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Photograph: Rick Rizner
Xerox Phaser 8400N
Pricing
$799.99 From 1 Vendor Get Best Prices »
- Spec Navigator
- Core Components
- Media Handling
- Network
- Connectivity
- Platform Support
- Dimensions
- General Features
- Green
- Resolutions
- Scanning
Media Handling
| Manual Feed Slot | No |
| Maximum Number of Input Trays | 4 |
| Maximum paper size, height | 17.0 inches |
| Maximum Sheets With All Paper Trays | 1675 |
| Output Tray Capacity | 250 |
| Standard Number of Input Trays | 2 |
| Maximum paper size, width | 11 inches |
| Standard input sheet capacity | 625 |
| Duplex printing | No |
Platform Support
| Operating System Support |
|
1.5
3 User Reviews Add your own »
$799.99
From 1 Vendor
Get Best Prices »
- Lab Tested
- How We Test Printers »
Bottom Line
Nicely designed but, while first-page-out speeds are fast, overall performance and print quality are distinctly lacking.
Xerox Phaser 8400N
Phaser 8400N Review, by Dan Littman January 27, 2004
In most ways, Xerox made the Phaser 8400N solid-ink printer a strong candidate for sharing in an office. For $1299, it comes equipped with a generous 128MB of memory and a 100-gigabit ethernet interface, a 525-sheet main feeder and a 100-sheet auxiliary tray. For additional paper capacity you can add one or two more 525-sheet feeders at $399 each. The $499 internal hard drive option supports "walk-up" features such as storing a confidential print job in memory until you go to the printer and enter a PIN, and printing the first copy of a long job so you can proof it before running the whole job. It's easy to use the control panel's special features, thanks to the backlit LCD and the precise prompts in the menus. The printer also has a fair number of tip sheets stored in its memory; for example, while standing at the printer you can print a sheet on how to set up a network connection, how to move the printer, and so on. Xerox also provides a handy reference guide meant to sit in a pouch attached to the printer, and offers extensive on-screen documentation with videos of common tasks.
The defining characteristic of Xerox's Phaser 8400N is its solid-ink technology: It prints by painting the imaging drum with waxy crayon-like blocks of colored material, instead of electrostatically attaching powdered plastic toner, as most laser printers do. The technology has several consequences, good and bad. The inks can be dropped into their shape-coded slots while the printer is operating, so you don't risk running dry in the middle of a job or ever have to take the 8400N offline to replace a toner cartridge. On the other hand, the waxy ink scratches off more easily than does plastic toner fused to paper. Also, when you first fire up the 8400N, its inks take a while to melt--we timed it at 10 minutes from a cold start until the "ready" indicator illuminated, whereas most color lasers can begin printing 15 to 20 seconds after they're powered on. The smell of melting waxes might bother some people; you might consider isolating the 8400N in a utility room.
The solid-ink technology proved especially well-suited to informational graphics and other illustrations that depend on large blocks of bold, bright colors; it didn't perform as well on photos and other documents that require subtle shading or blending of colors. In our tests, the 8400N printed color photos with accurate colors but noticeable loss of detail, and it made a blotchy, almost sponge-textured mess of gray-scale photos; line art looked very jagged. On the other hand, the 8400N produced impeccable black text. It printed text at a sluggish 9.7 pages per minute--more than 4 ppm slower than the average of recently tested color lasers. Color graphics were another story: The 8400N printed those pages at a ripping 5.4 ppm, almost half again as fast as the recent average.
Two minor complaints: The 8400N's power switch is deeply recessed on the back of the printer and is difficult to reach. Also, though the case is 16 inches wide by 20 inches deep and weighs almost 60 pounds, it provides only two handholds. We'd feel safer moving it if there were enough handholds for two people.
Upshot: The Phaser 8400N is a good fit if your office prints a lot of informational color graphics.
Dan Littman
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PCWorld Lab Results
- Rating Breakdown
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49
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82
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85
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance Comparison with Similar Printers
49
74
82
82
Performance
| Color Output Quality | Good |
| Color Photo (secs) | 24.1 |
| Color Photo, Normal Settings | 24.1 |
| Grayscale Output Quality | Poor |
| Line Art Output Quality | Poor |
| One-Page Grayscale Graphic | 17.67 |
| One-Page Grayscale Graphic (secs) | 17.67 |
| Output Score, Color Graphics, Default Settings (formerly pf-Output-Print-Color-Default) | Good |
| Output Score, Grayscale Graphics, Best Quality Settings (formerly pf-Output-Print-Grayscale-Best) | Poor |
| Output Score, Line Art, Default Settings (formerly pf-Output-Print-LineArt-Default) | Poor |
| Output Score, Text, Default Settings (formerly pf-Output-Print-Text-Default) | Fair |
| Ten-Page Word Document | 75.82 |
| Ten-Page Word Document (secs) | 75.82 |
| Text Output Quality | Fair |
| Three-Page PowerPoint Document | 42.28 |
| Three-Page PowerPoint Document (secs) | 42.28 |
| Three-Page Word Document | 25.43 |
| Three-Page Word Document (secs) | 25.43 |
| Two-Page Excel Document | 15.91 |
| Two-Page Excel Document (secs) | 15.91 |
Text Printing
| Text output quality | Fair |
User Reviews
Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
User Reviews From Around the Web
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Reviewed by: endri1
Strengths: Good product if you print color text only. Easily to integrate in your network with Xerox CenterWare (can be downloaded from Xerox site). Resolution can be adjusted to suit the job. Compact. Fast.
Weaknesses: Wax cubes are very expensive. Printer will not work if wax is low. Banner and pictures waste a lot of wax. Takes too long to warm up compared to a similar color printer.
Overall: Bought 2 of these for my office! On paper things looked good at first, documentation said that each wax cube last for over 3000 pages, but it couldn't go over 900 without adding new wax. Wax is very expensive; $65 for box of three (same color, printer has 4 colors, including black) and these (especially yellow and magenta) go in less than 2 weeks. Printer takes too long to warm up and some people have a problem with the melting wax smell. Overall, not very happy! While I must state that except for being pricey on the wax, everyone is very happy with the printout quality - my only justification for still keeping them, i regret buying these printers. Buy one if color text and graphics is most that you print, stay clear if you print pictures or ppt files with banners and embedded pictures. No other problems
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Reviewed by: csambrooks
Strengths: CheapWaterproof prints.Fast Easy setup
Weaknesses: For small to large businesses. Needs to be printed to to keep head clean, although not as much as previous generations of solid ink. Uses more hydro than lasers to keep the ink melted.
Overall: Your review on this printer states that it does about 10 pages per minute. That is its slowest speed. In fast colour resolution it will print a page 24 times in one minute. Tested by myself. Print speeds are rated by engine speed not how long it takes from time sent from the computer. Images and prints can be easy like text or complex images. Xerox rates it at 24 ppm. When the printer starts to print the page to the time the last page comes out. Due to your review some peaple have wanted to return the product claiming Xerox has cheated them. Maybe you should test this again properly!!!
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Reviewed by: debraj76
Strengths: Beautiful vivid text. Colors are bright and crisp.
Weaknesses: Interacting with software. Margins
Overall: If you need to print close to edge of custom sized stock (not regular letter), you can't do it with this. Margins cannot be closer than .49 from edge of custom-sized paper, which is a problem with our invitation business. Photoshop files very SLOW to print - Xerox really didn't give a good explanation on this.
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