You get what you pay for
Written: Oct 04 '00 (Updated Dec 04 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap, small footprint
Cons: Smearing
The Bottom Line: After over three years of putting up with this printer, I feel compelled to downgrade my rating to "below average".
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| wyu's Full Review: Xerox DocuPrint P8 |
After having used the Xerox Docuprint P8 for a year now, I have mixed feelings about this product. While it is one of the cheapest laser printers on the market, it does have some drawbacks that you should consider before purchasing one.
Negatives
1. Smearing
The occasional page will emerge from the printer with an unsightly band of grey across the top and or bottom. After a year of use, I still have not discovered the reason behind this phenomenon even after following the instruction manual's suggested solution. If you like to save paper and like to print on both sides of a page, forget it with this printer. Double-sided pages exacerbate the smearing problem.
2. Cartridges
They are expensive and do not last very long. The printer comes with a starter cartridge that has a capacity of 1000-1500 pages and it died before I printed more than 700. I am onto my second cartridge that is supposed to print 3000 pages, and I am waiting to see if it is going to live up to its potential. I have seen the replacement cartridges selling online for as much as $84. Three cartridges more than equal the price of a brand new P8! Isn't there something wrong with that? I guess this is where Xerox gets you back for the low price of the machine.
3. Incompatible with some paper
I recently bought some nice paper with a high cotton fibre content for resumes. This printer works well with the cheap multipurpose paper, but fails with the nice paper that has a high fibre content and therefore a rougher texture. The toner seems to have trouble "bonding" with this type of paper, and would flake off, thus rendering the letter completely illegible.
4. Output paper tray
In an obvious effort to reduce the printer's footprint, the designers put the output tray on the top of the printer. You flick a switch to control whether the paper spits out the front or out on top. However, after prolonged use, I noticed that toner dust coats the interior of the printer where it is impossible to clean or even see. As the paper is directed through to the top paper tray, smearing occurs. As a result, I've stopped using the top tray and now relies completely on the front output.
5. Speed
The speed of this printer is dependent upon the speed of your CPU, because unlike more expensive laser printers, the P8 doesn't process the print job itself, but relies on your computer to do so. As a result, the faster your computer, the faster it prints. I have a P3 500Mhz, and the P8 prints very fast. Just be aware that the P8 may not live up to its advertised speed if you have a slow computer.
That said however, the Docuprint P8 has many features that recommend it. The fact that you're looking hard at this printer shows that you're already aware of the positives, so I'm not going to belabor it here. A few things that I like:
1. It's quiet. When it is idling, it is quieter than my computer, and definitely more so than my old Canon inkjet. Its fan works pretty well too, since it didn't heat up unreasonably even when I was printing out two copies of a 100 page thesis.
2. Text quality One thing I cannot fault this printer is its text quality. Very sharp. Too bad it doesn't deal with graphics half as well.
3. Price I regret not buying this printer later, but you can get the P8 for well under $200 now.
4. Size Tucked into one corner of my desk, the P8 is a fraction of the size (and weight) of other laser printers! Its footprint is only about the area of a 8 by 11 page.
4. This feature didn't do much for me, but you can link two computers up to this printer simultaneously. This can be useful for a home office.
All in all, the Docuprint P8 is a good, serviceable printer. Just remember that you get what you pay for, so don't expect too much.
Update (12/5/02):
I have just jettisoned this printer for a Hewlett-Packard, after over three years of ownership and two years of frustration. Given that I paid $250 initially for it, and then bought two toner cartridges, my annual expenditure for this printer far exceeded $100! But we all make mistakes, and purchasing this printer was one of mine.
I finally called Xerox customer support to see if I could fix the smearing problem a while ago, and found out that to fix it (only temporarily, it turns out), you have to pull out the toner cartridge and the metal roller underneath, and then reach in there and tweak the coiled spring on the right. Over time, this spring gets compressed, and you have to pull it back "up". However, over 2-3 years of getting my hands dirty with toner dust in the process of pulling this spring, it gave out. Onward to a new printer! Buyer beware to those considering the Docuprint P8.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
wyu
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
A sporadic Epinionator who wishes that there's another hour each day just for Epinionating.
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