Xerox is looking to help build up some drama and excitement with its latest iteration of the small workgroup printer by adding multifunction printer capabilities, as well as color and keeping prices down. For just $599, the Xerox Phaser 6128MFP copies, scans and faxes, and prints up to 12 pages per minute in color and 16 ppm in black and white.

The Phaser 6128MFP boasts enhance productivity features, including simultaneous printing and faxing, “Run Black”—which enables printing to continue with black if color cartridges run dry—and a 400MHz processor with 384MB memory, preventing complex jobs from slowing down the unit. Those on a green kick will appreciate that the Phaser 6128MFP warms up in just 27 seconds, meaning that sleep mode doesn’t hamper productivity.

The device uses single-pass technology, eliminating the gyrations that a typical four-pass color laser machine has to go through; the result—faster printing and lower energy consumption. Likewise, single-pass printing reduces the chances of paper jams. 

The Phaser 6128MFP installation and setup are straightforward. The printer features a small footprint for an MFP color laser, making it suitable for both a single user and a small workgroup. The Phaser 6128MFP features a large LCD panel that makes navigating the menus much easier and further eases setup, maintenance and programming chores.

The unit offers additional MFP productivity features, such as network scanning via FTP or SMB, secure printing, and device access controls. A nifty capability is “ID Card Copy,” which allows office workers to copy two sides of an identification card on one side of a sheet of paper. LAN Fax is another feature worth mentioning, which allows users to send faxes directly from their computers.

Xerox uses Emulsion Aggregate High Gloss (EA-HG) toner, with smaller, more consistent toner particles that enable higher resolution and sharper image quality. Not only does that process increase resolution, it also reduces tone usage and needs less power during the fusing process—yet another nod to the green crowd. The Phaser 6128MFP is Energy Star-certified and also reduces the amount of waste created. Packaging and consumables are designed to use a minimal amount of disposable packaging, and toner cartridge recycling is available.

Users will be impressed by the output quality of the unit, which rivals more expensive print-only color laser printers. Printed photographs are crisp, and color-infused business documents are eye-catching. The unit does not feature a duplexer, but users can manually duplex documents by using an option offered in the driver. The device will print on one side of a document, and then a user can flip over the paper to print on the other side—a little bit of a hassle, but not too difficult to accomplish in practice.

Solution providers will find the unit easy to service and toner simple to change. A browser-based management console is available to remotely monitor the device and can be configured to notify the solution provider if consumables are needed.

With the Phaser 6128MFP, Xerox sure got all of its ducks in a row to offer a reliable, affordable color MFP that should be easy to sell as well as service.