As the multifunction version of the Editors' Choice Xerox Phaser 6180N printer, the Xerox Phaser 6180MFP/N ($999 direct) starts out with the best possible credentials. And indeed, when it comes to printing, it delivers on its promise, with print speed and paper handling suitable for relatively heavy-duty printing in a small office or workgroup. It stumbles a bit over other functions, notably faxing and scanning, but its impressive printing skills largely make up for those shortcomings.

The 6180MFP is available in two flavors: the 6180MFP/N, which I tested, and the 6180MFP/D, which adds a duplexer (for printing on both sides of the page) that bumps up the price by $150. If you start with the 6180MFP/N, you can effectively turn it into the 6180MFP/D by adding the duplexer option later, though it would cost slightly more ($199).

In either version, the 6180MFP can print, scan, and fax over a network and work as a standalone copier, fax machine, and e-mail sender, complete with a 50-page automatic document feeder (ADF) for multipage documents. Its standard paper capacity is 400 sheets, divided into a 250-sheet drawer and a 150-sheet tray, which gives you the flexibility to keep two different kinds of paper loaded at all times. This should be ample for most small offices and workgroups, but if you need more capacity, you can also add a 550-sheet drawer ($499 direct) for a total of 950 sheets.

Setup for the 6180MFP is a mixed bag. To begin with, this is a big, heavy printer. It measures 28.7 by 18.1 by 22.4 inches (HWD)—much too large to fit comfortably on a desk. It weighs 88.2 pounds, which makes moving or lifting it a two-person job.

Once the printer is in place, however, setup is reasonably typical for a color laser; Remove the packing materials, install the toner cartridges and paper, plug in the cables, and run the installation routine. I installed the printer on a system running Windows XP. According to Xerox, it also comes with a full set of software and drivers for Windows 2000, 2003 Server, and Vista, as well as for Mac OS 10.2 or later. In addition, you can download printer drivers for several flavors of Linux and Unix from the Xerox Web site.

It's very much worth pointing out that Xerox's installation routine—for printing at least—is as automated as it gets. The program will find the printer whether you've plugged it into the network, as I did, or into a USB port or parallel port. It will stop to let you confirm that it has found the printer and then take care of everything else automatically.

Unfortunately, the automation handles setup only for printing—one of my few gripes about the printer. If you want to scan over a network, you have to set up the feature manually. That said, at least Xerox gets points for providing a printed manual to guide you through network scanning setup, instead of making you search for the information in a PDF file that you may never think to look for.

One other ease-of-use issue is that Xerox literally hides the option to fax from a PC. Instead of installing an easy-to-find fax utility, a separate fax driver, or both, Xerox put the fax option on a drop-down list in the printer driver. As with a separate fax driver, which is what most AIOs provide, this lets you fax from any program, using a File | Print command. Instead of simply picking a fax driver, however, you have to open the printer Properties window and choose Fax from the drop down list. With the 6180MFP, however, instead of simply picking a fax driver, you have to open the printer's Properties window and choose Fax from the drop-down list.

One problem with this approach is that it requires an extra step. Another is the risk that a fairly high percentage of people will never notice this feature. I wouldn't be surprised if there are offices where people fax from a 6180MFP/N by printing and then using the standalone fax feature, simply because they don't know they can fax from their PC. As it is, you can prevent this oversight by making sure everyone in your office knows about the feature.

As I've already suggested, the 6180MFP/N really delivers when it comes to printing. Xerox rates the engine at 31 pages per minute for monochrome and 20 ppm for color—which is actually slightly faster for color than the single-function 6180/N. The faster rating translates to faster real-world speeds.

On our performance tests (timed with QualityLogic's hardware and software, www.qualitylogic.com), the 6180MFP/N turned in a reasonably impressive total time of 9 minutes 46 seconds on our business applications suite, shaving about a half minute off the 6180/N's time. More important, this is the fastest time I've seen yet for a color laser AIO in this class. The Brother MFC-9440CN and Dell Multifunction Color Laser Printer 3115cn are essentially tied for second place at about 11:25.

The 6180MFP/N also scores well on output quality. Its text is among the best I've seen from a color laser AIO, and certainly good enough for anything up to and including most desktop publishing needs. More than half of our test fonts printed well enough to qualify as both easily readable and well formed at 5 points, and some were printed well enough to qualify at 4 points. It also did better than most printers with two highly stylized fonts that had thick strokes, passing both tests at 8 points for one font and 10 points for the other.

Graphics output was typical for a color laser, which translates to being good enough for any internal business need, including PowerPoint handouts. Depending on how much of a perfectionist you are, you may also consider the graphics good enough for marketing materials like trifold brochures. The only flaws I saw in the test output were decidedly minor—visible dithering in the form of graininess, slight misregistration (colors not lining up properly, leaving slight white gaps between solid areas of color), and a touch of unevenness in solid black areas, leading to a marbled look (in black areas only).

Photos were at the low end of typical color laser quality—which makes them more than good enough for printing photos in Web pages or client newsletters, and even appropriate for things like photos in advertising handouts such as trifold brochures.

I'd be happier with the 6180MFP/N if it didn't hide the fax-from-PC feature and made network scanning a little easier to set up. These rough edges are just enough to keep the 6180MFP/N from being the first-ever Editors' Choice in its category. That said, setup issues are a one-time thing. The combination of print speed, output quality, and collection of features—including the standalone fax, copy, and e-mail sending—is enough to make the 6180MFP/N impressive overall, and a good fit for most small offices and workgroups.

Check out the Xerox Phaser 6180MFP/N's performance test results.

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