The first thing after the small physical size you'll notice about Xerox S-LED specifications (i.e. DPCP205) is true 1200 x 1200 DPI printing in this price range.

The SLED's high DPI is twice its competitor's resolution and four times the actual amount of “true” (non-interpolated) dots on the page. This means for photos (especially framed) you'll think twice about using an expensive inkjet print. Fuji-Xerox have used their new S-LED technology designed for high end printing in entry level printers this blurs the line between high end laser printers costing thousands more. Text is almost as good as it gets.

LED printing, whereby light emitting diodes write the information on the print drum as an alternative to laser is not new, what is new is twice the DPI and the Quality Xerox has brought to the table with “S” LED printers. All LED printers we've seen suffer from inconsistent printing results because the LEDs which produce the toner image tend to drift in their output power. Some LED printers have the LED block mounted on the lid which is not the best idea as the lid can move and upset the registration even more. Note we've mentioned several HP 600 DPI laser printer models which all have the same disadvantage over 1200DPI/SLED.

Speed & Silence without the size Inkjet printers slow down the more you print on a page sometimes to a crawl. The S-LED printers print at more or less the same speed regardless of what's on the page all that can slow things down is your PCs processing time. With fewer moving parts than a laser printer you'll appreciate the quiet operation; in fact the Brother HL-3040CN sounded like a truck and smelt like a chemical lab in comparison to the Xerox CP205 while printing. This is normally not a problem unless you're in a confined space. I put this down to the toner type and higher temperatures (which also tend to warp the paper) as used by most laser printers. Less vents, less noise Notice the bottom 2 printers pay a lot of attention to venting out the heat. This means more fan noise and more energy wasted as heat. Right image: Top = Fuji-Xerox CP205, Middle = HP-CP1215, Bottom = Brother HL-3040

Build quality

When we visited the Fuji-Xerox production line late 2010 to see the new printer range in production the thing that impressed me the most was Quality Control. Fuji-Xerox unpack 10% of printers to ensure that everything that should have been in the box is plus the packing was done correctly then they run the printers through a heap of tests to ensure they are printing as per specifications. A production team handles this process that tells me they don't want any sub-standard printers leaving the factory.

Print Quality

True 1200 x 1200 DPI means it's a no contest. The Fuji-Xerox S-LED printer(s) having twice the DPI of the other two wins.

2nd is the HP CP1215 followed a long way back by the Brother HL-3040 which suffered with so-so print quality.

Note the vertical lines in the HL-3040CN image. Web Click image to enlarge.

Testing

Hot scanned all prints with an Epson V700 Photo scanner @ 1200DPI with no un-sharpen mask or de-screening. Where possible we'd scan photos at the same time then crop them. No colour adjustments were made. We especially noticed the lack of “Moiré” effect on the Xerox prints (wavy lines) when scanned due to the interference interaction between the printed dots and the scanners pickup dots. We put this down to matching the DPI and the fact that the higher the DPI the harder it is to find a pattern in the DOTS. You can see the Moiré pattern more easily by scanning newspapers and magazines that use a dot structure known as a rosette, when enlarged it looks like a flower!

Image Printing Examples

Web click on image for larger version, this image captures the quality problem with the HL-3040CN

• Twice the DPI does not mean it looks twice as good, the eye does not work in such a linear way but you can see the difference especially on photos.
  Having more dots seems to make the colours seem more natural too.

The Fuji-Xerox CP205 produced the most Photo like / natural prints due to the higher DPI.
Web - Click for larger version.

• True 1200 x 1200 DPI will place four times the “true” dots on a page than 600 DPI printers such as Brother & HP in this review..

You have to differentiate between “true” DPI vs. “maximum” or “interpolated” which basically means they guess what the missing dots may have looked like and whack something in there for good luck. Just as in scanners there is no substitute for “true” DPI.

Subjective print quality

Everyone we asked voted the Xerox print to be the most natural.

Physical Size

If small is better the CP205 is the clear winner (much lighter too) followed by the HP CP1215 then the Brother HL-3040CN which should be twice as good as it is for the size. If you want the most weight for your money, get the Brother.

Speed

This depends somewhat on your computer and the complexity of the document but as a guide the Brother/HP/Xerox speed to print a Windows test page were 14/17/29 seconds.

Printing a 1200 DPI (BIG 4mb jpg) photo took a similar amount of time on the HP and Xerox printers (around 35 seconds), 25 seconds on the Brother however you'd rather wait and get a photo that was of a much better quality!

Smaller images printed a lot faster on the Xerox CP205 (around 14 seconds) but they didn't speed up the HP much.

Running Costs

The Xerox CP205 uses the least power because it's S-LED (fewer moving parts) and has a lower fuser temperature which decreases power consumption by around 20%, while this is very Green it's only the start of why the new Fuji-Xerox SLED printers will be a hit.

Total Cost for a set of consumables ($RRP) Street prices are a lot less. As an example the cost per page (20% coverage) for the CP105, CP205, CP205M at time of writing was $0.20c per page based on street prices for the toner. Note that most printers come with "Start up" toners which could lead many to fall into this trap!

* Cost/Rated pages per toner cartridge. Cost per page is based on 20% total coverage per page (5% per toner). Subject to change without notice. Note printers come with "startup" toners which do not have the same page yield.

Summary

Depending on the model you’ll be spending somewhere between $200 and $300 which just shows how far prices have dropped for quality printers.

The smallest, lightest, quietest and most energy efficient printer in this review is easily the Fuji-Xerox CP205.

Best image quality (objective and subjective) goes to the Xerox P205 (Indeed any new S-LED colour printer), HP CP1215 was 2nd and Brother HL 3040 3rd but may as well been 100th. To be fair the Brother looks well built but I don't want to try lifting it with one hand as I did with the Xerox.

The Fuji-Xerox CP205 has the lowest running cost per page (just) so this alone is not the reason you'd purchase it, your decision should be based on print quality for the money. DPI which is the secret to great prints is twice as good on the Xerox CP205 as the others.

Best text quality as image result below. It's a test you can do at home using a printer test page. (If you have a 1200 DPI+ optical scanner.) HP Laserjet Pro CP1025 Color Printer Series are also 600DPI so they too are no match for 1200DPI models.

Xerox "S" - HP "S" and Brother "S" links.

• Reading this review on the net? Click on images and links for larger versions. If you do you'll see why the Fuji-Xerox CP205 easily won the print quality tests.

Conclusion

The new Fuji-Xerox 1200 x 1200 DPI SLED printers are hard to go past for the money.

• An entry level Fuji-Xerox SLED printer is ideal for home and small business use especially if you need high quality output with a glossy look even on plain paper.

True DPI (Dots Per Inch) power talks and less dots walks. Xerox SLED (Super LED?) is sure to be the buzz word for printers in 2011. It's just like a LED printer but better.