Xerox WorkCentre 5050 Review

I recently review the WorkCentre 5030 and spoke a little about its stronger cousin the WorkCentre 5050. At a little over double the price, I wondered of the 5050 was really worth $8,899. After seeing what the upgrades entailed, I was pretty convinced that it was. However, let me go through the upgrades and standard features so you can decide.

Much like the 5030, the price above is only for a copier. If you want to see the real power of the 5050 I would suggest upgrading to get at least the printer, but also the scanning and faxing capabilities as well.

Speed wise, the 5050 slaughters the 5030 by pushing the PPM (pages per minute) up from 30 to 50. Now, is an extra 20 sheets per minute that impressive? In an hour, that is a total of 1,200 extra sheets you can print. This upgrade keep productivity high without much downtime and waiting.

Maximum paper size hasn't changed, as it is still 11x17. But, this is useful, as you never want to be caught without this if you ever need to print on such a large media.

However, the paper capacity has increased greatly. In my review of the 5030, I said the maximum paper capacity was a robust 4,800 sheets, enough to satisfy even the busiest of printers. The 5050 doesn't force you to upgrade, as the 4,800 is its standard paper capacity. So you're getting both speed and extra paper for the higher price.

Other useful features of the 5050 is that duplex, or double sided printing comes standard. Great for printing professional documents, and for saving the environment, you will find this feature well used. Also, due to its paper saving nature, it will save you money. Not from printing costs, but from paper costs. I suggest using this feature as much as you can.

The copying action of the 5050 is the same as the 5030. With a feeder that can load 75 duplexed sheets, this should be able to meet your needs. However, if you frequently need to print large books I would suggest you go looking for a stronger copier.

You can also get an optional finisher included that allows you to staple and hole punch directly from the machine. There is also booklet printing, but not booklet stapling.

I suggest the 5050 for busy printer users. While I am not sure the price tag is fully justified just by an upgrade in paper capacity and speed, it is no doubt a powerful machine that will please a great deal of users.