Product Reviews

Xerox printers tend to be comparatively high-volume devices, aimed unashamedly at the corporate buyer, but the company also makes more affordable products. The Phaser 3150 was announced in September 2004 and replaces the Phaser 3130 to become Xerox's entry-level mono laser.

The 3150 isn't exactly cheap, but its specification is above that of the average budget laser printer. Xerox claims it has a maximum speed of 20 pages per minute (ppm) and that it takes less than 10 seconds to print the first page.

The 3150 isn't an ugly printer, but its cream plastic and straight lines make it look a little staid. It's easy to set up, with just a few bits of tape to remove and a single consumable to insert. The supplied standard cartridge has a reasonable 3,500-page capacity, but a high-yield supply that is rated for 5,000 pages is available. With this in place, running costs should be around 1.7p per page.

The Phaser

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has a 250-sheet standard input tray that can't be upgraded. As with many other budget lasers this tray is partially exposed at the rear, which lets dust get on to the paper stack. Above is a sturdy 50-sheet multipurpose manual feed, with the correct paper and envelope orientation clearly marked - a useful detail that's overlooked surprisingly often. Envelopes print slowly but without crumpling.

In our tests, the Phaser was the first printer we've seen that actually exceeded its manufacturer's speed claims. It delivered both our 50-page mono tests at 20.3ppm, taking 11 seconds to print the first page. It seemed less comfortable with the high graphical content of our mixed colour test, dropping its speed to just 8.2ppm.

Speed seemed unaffected by the driver's quality setting, and text was very good at all resolutions but 300dpi. Graphics were less impressive, though, and a good deal of horizontal banding was evident in all our graphical tests. Our greyscale tests showed distinct bands of shade rather than smooth transitions from dark to light, and photos were a little lacking in contrast.

There are plenty of affordable mono lasers and many are cheaper than this. The Phaser's print quality, speed and running costs are no better than those of the best devices from our budget laser Labs test in Shopper September 2004.

Of these, the OKI B4250 and Lexmark's E232 can be upgraded with another paper tray. The latter is now available for £76, so the Phaser 3150 seems overpriced in comparison.