Bake-Off: Eight Color Printers Put Through The Paces

First Place: Oki Data C6150
When reviewers took the C6150 out of the box, we had no idea how it would rate compared to the other printers. The company has made extensive investments in color quality and its channel programs over the past 18 months, but it hasn't all been without pain. The numbers we saw with the C6150 are enough to make its channel partners feel good: It spit out 30 pages in a minute, 185 pages in 6 minutes, 20 seconds; its colors were vibrant—second only to Xerox in quality—and its management console was robust and outstanding, offering nice administrator-level security and monitoring capabilities.

The unit installed on the network within minutes and, at about 50 pounds for the base unit, won't break your back on deployment. Oki Data Americas Inc. lists MSRP for the unit at $699, making it more than a fair value on acquisition.

Oki Data has stopped doing business through brick-and-mortar retailers and sells exclusively through the channel (except for one large customer that insists on a direct relationship, its executives tell us, and Oki Data still compensates VARs that were involved in the deal). Last year, the company announced a four-tiered, ProfitOPS channel program; revenue commitments include $15,000 quarterly for Premier partners, or $6,000 per quarter for standard partners. Depending on a partner's level, margins can range from 12 percent to 29 percent.

Second Place: Xerox Phaser 6180 DN
Xerox Corp. has made significant strides in boosting the quality of its office-focused color printers over the past several years, and it's clearly continuing on that path. We loved the Phaser 6180 DN. For the price (estimated street price of $649 with rebate), this Phaser's color quality was absolutely stunning (it's the only vendor that uses solid ink rather than cartridges). Its management features were solid, with a Web-based browser that monitors page count, job lists, toner levels and provides for e-mail alerts when something goes wrong. It was just as energy-efficient as almost any of the units we reviewed. Its one downfall: It took 10 minutes, 23 seconds to print a 185-page document, which put it at the lower end of the speeds-and-feed testing.

Xerox has a tiered channel program that VARs can enter with annual sales starting at $10,000. Program margins can reach 10 percent and product margins can hit 10 percent to 14 percent, the company says. Whether you're a Xerox reseller or you compete with Xerox, you'll want to keep your eyes on the Stamford, Conn.-based company's office product line because it's clearly on an upward trajectory.

Third Place: Hewlett-Packard Color LaserJet CP6015
This machine is a monster. It's a heavyweight on at least three counts: its size (about 300 pounds, deadlifted), its performance (it was the fastest printer we reviewed) and its cost (a starting list price of $4,199 makes it the most expensive unit we reviewed).

Test Center reviewers were torn about how to size up this LaserJet given that it was on such a different level from every other color laser printer we examined. First, the numbers: It printed 185 pages in 4 minutes, 55 seconds—more than twice as fast as some of the other units, and it printed 40 pages in one minute. Its 107 watts consumed while printing shows it has a sizable appetite for power. Installation was simple, but did require a couple of people to unbox and lift it into position. Nobody wants to drop 300 pounds or $4,199 worth of anything.

On the downside, we also considered that it was as much as 10 times more expensive on a list-price basis than some of the other units. But if this is a unit that is deployed to do the work of between five and 10 smaller printers, the benefits of consolidation, lower management overhead and a much longer duty cycle could make a customer very happy. Combined with Hewlett-Packard Co.'s robust channel program, market-leading brand, vibrant color output, powerful print driver support that is great even with Linux, we decided it was one of the best.

Next: Fourth Place: Lexmark C532N