Xerox Phaser 6128MFPV/N review

Xerox's Phaser 6128MFPV/N is a bulky workgroup MFP with a maximum duty cycle of 40,000 mono or 10,000 colour pages per month.

When we first turned it on, a handy configuration screen prompted us to confirm the date, time, network, fax and paper settings. Driver installation was incredibly simple, and the installer scanned our network and detected the printer immediately before installing its emulated PCL6 driver.

The sheer number of buttons and functions on the front panel was confusing at first. Its built-in menus provide control over everything from paper types to power saving. We were disappointed to find that not all these options were available from the printer's web administration interface. It focuses on network settings, and lets you control which IP addresses are allowed to print as well as features such as error notification.

You can't use your PC as the host device to control scans over a network, which prevents you from making scans from within applications. To do so, you must connect to the 6128MFPV/N via USB, an irritating limitation in a network device. However, this is unlikely to affect users who just need to make quick scans. The printer can be configured to save scans to a shared directory on your network, an FTP server or an email address.

Over a USB connection, the TWAIN scanner driver is basic, lacking features such as auto-cropping, but it's easy to use and remains open between scans. Scan quality was generally good, with fairly accurate colour and shading, although 1,200dpi scans were slightly banded at full magnification.

Print quality was excellent, with sharp text and vivid, smooth colours in our business document prints. Mono print speeds were a little slow at 9.9ppm, but colour prints emerged at a relatively swift 5.6ppm. Photo-quality images were smooth and detailed but suffered from a pink tint, particularly in pale areas.

Toner costs are typical for a laser at 10.5p per mixed-colour page, but other parts can be expensive and hard to come by. The drum has a lifetime of 30,000 images. Xerox doesn't consider it to be user-replaceable, but you can get spares from specialist retailers for around £250.

The 6128MFPV/N produces attravailable, professional-looking prints but its total cost of ownership is higher than most similarly priced colour laser MFPs. It'll cost you £741 for three years' light use and £1,954 for three years' medium use. Epson's Aculaser CX21NF costs a little more to buy, but is cheaper to run.

Author: Kat Orphanides