Xerox Phaser 6180 color laser--update

[elmo3]

See original thread:

http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/249...msg-249031



OK, so I threw some photos at this baby. Disclaimer: It still has only the factory 128MB of RAM, and I don't know if more RAM will make any qualitative difference. I will have more RAM in it next week, I hope.

Anyway, the first thing I did was a drop and print. I just dumped the photos right to the machine and let it do whatever it did. I made no changes to the print dialog box, so the image quality was on Standard. This was fine for casual use, but, um, I wanted more.

I played around with InDesign and color conversions, watching the various effects and getting a handle on what was making a difference and what wasn't.

In the end I installed the printer's ColorSync profile (on both Mac and Windows; I got identical results from each platform) and told the driver to link to that profile and do all the conversions.

Man, did that make a difference. I was stunned at the color quality. But still, as I looked at the Mac prints it was obvious that the highlights were blown out and there was still a bunch of noise. Well, I thought, maybe that's just a limitation of this machine. But on poking around a bit I turned the image quality to Enhanced, and that was the ticket. The color was great AND the highlights were smooth and a bunch of the noise was gone.

It's interesting to note that on Windows, installing the .icm file and going to the driver's Properties dialog/color management tab, and forcing the driver to use the profile, grayed out the driver's image quality options. Hmmmm, makes sense. So it's a one-step process in the Windows driver.

But on the Mac driver, you still have to do the two-step of finding and using the ColorSync utility and using THAT to link the profile to the printer, and then setting the Enhanced print quality option every time you print a job. I wish Apple would get their sh*t together on the user experience with printing.

Anyway, there you go. $600 or so and 12 cents or so per page, and it's a great utility printer that can also step up to the plate and (with some processing time; don't kid yourself) do a great job on photos.

[lafinfil]

So what did you have to pay for this thing ?

[jdc]

$449 after $50 for the base model, $600ish for the model elmo got with the duplexer and extra whatever

read the other post, i commented on the now discontinued 8500/8550

[elmo3]

I got the duplex model; I think it goes for $600 or so plus $35 for 2 day shipping, and that's from Xerox Direct.

The model without the duplex module installed is less.

Here you go:

http://www.office.xerox.com/printers/col.../enus.html

$450 and $600, plus shipping.

It is specifically not aimed at home users. Xerox claims they're opening a new niche here with a one-pass printer at this price and speed (20ppm, remember) aimed at the small workgroup, maybe 3-5 people.

This replaces the 6120, which is still around for awhile at a very friendly price but which isn't true Adobe Postscript and which is a four pass printer, printing at 5ppm. When the 6120 is gone Xerox may be out of the four pass printer market except for the absolute low end (see 6110 printer and 6115MFP all-in-one).

[jdc]

have you priced toner carts yet?

[Racer X]

yeah, the previous post alluded to @$800 to replace the 3 colors and the black.

[elmo3]

[quote jdc]have you priced toner carts yet?
http://www.office.xerox.com/printers/col...-enus.html

Retail price $777.96 for a full set of the high-capacity cartridges. If you get 6000 out of them, that's 13 cents/print.

That doesn't take into account the cost of the fuser and the transfer belt assemblies, which don't have specific lives but which nonetheless will need infrequent replacement. In fact, you may never need to replace those, depending on how you use the printer. The cost of those assemblies is not yet available, probably because no one should need them yet.


OK, a thought: how does the 13 cents for a full page print compare to an inkjet? It seems to me that the only thing an inkjet has going for it is that the carts are relatively inexpensive, which means you can buy a set for $20 to $50 instead of $800. This allows you the option of having a VERY infrequently used printer and paying as you go, rather than investing in something like this. But those inkjets can dry out and leave you to go buy a new one, or a cartridge could go bad on the shelf whereas that's not going to happen with the laser cartridge.

[lafinfil]

So what did you pay for yours elmo ?

[mattkime]

I think elmo is posting his favorable review just to prove that he can be happy with SOMETHING.

So, take notice!

[jdc]

if you print any photos or design work with some color coverage at all, figure up to 10% coverage rather than the 5% xerox estimates

i use my xerox 7300 for graphic intensive stuff, rarely will print anything with just text -- my coverage for the last 3 years has been: 9% cyan, 10% magenta, 11% yellow and 6% black

ive run 55,000 pages so far, but i would say 50,000 of them have been 12 X 18 sheets, which for xerox counts as 2, so nearly 100,000 pages since i have bought it

my carts run $300 each CMY and $200 for black, and supposed to get 15,000 prints per cart with 5% coverage. $180 for imaging units, which last 2 X the toner

im lucky if i get 5,000 sheets

great printer, but i have spent 10X the cost of the printer on toner vs the price of the printer new, about $3500