Section 2: Evaluating Workgroup Laser Printers
Evaluating Print Speed
By definition, a workgroup printer is a shared resource.
laser printer is shared by up to 25 people on a regular basis. It is also common for the
the network to contain multiple computer platforms, such as the various versions of
Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Unix, or Linux.
By far the most popular network used is
Ethernet with TCP/IP protocols. But even with
multiple users on a variety of platforms, each
with their own unique applications and needs,
all networked printer users require three things
from their printers:
• Print speed high enough to maintain office
productivity.
• Hassle-free printing — the more the printer
can take care of itself the better.
• Value — small and large businesses all want
a good return on their investments.
This section of the Evaluator Guide will look
at each of these areas and suggest ways to
evaluate a printer's performance against those
requirements. Do this for all workgroup laser
printers you consider and you'll see how the
Phaser 4510 laser printer exceeds expectations
on all counts.
Evaluating print speed
Consider print engine speed.
What is the printer's rated engine speed? Note
that this does not tell the whole story about the
performance of the printer.
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Xerox Phaser 4510 Evaluator Guide
Consider file download and image-processing
speed.
Is the printer able to connect to high-speed
networks? Can the printer quickly handle all file
formats that might be sent to it? How fast can
the image be processed and sent to the print
engine? Different manufacturers use different
data-compression and memory-management
techniques to process the file and print the
results. Considering all these factors together
will give you a feel for the printer's total
throughput capability.
How the Phaser 4510 exceeds the
print speed requirement
Engine Speed
With a print speed of 45 pages per minute, the
Phaser 4510 races through long or multiset
jobs, avoiding print job logjams from multiple
users. And the true 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution
at full-rated speed means you won't sacrifice
print quality for print speed.
Processing Speed
The 533 MHz image processor provides a
first-page-out time of as fast as 8 seconds and
handles even complex jobs quickly to help
maintain office productivity. Memory of up to
512 MB, it handles large or multiple jobs with
ease. Add the Hard Drive Kit (standard on the
DX) for job pipelining, which prints one job
while processing the next.
Typically, a networked