New York, NY -- Reviewed in 2009 by PC Magazine, the Phaser 6280DN by Xerox is one of their newer offerings in their color laser line for small offices or workgroups. It is definitely a heavy duty printer with its monthly duty cycle of 70,000 pages. When it was first released, it was a bit more expensive than other comparable models, but has since come down in price.
The 6280DN will print at a max of 31ppm for monochrome jobs and 26ppm for color jobs, both acceptable speeds for a color laser. It comes pre-loaded with a duplexer and is network ready (hence the D and the N after the 6280). The default paper capacity is 400 sheets which consists of a 250-sheet drawer and a 150-sheet multipurpose tray. If you need more paper than that, an additional 550-sheet tray can be purchased for $399, which makes the total capacity 950 sheets. It comes with both PCL and PostScript drivers, with the PostScript being the recommended install.
As this is a heavy duty printer, it is not small by any means. The Phaser 6280 measures 18.6” x 15.7” x 19.3” (H xW x D) and weighs almost 65 lbs. Since it is network ready, picking a central location may be the best choice for placement. If you need more flexibility in placement, a wireless adapter can be purchased for $219 (direct from Xerox). The standard 6280DN comes with 256MB of standard memory. Additional memory is available for the machine with another 256MB ($599) or 512MB ($719). While it is not the speediest printer out there, it has among the best quality output for text and graphics. Photos were good, but not great quality.
In terms of ink, the 6280 uses 4 separate toner cartridges for black, cyan, magenta, and yellow and each has a high-yield option. The standard black cartridge yields 3,000 pages and runs $99.99 and each color yields 2,220 pages and runs $109.99. The unit does ship with standard yield cartridges instead of “starter” cartridges like some other printers. Overall, this a is good choice for busy small offices and workgroups in need of a reasonably priced color laser.
