Xerox B215 Multifunction Monochrome Laser Printer EXPIRED

Thanks OP, I'm looking for a reliable laser printer and most reviews on this one seem pretty positive.
However, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Amazon has this printer for 129.99 as normal price.

https://www.amazon.com/Xerox-B215...B07WBTN8JH

i have this printer and like it.

i bought it from B&H on 4/1 for $140 and that was a slickdeal back then at $10 more. (see https://slickdeals.net/f/13952402-xerox-b215-multifunction-monochrome-laser-printer-140-free-shipping.)

this is not amazon's "normal price", which is easy to see with camelcamelcamel. (last time it was even close to this price, ie $140, was when amazon was apparently price-matching B&H selling it to me for $140, according to CCC.)

my use case is somewhat unique: this is a "backup" printer. my primary printer is a Dell B2375dfw, which does duplex ADF, so i didn't care too much that the Xerox B215 doesn't (and my family has only used the ADF duplex functionality once or twice in the 6 years we've owned the Dell, so it's not like we would miss it). we're also a Linux-only household (Linux desktops, laptops, & server, with two Chromebooks which are still Linux under-the-covers), so i only buy standards-based network printers, ie PostScript 3 with vendor-supplied PPD, Internet Printing Protocol, SMTP/FTP/USB-thumbdrive delivered PDF/TIFF scans. the only things i ask of the printer vendor, besides the printer itself, is a PPD (to exercise all print features, eg duplex, paper source, paper type, print mode), user guide, and service manual, which Xerox provided (but sometimes only indirectly, eg the PPD is in Windows driver zip files, service manual was on a third-party website).

why all the "fuss"? i just gave away a 15 year-old Dell 1600n that still printed and scanned perfectly under Linux, but required obscure procedures under Windows 10 to print because Dell no longer provides a Windows driver, so I had to use the default Windows PS driver (providing only basic print functionality as it didn't allow for a PPD), and no longer supported scanning at all. BTW, i repaired a blown capacitor 10 years into the life of the printer using the service manual.

How much does toner cost? It wasn't considerably more or less than other MFCs, ie average cost per page was within 1¢. Third party toner available? I don't care right now because I don't risk using third-party toner until after 5-7 years, ie I'm willing to replace it just in case the third-party toner is junk and gums up the inside of the printer, requiring me to buy a new one. is it heavy duty? on average i print to it once a week and scan (to email) with it once a month. easy to set up? it was easy enough that nothing stands out in my mind nearly 3 months later (but i'm highly technical by profession and hobby).

Any chance there's a color version in this price range? Willing to pay a little more for it too

Designed for home and small offices, the B215 Multifunction Monochrome Laser Printer from Xerox offers fast printing and wireless functionality in a compact package. Featuring an enhanced resolution of 1200 dpi for sharp text and documents, the printer has a quick print speed of 31 ppm, and Wi-Fi Direct provides a secure connection from your printer to a smart device so you can print wirelessly without a router or complicated setup. Mobile printing is available via Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, Mopria, and Xerox Print Service Plug-in for Android, and you can also print directly from any flash drive or external hard drive using the front USB port. Color scanning lets you create electronic files and save them to your desktop or network, as well as open them in an application. The multifunction printer also lets you scan directly to USB, email, PC, or a network, and file formats include JPEG, single and multi-page TIFF, and single and multi-page PDF. Copy resolution is an impressive 600 x 600 dpi for sharp reproduction of text, and the unit comes with a host of faxing features as well. For directly controlling the B215, a large and intuitive 3.5" touchscreen provides smartphone-like functionality, letting you swipe and tap your way through the printer's menu commands and functions.

$129 + tax
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/pr...inter.html

Found it at Amazon for the same price. Not sure if it's the exact same model but looks the same

https://www.amazon.com/Xerox-B215DNI-Monochrome-Multifunction-Replenishment/dp/B07WBTN8JH/ref=sr_1_1... [amazon.com]

Quote from neihan9165 : Thanks OP, I'm looking for a reliable laser printer and most reviews on this one seem pretty positive. However, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Amazon has this printer for 129.99 as normal price. https://www.amazon.com/Xerox-B215...B07WBTN8JH [amazon.com]

Compared the printer model on both sites and it seems you are correct as the model number matches.

Quote from slkmaster2000 : Any chance there's a color version in this price range? Willing to pay a little more for it too

Looking for the same thing, good deal on an mfp color laser

I was thinking of buying this one but the recent reviews on Amazon for this printer are very bad. So I'm confused.

Quote from thakursagar : I was thinking of buying this one but the recent reviews on Amazon for this printer are very bad. So I'm confused.

