GCC Elite XL 40

Alone among all the printers in this guide, this one is something of a specialty item, in that it can print to tabloid-size (11" x 17") paper, and offers speedy output at 40 ppm. The GCC Elite XL 40 is also by far the most expensive printer in this group: at a retail price of around $1,900, it is significantly more costly than all the rest covered here. Nevertheless, for those who want to print tabloid output, it could be a real boon - and it's certainly the cheapest of the higher-end office printers that routinely deal with tabloid output.

The GCC Elite XL 40 offers ample paper capacity, fast output and handles tabloid pages.

The Elite XL40 offers a 1200x1200 resolution, and its maximum edge-to-edge image output is actually larger than tabloid size at 11.69" x 35.11". It includes a 500-sheet main paper tray, and a 150-sheet multipurpose tray, for basic paper capacity of 650 pages. The unit comes with 64 MB RAM installed, upgradeable to 340 MB with the addition of a 256 MB DIMM. The XL40 offers built-in 10/100 Ethernet, USB 2.0 and parallel ports. An optional high-capacity feeder and additional trays give this printer a total capacity of 3,150 sheets. (two 500 sheet trays may be added, or one 500 sheet tray plus a 2000-sheet high capacity feeder). A duplexing unit is available for about $350 as an add-on, but if you purchase XL 40DN with duplexer pre-installed, it only increases the price by $300. It even has an internal hard drive option, for 10 GB of internal storage.

As you'd expect from a printer that can handle large paper sizes, this is a big unit. Its dimensions are 19.3" x 18.2" x 15.6" (49cm x 46cm x 39.5cm), and it weighs 64 lbs (29 kg). Toner cartridges are good for up to 20,000 pages and cost $219 each, which make the cost of consumables considerable, but they are also economical in cost-per-page terms. This printer produces high-quality output for text, halftones and graphics, as its price would lead you to expect.