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Each review features four star ratings: Performance, Features & Design, Value for Money and a final Overall rating. They are calculated using a complicated mix of performance tests, objective scores and subjective quality ratings.
Performance (speed and quality)
The Performance rating is an equally weighted combination of print quality and speed. The speed tests are designed to test manufacturers’ claims as well as find out how each printer copes with different types of document. We print a 50-page Word file consisting of pages with 5% toner coverage (the “average” office document) for testing mono speed. We print an A4 mono letter with a colour logo to test colour speed. We also time how quickly the first colour and mono pages emerge, since many documents are only one page long.
Quality is judged independently by two members of the team. We print the same colour photomontage we use to test inkjets to find out how each printer copes with photos. Our 23-page Word document has a multitude of font sizes, greyscale bands and a selection of colour images. Here, we look for accurate colour reproduction and text quality.
We then print five copies of a four-page PDF file, an image-heavy document consisting of both mono and colour text. The final tests are a 12-page colour Excel workbook and a mono quality sheet, which has high-resolution images, fades, a range of font sizes and fine lines.
All tests are timed from the moment the first page is taken from the tray until the last page lands in the output tray. The exception is the time-to-first-page tests, which are timed from clicking OK to when the page drops onto the output tray, when the printer is in a “warm” state.
Features & Design
The Features & Design rating includes connectivity, duplex capabilities, driver and software functions and front-panel features. We also give points to warranties and the amount of toner initially included with each printer.
Value for Money
This rating is calculated using a weighted average of the Performance and Features & Design scores. We factor in price (including delivery) and then convert
the result to give a bang-per-buck rating out of six.
Overall
The Overall rating is a straight average of the Performance, Features & Design and Value for Money scores.
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Brother HL-2700CN |
Canon Laser |
Epson AcuLaser |
HP Colour LaserJet 2605dn |
Konica Minolta magicolor 2450 |
Lexmark C522n |
Oki C3400n |
Samsung CLP-510 |
Xeroz Phaser 6120N |
12-page Excel |
8 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
8 |
9 |
7 |
7 |
8 |
5% mono letter |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
8 |
10 |
23-page Word DTP |
8 |
10 |
6 |
10 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
9 |
9 |
20-page PDF |
8 |
8 |
8 |
10 |
7 |
10 |
9 |
6 |
7 |
Photomontage |
9 |
8 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
9 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
Mono quality sheet |
7 |
10 |
7 |
9 |
7 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
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