One-pass laser printers speed up color printing<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id<\/p>\n
Color laser printers used to need a lot of investment, take a lot
\nof time to print and be a challenge to use. That was why when PT
\nHarrisma Agung Jaya, a distributor of Fuji Xerox Phaser printers
\nfor Indonesia, offered me the chance to try out their fast, easy-
\nto-use, one-pass color laser printer, I got pretty excited.
\nI agreed, and I was given a week to play around with their demo
\nunit before it would be taken to another customer for testing.<\/p>\n
In the past, laser printers had to run four passes to print a
\ncolor page. During each pass, one of the four colors -- cyan,
\nmagenta, yellow and black -- was placed on the paper. This was
\nthe reason it took the printers so much longer to print color
\nimages as opposed to just black text. In single-pass printers,
\nall the four colors are printed on the medium at the same time,
\nsignificantly reducing the time required to print a page.<\/p>\n
Xerox launched two new color printers earlier last month,
\nPhaser 8200 and Phaser 6200. These two printer were meant to
\ndrive the use of color in office documents. The Phaser 8200 uses
\nsolid ink, while the Phaser 6200 uses color laser toner. There is
\nnot much price difference between the two, as the 8200 is being
\noffered at prices starting with US$2,050 while the 6200 carries a
\nprice tag starting at $2,100. I chose the laser for my test
\ndrive. My feeling is that workgroup users and office managers
\nwill prefer the more familiar laser than the solid-ink
\ntechnology.<\/p>\n
Speed daemons<\/p>\n
These two printers are quite capable. Both can print at a
\nspeed of 16 pages per minute (ppm) in color or in black and
\nwhite. The laser printer has a very high resolution, which is
\n2400 dots per inch (DPI). Fuji Xerox recommends that you never
\ntry to lift the printer alone -- that should tell you how big and
\nheavy it is.<\/p>\n
Phaser 8200 uses a 300 MHz processor, while Phaser 6200 uses a
\nPowerPC 500 MHz processor. A feature that Fuji Xerox boasts for
\nPhaser 8200 is that it can start churning out printed documents
\nwithin nine seconds after it is turned on.<\/p>\n
Phaser 6200 can be connected to an IP network using its
\nEthernet port. I used the parallel interface for my tests, but
\nthe printer also has a USB port. A hard disk with a 10 GB
\ncapacity can be added to spool the printer jobs when the printer
\nis used as a network printer, along with a maximum of 512 MB of
\nRAM. Installation of the driver, which came on a CD-ROM, was
\nquick and straightforward. Automatic duplex printing capability
\nis optional.<\/p>\n
Harrisma did not supply me with printed documentation. That
\nposed no problem at all. Not only was the printer easy to
\ninstall, its documentation can also be printed off the printer's
\nmemory. The menus on the printer were quite comprehensive,
\nalthough I did not tinker with them very much. The backlighted
\nLCD, which displays the menus, is a bit too small for people with
\nlimited vision like myself, although the characters are quite
\nsharp. Navigation is done through a set of six control buttons
\nnext to the LCD panel. The power button is located a bit too far
\nto the rear. It took me some time to locate it without the help
\nof a manual.<\/p>\n
Decent results<\/p>\n
I tested the printer using the ASUS L2 notebook that I had tested
\nearlier. Printing a whole page photo just using Windows image
\nviewer resulted in a very acceptable print. I was pleasantly
\nsurprised, because I did the test using some JPEG files sent by a
\nfriend via e-mail. I did not expect the result to be of this
\nquality. The printer produced a lot of noise when it was working,
\nthough. Other important features include Adobe Postscript 2.0
\nprinting language, TekColor Corrections for optimal color
\nresults. Its four print quality modes are Standard, Enhanced,
\nPhoto and Draft. Because it has its own IP address, we can run
\ndiagnostics and device configuration remotely using a browser.<\/p>\n
The toner is a plastic-based powder. When I took the toner
\ntube containers out, I found a lot of this powder underneath. The
\nunit I tested had been circulated among a number of other
\nreviewers, and I guess Harrisma had not had the chance to clean
\nthe unit.<\/p>\n
Overall, I like the Phaser 6200DX that I tested. Its 60,000
\npages per month duty cycle shows that it was intended to work
\nlike a horse. Clearly, both the Phaser 6200 and Phaser 8200 have
\na few strong competitors, among which are the comparably priced
\nHP LaserJet 4600 as well as another single-pass color laser
\nprinter from Matsushita-Panasonic. What I appreciate the most
\nabout these new printers is that they represent a breakthrough in
\noffice color printing in terms of speed and price.<\/p>\n
If we want a true photo quality prints, the best bet is still
\nthe specialized photo printers, of course. A laser color printer
\nis not meant to reproduce photos, they are meant to add colors to
\noffice documents to make it easier for us to highlight our
\nmessages in our memos, or impress our clients with our marketing
\ncollaterals that do not efficiently lend themselves to bulk
\nprinting. A fast and affordable printer like these two Phasers
\nare highly welcome.<\/p>",
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