Pros: Inexpensive toner, toner/drums separate, incredible color quality, fast warm-up, great paper handling.
Cons: Heavy (as you'd imagine), loud.
The Bottom Line: This is THE color laser printer to get -- it handles every paper size, the toner is inexpensive, it warms up faster than you can click "Print".
dada21's Full Review: Xerox Phaserâ„¢ 7400/DT Laser Printer
I run a print shop for churches. We do a LOT of color printing. 8.5x11 is "dead" in my industry, and everyone wants more than just 11x17, they want 11x17 full bleed. Most offices should, too. I'd even venture that most print designers who work from home should be able to produce proofs for their clients from home -- and that means 11x17 full bleed.
I use every kind of color laser imaginable, because we tend to get them donated to our business. Our favorites for a long time were the Xerox Phaser 2135s, which are really outdated, but are still powerhouses. When a great order came through recently, we ended up having to make a decision for something newer, so I spent 6 weeks trying every medium format color laser imaginable.
The HP went back -- cartridges were too expensive, they printed too slow, and I really didn't like how they printed on card stock. Also, the machine was a bear to work with and maintain. Eventually a demo unit of the Xerox Phaser 7400 came in, and we made a puchasing decision in less than 1 day.
The Xerox 7400 DT model is the base model 7400, but with an auto-duplexer. The duplexer works great on most paper-types (except card stock, which requires a pass through the manual tray). The printer is unbelievably fast, even being ready to print from power down in under a minute. When its awake, it will kick out an 11x17 first page print in under 20 seconds. We get 30ppm easily in 8.5x11 color.
The Xerox's greatest color feature is the ability to pick between a variety of output modes (Standard, Enhanced, Photo) that actually DO make a difference. Each mode kicks up the discernible resolution slightly, uses more toner, but also makes the output better. This color laser can do photos fairly well.
The Xerox 7400 also has the drums separate from the toner cartridges -- a big savings since you don't have to replace the drums on every toner swap. There are third party toner manufacturers for the 7400, so the cost per page is far less than Canon, HP, or any of the other 11x17 manufacturers.
The Xerox 7400 handles 12x18 (11x17 full bleed paper) in ALL of its trays, so it is ready for use by a real low-quantity print shop. Using third party toner, you can bring your cost down to 7 cents a page for a double sided 8.5x11 page -- less than half that of HP.
The Phaser also has built-in networking, which comes with a one-button installer. We had this printer running on our 12 PC network in seriously less than 15 minutes of receiving the box from Xerox.
Also, the manual tray is almost completely flat through the machine -- no more curled card stock or flaking toner.
If your office needs the ability for quality presentations, or you have a facility that does a lot of color and wants to bring down the cost and time spent on output, the Xerox Phaser 7400 family is the only way to go.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 3799 Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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