Printing at warp speed

Xerox’s state-of-the-art Phaser 6360 is a single-pass colour laser printer that offers high-speed performance for SMB customers.

CRN Test Centre engineers looked at the Phaser 6360/DN, which offers 1200 x 600dpi native resolution and up to 2400 x 600dpi enhanced resolution.

At $1599, Xerox touts it as the value model of the line. With standard automatic two-sided printing, it’s a step up from the base-model 6360/N at $1399, but comes with less memory than the 6360/DT, the next model in the family. At the top of the line is the DX, which includes an internal hard drive.

Performance is where the unit really excels. It can produce output at speeds of up to 42 pages per minute (ppm) in colour and black and white, with the first page out in as little as nine seconds. A 1GHz processor and 256 Mbytes of memory help it attain those speeds, and its memory can be upgraded to 1 Gbyte if necessary to boost performance. The Phaser 6360’s duty cycle is a generous 100,000 pages per month, and it offers true Adobe PostScript 3 printing.

Engineers tested for performance and image quality using a stopwatch and select files from the Spencer & Associates Printer Test Suite, a collection of documents and photos designed to push printers to their limits. In one example, the Phaser 6360/DN printed a photo of a castle in 10.2 seconds, compared to 13 seconds to 90 seconds for previous generations of the product.
In order to achieve such performance, Xerox has reduced image quality in the default print mode. While produced quickly, the printout lacked some of the vividness of the output produced by older models. To match the image quality of its predecessors, the Phaser 6360/DN also offers a fully enhanced mode, which took 34 seconds to produce the same image.

Text, on the other hand, rarely needs enhancing. The Phaser 6360/DN printed a 10-page monochrome Microsoft Word document in 21.5 seconds and a 10-page Word document with colour headings in 22.1 seconds. In each case, the first page printed in just eight seconds. Not counting the eight seconds that the printer takes to get itself going, those performance numbers correlate to a print speed of about 40 ppm, close to its rated speed of 42 ppm.

It is amazing enough that paper can even be fed through the printer at such speed, let alone the fact that images are laid down at the same time. For comparison, previous generations took as long as 50 seconds to produce the same print job.
Intended for shared use, networking is standard on all Phaser 6360 models: The printers feature a 10/100 NIC and a USB 2.0 port for connection to a local computer. The Phaser 6360 also supports Xerox’s CentreWare Web printer management software, which allows solution providers and network administrators to remotely configure and manage multiple printers. A remote printing feature allows printing to any networked Phaser printer from anywhere in the world via email.

The printer has a standard input capacity of 700 sheets that combines the main paper tray’s capacity of 550 sheets and the multi-purpose tray’s capacity of 150 sheets. The main paper tray will accept a maximum size of 21.5cm x 35.5cm.
The multi-purpose tray, which can handle heavy paper, transparencies, envelopes and labels, allows banner printing up to 21.5cm by 91.4cm. With optional paper trays, the maximum input capacity increases to 2350 sheets. The output tray holds 250 sheets. A real-time paper tray status shows all available media types and sizes on users’ desktops.

Other special printing features include poster printing, where a single-page document can be printed on nine sheets of paper that can be linked together to form a single poster-size document. Booklet printing automatically arranges documents so they can be folded and stapled. Watermark printing allows text such as ‘Draft’ or ‘Confidential’ to be printed in the background of each page.

Toner cartridges are easy to change. The standard capacity toner cartridges are good for up to 9000 pages for black and 5000 pages for colour, while high-capacity cartridges are good for up to 18,000 pages for black and 12,000 pages for colour. A Run Black feature allows printing to continue in black-and-white if one or more of the colour toner cartridges is empty.

Setting up the Phaser 6360/DN is easy, as everything but the imaging unit comes pre-installed.

Partners can look for service opportunities by preparing network infrastructure to support shared printing. Another sales opportunity not to be overlooked is proper furniture to support the printer and store paper.

Solution providers are generally pleased with the performance of Xerox’s products.

“The printers deliver consistent build quality and good value, and they excel at printing graphics,” said Don Federman, Xerox sales co-ordinator at Microtech Computer Centre, Syracuse, New York.

Customer support is also strong, he said. “Xerox goes farther than other vendors to support the customer, which is very important after the sale is completed. Its compensation programs are very generous with lots of sales rewards for loyal customers.”

Xerox’s channel program offers two levels: Peak and Peak Elite. With $10,000 in sales, Peak resellers can earn quarterly back-end and instant rebates. Resellers who are authorised service providers, participate in web-based quarterly training, maintain a current demo unit and meet a minimum quarterly sales volume of $25,000 are eligible for Peak Elite status.

