Over recent years printers have increased in quality while dropping in price. It can make it hard to chose from the crowd. Inkjets are still best for photography, for example, but the sheer quality of the colour prints delivered by Fuji Xerox’s Docuprint CP205 are more than ample for, say, brochures or similar uses of photos.
The CP205 uses Fuji Xerox’s SLED technology and competes against colour lasers for the home office and small business market. It comes with Ethernet or USB 2.0 connectivity (there is a wireless model as well) and was a dream to setup, even when running on an IPV6 network. Plug it into the network, run the CD and start printing – just the way it should.
Our quality tests surprised us, even meeting the exacting standards of PC & Tech Authority’s designer, Jon. Not only was text crisp and clear, but even the more complicated reference images that we use looked outstanding.
Our speed testing had the CP205 delivering pages at a rate of 12 per minute. It isn’t the fastest speed out there, but will be more than adequate for the small business/home office use. Black toner replacements will deliver 2000 pages, while each of the three colour refills is rated at 1400 pages. At the time of writing black cartridges were running at around $85 (making the costs roughly 4c per page) and the colour ones were more in the $100 range (working out around 21c per full colour page). This makes full replacement more expensive than the printer with starter pack of toner, but it is still relatively good value.
If photography isn’t your primary driver of printing needs then this is a fantastic offering. Great quality black and white printing combined with excellent colour reproduction and quality make for a really solid all-round performer. And at the price it really does give the competition a run for its money.
