Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I am awarding this printer 5 stars for its ease of installation, quality of output, quality of workmanship, unit price and the average cost of a printed page.
The Xerox Phaser 6125N appears to be a solid, quality unit. Given that you will print about 500 pages before you need to buy your next toner, you get a lot of value for the price. Thereafter, based on the prices currently listed at Amazon, paying $70 for 2000 black and white pages is not bad at all. In fact, on a per-page basis, you are paying significantly less vs. what you would spend on a generic ink-jet printer.
I installed the printer at home, in the basement, plugged into a wireless Linksys router via an Ethernet wire. My printer is now taking jobs from 5 different computers, connected through the same router over Wi-Fi and running Windows XP and Vista.
The unit comes in a nice, neat box where very little space is wasted. The unit is very much assembled and ready to go. There is a `Quick Installation', poster-sized guide (also a 'flash' animation on the CD) that explains in detail how to remove the various sticky tapes that held the printer together during transportation and lock in the toner cartridges. Once that's done, you plug in the power, connect the printer via either USB or Ethernet (USB and Ethernet cables NOT included), turn it on, set up your favorite language if it's not English and you are ready to go. On the computer side, you need to install the Xerox printer driver.
The driver installation(*) was relatively quick and nearly flawless. For it to proceed, the setup program must first find the printer. Since the printer was not physically connected to the laptop, it immediately started to look for IP-based printers. You must make sure that the printer is turned on and it has an IP address(**) while this is happening. The status page, which you can print from the front panel, will tell you if that is the case. My DHCP-enabled Linksys router assigned an address to the printer so no complicated setup was required. On the Vista side, I had to give Vista permission for a couple of tasks to complete. The setup gives you the opportunity to register your printer online. I agreed and it was quick and easy even though I was surprised that the setup knew my printer's serial number but not the model which I have to pick it myself from a long drop-down list.
From the moment I opened the box to the time I printed my first page off a document, it took less than one hour. I can see how some users may require help with the network installation part. I cannot say how Xerox supports end-users with more complex network setups because I did not have to call the tech support.The Phaser 6125N is a large, solid box (see Amazon's picture) and it is so because it holds large (fully loaded) toner cartridges and the fuser unit. Printing is quick and quiet and I experienced no paper jams yet. The colors are bright and both the text and the graphics are crisp - I printed some very complicated flowcharts and a colorful logo to test and I was satisfied with the result. Out of the box, over 200 PCL and PostScript fonts are supported. Other features include 128Mb of memory, support for various paper sizes and paper types including glossies and envelopes, it can be set to go into PowerSaver mode after a period of inactivity (and I reduced it from the 30 minute default to 5 minutes), can be set to produce an audible tone on various conditions, will produce Configuration pages with values for various settings and parameters including the environment's temperature and humidity.
This printer should be ideal for the small office and it could be great for the home if the relatively large size does not bother you. In my case, it doesn't because it's going to stay in the basement. Memory expansion or wireless connections were not issues for me but those who have such concerns should do some research before buying.
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(*) Be aware that a nearly identical model, the Xerox Phaser 6130/N Color Laser Printer offers a few enhancements and extra capabilitis such as:
- Double standard memory (128 MB vs. 64MB) and the ability to upgrade it up to 1152MB
- Larger toner cartridges
- Mac OS support
- Built-in PCL emulation and PostScript 3
(**) Note that you will have to install the driver on ALL the computers that are going to use the printer. Every time you install the driver, you will be prompted to register again. After you complete your first registration, ignore any subsequent invitations.
(***) I can think of 3 basic way you can connect the printer without having to buy any extra hardware, other than a cable, if you don't have one already:
1 - Personal printer - use a USB cable to connect it directly to your desktop computer (or your laptop's docking station)
2 - Shared printer - after connecting the printer as above and you install the printer driver, share it (the specific steps depend on your operating system but it's usually easy). This way, anyone on the same network can use it for as long as the computer that's sharing it is up.
3 - Network printer - you plug it into a network port or directly into a router using an Ethernet cable. Unless you place some restrictions, everyone on the network should be able to use the printer for as long as it is on and the network is up.
(****) The 6125 Toner capacity are: 2000 pages for 'black' and 1000 pages for the Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. If found a 'third party' that offers the set of 4 cartridges for about 55: Xerox Phaser 6125 Set of 4 Compatible Laser Toner Cartridges: 1 each of Black 106R01334 , Cyan 106R01331, Magenta 106R01332, Yellow 106R01333 by LD Products.
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Xerox Phaser 6125/N Color Laser PrinterXerox makes color the easy choice with the refreshingly office-friendly, value-packed Phaser 6125 color laser printer. This's compact printing solution powerful enough to handle all of your office printing demands with ease.
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