Xerox Phaser 4400/N

WHAT'S HOT: The Phaser 4400 prints near-perfect black text and does so slightly faster than the chart average, at 17.8 ppm. It also does a great job with narrow lines and even manages to turn out decent-looking gray-scale images (a feat beyond the reach of many monochrome laser printers). Another nice touch: Lots of help files loaded in memory, so that if your print quality drops off or you need help replacing components, simply print out a tip sheet from the control panel. Operating the control panel is simple, because the backlit LCD always displays prompts to help you along.

WHAT'S NOT: A set-up poster guides you through the initial stages of installing the printer, but the rest of the printed documentation essentially repeats the poster. Fortunately, a documentation CD includes Flash animations that explain topics such as maintaining the printer, using the driver, and managing the printer over a network.

WHAT ELSE: Xerox's pricing on options is reasonable: A duplexer costs $329, an envelope feeder or 550-sheet feeder costs $299 (you can add two 550-sheet feeders), and a 500-sheet stacker costs $279.