Oversize monochrome printers from HP, Lexmark, and Xerox prove practical yet pricey

Drab, discreet, and ordinary?

Or affordable, reliable, and fast? What you see in monochrome laser printers depends on what you look for -- though from any perspective, printing monochrome documents is an essential part of the office workday.

But whether printing large monochrome docs is fundamental depends on what your office does; for anyone who draws or drafts, lays out booklets, or simply needs an overview of huge spreadsheets or accounting reports, an oversize printer fills the bill.

For this review, I looked at three 50-pages-per-minute-rated monochrome lasers designed to produce tabloid-size (11 inches by 17 inches) or slightly larger documents: Hewlett-Packard’s LaserJet 9050dn, Lexmark’s W840dn, and the Xerox Phaser 5500DN.

I can’t call these printers a bargain. In well-equipped configurations, with three paper sources, a duplexer, a reasonable dose of memory, and a network interface, their prices range from $3,299 to $3,799. For comparison, similarly equipped but slower large-format color printers cost only from about $1,000 to $1,500 more. (See my recent head-to-head of two such printers). And letter-size monochrome printers cost much less.

But with 50-ppm engines under the hood, all three of these machines are fast. They produce fine print quality, and -- if you add optional paper-handling equipment -- they can process enormous jobs, or fold and staple booklets. And while purchase prices are high, operating costs are very low.

So which of the three do I prefer? The Lexmark takes first place largely on the basis of its somewhat faster performance; a marginally lower purchase price and a couple of extra features also contribute.

HP LaserJet 9050dn

HP’s entry in this field is quite the behemoth: The LaserJet 9050dn weighs well over 150 pounds, covers 55 inches by 25 inches of a desk with its flaps open, and stands 24 inches high. Fortunately, four deep handgrips out near the corners make unboxing and moving it an easy team effort.

A 30,000-page integrated toner cartridge/imaging drum unit means there’s only one replaceable part to monitor and keep in stock (the Lexmark and Xerox printers have two replaceable parts, and they follow different replacement schedules).

I like most elements of the LaserJet 9050dn’s interior mechanical design. The front door flops down to horizontal so it’s easy to get inside the printer; if you need more room, you can release the door’s straps to drop it all the way down. There’s also plenty of space to remove and insert the toner/drum unit, and following a consistent color code for all the rollers, flaps, and other components inside the printer, you turn a big green lever to lock it in place or release it, and grab a big blue handle to move it.

The fuser slides out on rails and lifts straight up on a comfortable handle in case you need to clear a jam behind it. The duplexer also slides out and can be completely removed -- plus check out that fan inside the duplexer! HP says the fan prevents double-sided prints from overheating on their second pass through the fuser.