Released this past February by Xerox, the Phaser 6500/N is aimed at those people working in an SMB environment. It is a single-function color laser printer capable of print speeds for either mono or color up to 24ppm at a resolution of 600 dpi.
The Phaser 6500/N has a relatively small footprint, measuring a compact 15.9 x 16.75 x 16.4 in (WxDxH), so it can be placed anywhere. While it can’t be connected and shared wirelessly (without the purchase of additional equipment, $219), it has a USB connection and a Ethernet port to be shared among multiple users. Other features are about what you’d expect for a near entry-level color laser printer: 256MB of standard memory, both PostScript and PCL 6 compatible, two line, monochrome LCD screen.
Because it is a single function printer, the main concern for paper handling is overall capacity. For the Phaser 6500/N, it comes standard with a 250-sheet input tray and a 1-sheet manual bypass tray. If you need higher paper capacity, you can add a second 250-sheet tray for $199. Duplex printing is not standard, so if that is a must have feature, consider looking at the Xerox Phaser 6500/DN, which includes it automatically for $100 more.
The Phaser 6500/N uses four toner cartridges all of which come pre-installed in the unit as an added convenience. While not quite as lean as Xerox’s solid ink cartridges, the toner has as little packaging as possible. Likely due to its status as a business machine, the black cartridge is available in a high-capacity, 3,000-page yield model only. For the colors, the standard cartridges yield 1,000 pages and the high-capacity ones, 2,500 pages.
In a review from PC Magazine the analyst rated the text quality to be slightly below par and the photos and graphics both slightly better than average. Overall, it should definitely suit offices needing a color laser, though the Dell 2150cdn has similar capabilities which merit consideration as well, according to PC Mag.