Cameras
Camcorders
Cell Phones
Components
Desktops
HDTV
Home Theater
GPS
Laptops
Monitors
MP3 Players
Networking &
Printers
Storage
RSS
The Phaser 6250N is in most ways a good printer for small workgroups. It costs only $2299, printed text at a roughly average 14.6 pages per minute, and churned out graphics at a blazing 6.1 ppm--faster than any other printer we've tested except the $6800 Xerox Phaser 7750DN. Unfortunately, while black text looked clean at ordinary sizes, overall it was the least attractive text of all the models we tested. The text also had an unpleasant shine and seemed too bold. In our graphics tests, black parallel lines mysteriously picked up some color and had gritty barbs. Gray-scale photos looked flat and were too dark, though they had good detail except in shadows; some color photos were too dark, dotty, and weak on detail. We tried Xerox's glossy laser paper on the 6250N and liked its heavier weight and smooth texture, but it didn't boost image quality by much.
Xerox equipped the 6250N with its standard control panel, including a backlit LCD and easy-to-follow menus. You can print help files while standing at the printer, such as a guide to using different paper types. The printer has an internal Web server, which works with Xerox's WorkCentre printer management software so you can use a Web browser to check the printer's status, gather job-accounting information, and set up e-mail notifications for events such as paper jams and empty toner cartridges. Installing the printer under Windows Server 2003's print spooler was an easy, well-documented procedure in Xerox's extensive, though choppy, on-screen help files and minimanuals.
Though the 6250N is best suited for smaller offices, Xerox offers a lot of options for it, including a duplexer for $499, a 500-sheet feeder for $399, and a 1000-sheet feeder for $599. Xerox also sells a $599 scanner attachment that allows the printer to function as a copier. Toner consumption in our page-yield test came to 12 cents per page--about average.
Upshot: Compared with other similarly priced models, the Phaser 6250 is very fast and delivers comparable graphics quality, but its text was the least attractive of the bunch.
Dan Littman
