The Xerox Phaser 7400 may be one of the most ironic printers ever produced, if that term can ever be applied to one of these machines. In a long history of other companies reverse engineering Xerox printers to develop similar models, Xerox in fact bought much of the design of this printer from Oki. While the body and quite a bit of the internals are identical to the Oki 9650N, the Xerox actually out performs its twin in quite a few categories due to an improved controller, control panel, and processor.
Design
The Phaser 7400 has a very modern feel to it with sleek curves replacing the boxy exterior of many other models. The body is 64 cm x 62.3 cm x 47.1 cm and weighs in at around 84 kg. A simple LCD display, along with a half dozen buttons, is situated halfway down the face of the printer and controls all basic functions. A quick-release handle gives access to the two 400 sheet input trays and the Xerox 7400 toner cartridges. While there are upgrade options for wireless networking and automatic duplexing, the base model does not include these features. The printer also includes the Xerox's XSupportCentre, a comprehensive program for handling all printing jobs over the network.
Advantages
The speed of the Phaser 7400 is quite impressive for a printer of this size and range. With an 800MHz processor and 256MB of internal memory, the first colour print can be produced in as little as 8 seconds and produce up to 35 black prints a minute. The print quality remains great for most general purposes and the support and software for this printer is phenomenal. Setting up large, complex jobs within the XSupportCentre could not be easier as this program is highly intuitive and easy to learn.
Disadvantages
The speed and quality are rather astounding for a single task printer of this size, but it may not be what some companies need. Very vibrant graphics seem to oversaturate, especially during larger jobs. The other problem comes down to the smallest of text, such as subheading, in which the lines are not as crisp as they could be. Both of these problems are reduced when using high quality Xerox 7400 toner cartridges, but not completely removed.
