Big bang for the buck
Written: Oct 27 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: small footprint, large paper capacity, it's built in ability to directly attach 2 computers for sharing, its industry leading 3 year warranty, and its low cost make it and ideal printer when matched with an ink jet for graphics
Cons: graphics quality, requirement for lots of computer memory
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| Gondo's Full Review: Xerox DocuPrint P8 |
I have owned a Xerox P8 for over a year now. Its advantages are its small footprint, large paper capacity, it's built in ability to directly attach 2 computers for sharing, and its industry leading 3 year warranty. This printer prints text and graphs with the speed and quality you'd expect from a laser. I have also printed many envelopes with no problems at all.
As far far as graphics go, the quality is not up to par with higher end lasers I have used. But why would you use a laser printer for graphics when ink jets clearly rule this market. Large graphics or .PDF files also cause buffer underuns because of the small 512k of memory in the printer, requiring you to reduce the resolution or size of the picture. The advantage of this printer is that it is dependent on you computer's RAM and not the printer's memory which is very expensive on other models. I'd highly recommend having 256MB of RAM in your computer to use this printer or you will not be able to print full page high resolution graphics. The 256MB of memory will also greatly improve the performance of your computer.
Paper jams occur very infrequently. I have had to contact customer support once after a paper jam and I couldn't get the printer to work. The customer support was excellent and they had me on my way in no time at all. There are also no Windows 2000 drivers for this printer. I e-mailed customer support and they replied the next day with an alternative driver that I have been using under Windows 2000 for the last 10 months without any problems.
Ink Jets are expensive to run and those without disposable print heads, such as with Epson, are in my opinion not designed for every day use. But the exceptional print quality and low cost of ink jet printers make them a necessity for printing the occasional graphics. Lasers are best left for the every day printing of text and charts from programs such as WordPerfect and QuatroPro, and for cheap draft printing such as from web pages.
The Xerox has its disadvantages in terms of graphics output and the requirement for 256MB of RAM for those large graphics. If you only plan on purchasing one printer I'd recommend dishing out the extra cash for an HP1100. If not, I'd highly recommend the Xerox P8 with only 128MB of RAM for your text and web page printing, and then buying an ink jet for the occasional color graphic that a laser just can't match. The low cost of the Xerox P8 will justify the purchase of the ink jet. And since the ink jet will only be used occasionally, you won't have to worry about the high cost of ink and the fact that Epson printers without disposable ink heads only last for 1 year before you have to buy a new printer.
In conclusion, I would recommend buying the Xerox P8 and an HP ink jet. The Xerox has the speed you can't live without when printing text, and the HP has the quality and disposable print head you deserve for that once a month graphic. I'd rather own these 2 then a higher quality laser such as an HP1100, but if your only going to buy the one printer get the HP1100 and stay away from the Xerox cause the fact that 256MB of RAM are required to print low quality graphics isn't worth it. Don't bash a company because of one failed product. The P8 is worth it's price, its a good cheap laser that would make a great team if matched with an ink jet.
But if your going to go for a higher end laser such as an HP1100, don't shun out Xerox cause it too has higher end lasers highly worth considering. And we must all realize that those Tektronix Color printers that the world fell in love with are now made by Xerox. So if there's any of you out there who are still dreaming of owning a Tektronix Phaser printer there's no escaping Xerox.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Gondo
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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