Xerox WorkCentre 6015N review

Multifunction colour lasers usually come at a premium, but Xerox’s new WorkCentres are surprisingly inexpensive. Here, we test the 6015N network version, which offers scan, copy and fax functions, along with 12ppm claimed print speeds for colour and 15ppm for mono, but there are also USB and wireless models to choose from.

We recommend visiting the CentreWare web console to set up scan, fax and email features, plus address books. These include fax speed-dial lists, users, groups, email addresses, network shares and FTP sites, all stored on the printer, so users can send or copy documents by browsing destinations on the control panel. For direct scanning to email, mail server details need to be entered at the console.

Documents can be scanned to email, sent to network systems via FTP or SMB, or to a local USB stick. The printer holds 100 fax speed-dial entries and you can send documents directly from a PC using the fax driver. This loads a dialog box for adding recipients and browsing an address book.

Print speeds are as claimed, with a 15-page Word document taking one minute on the Black setting. Our 24-page DTP colour print took two minutes at both standard and photo settings, but the time to first page can be up to 20 seconds. Copy speeds to the printer were slow, with ten pages taking almost four minutes, whereas copying them to an FTP server took 1min 30secs.

Text is sharp, with plenty of detail in mono photos. Colour prints are also impressive, with the Presentation option offering more vivid colours and greater detail. For such a low-cost MFP, scan colour quality is surprisingly good.

The negative is that the low purchase price means high running costs: colour pages cost 12p and mono 2.4p, and it ships with 500-page starter cartridges. That’s steep, but if you can look past this, the 6015N is easy to use, with a decent output quality and plenty of management tools. It’s a good choice for any small office.

Author: Dave Mitchell