Xerox Phaser 6120N

Xerox is literally synonymous with photocopying in some parts of the world. And as a photocopier is essentially a laser printer with a scanner on top, we'd expect top performance from the company's workgroup laser printers. Unfortunately, in this case, we're left disappointed.

We can forgive the demure appearance of the unit; a workgroup laser is never going to win beauty awards. But this laser printer isn't going to win any speed awards either. Due to its four-pass technology, where cyan, magenta, yellow and black are applied separately to colour pages, any document with even a splash of colour is churned out at 5ppm. At default settings, even our 5 per cent coverage mono document was produced at this speed. To get the 20ppm quoted speed, you need to set the printer driver to greyscale before printing. If you forget, you'll be left waiting for the results.

This might have been acceptable if the print quality was something worth waiting for. But it's standard at best with muddy, lacklustre colours and lost detail throughout. Black text even showed a slight red fringing (unless you're printing in greyscale), which is simply unforgivable on a modern print engine. This is in stark contrast to the Lexmark C522n. Not only are colour pages produced around four times faster, but the richness and vibrancy compare favourably to inkjet output.

Total cost of ownership offers some refuge for the Xerox, with mono pages produced slightly cheaper than even the high-yield cartridges in the Lexmark. The tables are turned when printing in colour though, with the Lexmark saving you either 1.5p or 0.4p per page when using the standard or high-yield cartridges respectively. Your Xerox dealer might also offer PagePack, a fixed price service agreement that includes toner supplies. We appreciate Xerox's CentreWare Internet Services software too, which makes it easier to manage the printer over your network.

Unlike the Lexmark, this Xerox doesn't have an integrated duplex unit, so if you want double-sided prints you'll have to pay an additional £199. This option also includes an extra 128MB RAM to speed large PDFs and presentations. There's also a 20GB hard disk option for £273, which provides the facility to store templates, as well as offering secure password-protected printing.

The Lexmark has easily the better screen too. Rather than the outdated two-line affair of the Xerox, the Lexmark boasts a clear and elegant four-line display. The Xerox shows the print job progress, but again, the C522n goes one better by showing you the name of the job too. Then there's the flimsy output tray of the Xerox, which snaps out of its plastic hinges all too easily, and is covered by a piece of plastic that just sits loosely on top.

If you're looking for a colour workgroup printer, the Lexmark is the one to go for. Given that this is faster, gives better quality, is cheaper to run overall and costs only slightly more, it leaves the 6120N looking a poor purchase. Its only redeeming feature is the hard disk option, but unless everyone in the office is printing sensitive documents, you'll be significantly better off buying the C522n.

Author: Clive Webster