Peak program benefits include incentives, special sales programs, promotions, a demo program, MDF funds, free training, education discounts and sales and marketing tools.

In addition to Peak program benefits, Peak Elite resellers also receive prioritised leads, web referrals and web placement for Xerox Office products and supplies and up to $1000 worth of sales and promotional literature. Product margins range from 10 to 14 percent.

An ideal all-in-one for SMBs
Finding an all-in-one colour laser that’s small in size but strong enough to support small workgroups can be a tall order. The CRN Test Centre found that Konica Minolta’s Magicolor 2490MF fits the bill as an ideal all-in-one imaging solution for SMBs.

The $799 unit combines print, copy, scan and fax functions, along with a PictBridge function for direct printing from compatible digital cameras. It has a flatbed scanner on top, along with an automated document feeder (ADF). The built-in NIC allows for easy network integration or it can be connected to a workstation through the USB interface.

Like Konica Minolta’s high-end printers, the Magicolor 2490MF’s Simitri Poly-merised Toner contributes to its dazzling output. The printer comes with a 4500-page monochrome cartridge and 1500-page colour cartridges.

The printer’s drum cartridge is good for approximately 45,000 monochrome prints or 11,250 colour prints.

We tested the Magicolor 2490MF for performance and image quality using a stopwatch and selected files from the Spencer & Associates Printer Test Suite, a collection of documents and photos designed to push printers to their limits. Like most of Konica Minolta’s recent offerings, the Magicolor 2490MF’s image quality is quite good. Colour accuracy, contrast and detail are above average. Copies made of the printed photos also looked good, although somewhat less vivid than the originals. Copies of text pages looked more or less as good as the originals.

The printer’s performance is good for a four-pass printer but somewhat slower than what Konica Minolta claims. Rated at 20 ppm in monochrome with the first page out in 13 seconds, it printed a 10-page monochrome Word document in 40 seconds with the first page out in 13 seconds. Also rated at 5 ppm in color with the first page out in 22 seconds, a 10-page Word document with colour headings took two minutes nine seconds to print with the first page out in exactly 22 seconds.

The unit’s 600 x 600dpi printer offers enhanced modes of 1200 x 600dpi and 2400 x 600dpi. While it takes paper no larger than 21.5cm x 35.5cm, it supports glossy and thick stock, transparencies, postcards, laser-quality labels and photo media. An optional duplexer allows the printing of two-sided documents and two-sided copies from one-sided originals. A multi-purpose input tray handles 200 sheets but can be expanded to 500 with an optional tray. The standard paper output holds 100 sheets face-down.

Konica Minolta also claims that the unit will copy in monochrome at up to 20 ppm and in colour at up to 5 ppm. Again, the printer was slower than its ratings, but it did copy as fast as it can print. A 10-page monochrome text document was copied using the ADF in 55 seconds and a 10-page document with colour headings was copied in colour in two minutes 38 seconds.

While its performance won’t leave anyone in awe, the Magicolor 2490MF is more than adequate for use by a small workgroup.

As a stand-alone copier, personnel can make use of the flatbed scanner or ADF. Note that the ADF will hold up to 50 sheets of paper. To make copies, all the user has to do is press the copy button and then press either the monochrome or colour button, depending on the desired output. With the optional duplexer installed, two-sided copies can be made from single-sided originals in order to save paper. The contrast, quality and resolution of the copies are set from the control panel. Copies also can be reduced or enlarged from 50 percent to 200 percent of the original size.

Scans can be made in 24-bit colour or monochrome at resolutions of 600 x 600dpi or 600 x 300dpi. Color scans take 10 seconds while monochrome scans take only four seconds. Scans can be made through the USB 2.0 interface or directly to email with the 10/100 Ethernet interface. The bundled ScanSoft PaperPort SE allows scans to be saved in PDF, JPG, TIFF and other popular file formats, and the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) function converts documents to editable text.

Fax functionality includes nine one-touch dials, 100 speed dials, 125 broadcast stations, and group dialing with nine groups and 50 stations per group. Bundled software called FaxTalk Communicator lets users send and receive digital faxes from their PCs.

Konica Minolta’s channel program features two levels: Gold partners must meet certain business model requirements, while Platinum partners must sell $40,000 per half in Konica Minolta hardware.

With heavy use, the Magicolor 2490MF will go through a lot of consumables, so solution providers can generate recurring revenue selling toner. Solution providers also can benefit by selling various accessories such as the 500-sheet input feeder and an automatic duplexer.

The printer comes with a one-year exchange warranty, but solution providers also can sell extended warranties. Other revenue opportunities include rebates for hitting volume gates and the opportunity to offer managed print services around Konica Minolta’s line.