ppm, mean the Phaser is an attractive option, at least on paper.

There are a few compromises, of course. The main paper tray only accommodates 150 sheets and can't be upgraded, although, being non-networked this shouldn't pose a problem to the typical user.

More serious problems revealed themselves when we tested the printer, though. Although the Xerox bettered its 16ppm claim by a full page per minute – delivering a result equal to the impressive Dell 1320cn in the process - its four-pass engine meant that our large colour documents printed at just 4ppm. That could be a problem if you need to run off a multi-page colour document on your way out the door.

Worse, the Xerox proved weak in our image quality tests. There were no problems with plain black text, of course, but once we started introducing graphical or photographical elements to our pages there was a clear distinction to be made between the 6110 and more accomplished colours lasers such as Dell 1320cn.

Our test ISO document, which includes several typical business graphics, also suffered at the hands of the Xerox. White text on a red background printed poorly, with the edges of the white text ill-defined as the red background bled into the writing. This problem became more pronounced as the font size decreased. Print quality was by no means horrible – we'd be perfectly happy using the Xerox 6110 for everyday use, but we'd hesitate to describe its output as being truly professional.

With that low purchase price, it's hardly a surprise that the Xerox isn't particularly cheap to run. If you use it for long enough you'll eventually need to replace the imaging unit and the waste toner unit (at just 1,250 colour sheets), so its TCO quickly rises to £300 after 5,000 pages. There's also no sign of high-capacity toner cartridges, so there's no opportunity for high volume users to keep their costs down.

The Phaser 6110 isn't a bad printer by any means – it's reasonably fast and its print quality would pass muster if you weren't comparing it to anything else. But with the likes of the excellent Dell 1320cn offering a similar price for the printer itself and lower running costs, plus integrated networking, the Xerox is not a realistic proposition.

Author: Dave Stevenson