Xerox 385 Printer Review
The Xerox Workcentre 385 is a monochrome laser printer with multifunction capabilities, designed for the home or small office user. It has decent speeds and good functionality, but toner is expensive and it lacks a USB port.
For users who need a solid monochrome Xerox toner based laser printer, but also want the ability to scan, copy, and fax, the Workcentre 385 fits the bill quite well. Faxing a copying can be done directly from the machine, without the need for a computer, but scanning requires a computer. Network scanning is not supported, though personal users will probably not miss the feature.
Scanning is done at up to 300 dpi, which is more than enough for digitizing and archiving documents and scanning the occasional photo. Users who need higher resolution scanning will probably want a dedicated scanner anyway. The printer also includes a software package that includes OCR (optical character recognition). This gives users the ability to convert scanned documents into editable and searchable text, perfect for archiving.
Print quality is quite good, with clear sharp text. Graphics quality is somewhat unimpressive, but passable. Most multifunction machines have slightly lower print quality than the average dedicated printer, so this is not surprising. Still, its print quality holds up to the competition quite well. Print speed is about average, at around 8 pages per minute. It won't win any speed contests, but it will likely be fast enough for its intended user base. Faxes and copies print at the same rate. The Workcentre 385 features only a parallel connection to a PC, with no USB port available. Some users may be put off by the lack of a USB port, especially as parallel ports are becoming less available on PCs.
Overall, the Xerox Workcentre 385 is a decent multifunction printer with adequate speed and print quality for the home or small office user. It lacks the advanced features of other multifunction devices, and lack of a USB port may turn some buyers away.