If you look at the comments, most are about two aspect: not working with Mac Os Catalina, which they released the driver early this month so now should be working fine. Other one is Everytime turning it on it will print a configuration report, also cover page. Which there's a reviewer already figure it out that you need to turn it off from the web interface. So if you have certain IT knowledge you shod be fine.

thanks, WilsonZhang83, for reminding me...

i forgot about the "Device Start-Up Page" and "Banner Page" because they were such non-issues having been tipped off by the Amazon reviewer (ie don't let it keep you from buying it because you can configure it otherwise), and i did my homework reading the user guide and watching Xerox's youtube videos.

anybody who complains about the default system administrator password being the printer serial number only has themselves to blame. (the rest of the internet learned long ago that hard-coded default passwords, eg "password", are bad and will eventually get your printer enlisted in a botnet.) There are two official Xerox configuration videos that, as part of the configuration process, tell you how to log into the web interface using the serial number from the "Device Start-Up Page", ie https://youtu.be/oexlxh74B18?t=55 & https://youtu.be/EU2YZrS7Uvg?t=100. the user guide, ie Xerox_B215_mfp_ug_en.pdf, tells you on pages 39, 50, 51, & 249 that the default system administrator password is the printer serial number, with page 51 being the most detailed in the section "Accessing Xerox ® CentreWare ® Internet Services and Changing the Default System Administrator Password".

the banner page is usually a waste of toner & paper in home offices, but sometimes beneficial in a small/medium size business (to differentiate print jobs because all spreadsheets look the same at a cursory glance). it's easy to find in the printer's web interface: Index (button) → Banner Page (link). to go the "long way": Properties (tab) → Services (sidebar) → Printing (sidebar) → Banner Page (button) → Disabled (radio button). the "Device Start-Up Page" is harder to find because it doesn't have an industry standard name (unlike "banner page"), but once you find the "Banner Page" configuration, the "Device Start-Up Page" is one button over from "Banner Page". i actually left the "Device Start-Up Page" enabled because it only prints when the printer is turned on, not when it wakes up from sleeping, and i never turn the printer off, but instead allow it to sleep for days/weeks between uses.

i'm curious about the MacOS driver problem. i presume the driver is only needed for direct-to-computer scanning functionality, because nearly full-featured printing worked out of the box with Linux using the printer's AirPrint functionality (aka "IPP Everywhere", ie Bonjour + IPP; see https://www.pwg.org/ipp/everywhere.html) as implemented in CUPS (the same underlying print subsystem as MacOS). of course that standards-based printing approach, as compared to a proprietary driver, doesn't give you the nifty printer GUI / control panel as featured on Windows in the aforementioned youtube videos, but i use the printer's web interface instead. and for scanning i use a standard network protocol method (SMTP/"email", FTP, SMB), but I understand not everybody has the infrastructure and/or aptitude for that (though a youtube video walks through the SMB process for a Windows computer), so there's always the USB thumbdrive option (as you already have to be physically at the printer to feed it the pages you want scanned).

Quote from ifundef : thanks, WilsonZhang83, for reminding me... i forgot about the "Device Start-Up Page" and "Banner Page" because they were such non-issues having been tipped off by the Amazon reviewer (ie don't let it keep you from buying it because you can configure it otherwise), and i did my homework reading the user guide and watching Xerox's youtube videos. anybody who complains about the default system administrator password being the printer serial number only has themselves to blame. (the rest of the internet learned long ago that hard-coded default passwords, eg "password", are bad and will eventually get your printer enlisted in a botnet.) There are two official Xerox configuration videos that, as part of the configuration process, tell you how to log into the web interface using the serial number from the "Device Start-Up Page", ie https://youtu.be/oexlxh74B18?t=55 & https://youtu.be/EU2YZrS7Uvg?t=100. the user guide, ie Xerox_B215_mfp_ug_en.pdf, tells you on pages 39, 50, 51, & 249 that the default system administrator password is the printer serial number, with page 51 being the most detailed in the section "Accessing Xerox ® CentreWare ® Internet Services and Changing the Default System Administrator Password". the banner page is usually a waste of toner & paper in home offices, but sometimes beneficial in a small/medium size business (to differentiate print jobs because all spreadsheets look the same at a cursory glance). it's easy to find in the printer's web interface: Index (button) → Banner Page (link). to go the "long way": Properties (tab) → Services (sidebar) → Printing (sidebar) → Banner Page (button) → Disabled (radio button). the "Device Start-Up Page" is harder to find because it doesn't have an industry standard name (unlike "banner page"), but once you find the "Banner Page" configuration, the "Device Start-Up Page" is one button over from "Banner Page". i actually left the "Device Start-Up Page" enabled because it only prints when the printer is turned on, not when it wakes up from sleeping, and i never turn the printer off, but instead allow it to sleep for days/weeks between uses. i'm curious about the MacOS driver problem. i presume the driver is only needed for direct-to-computer scanning functionality, because nearly full-featured printing worked out of the box with Linux using the printer's AirPrint functionality (aka "IPP Everywhere", ie Bonjour + IPP; see https://www.pwg.org/ipp/everywhere.html) as implemented in CUPS (the same underlying print subsystem as MacOS). of course that standards-based printing approach, as compared to a proprietary driver, doesn't give you the nifty printer GUI / control panel as featured on Windows in the aforementioned youtube videos, but i use the printer's web interface instead. and for scanning i use a standard network protocol method (SMTP/"email", FTP, SMB), but I understand not everybody has the infrastructure and/or aptitude for that (though a youtube video walks through the SMB process for a Windows computer), so there's always the USB thumbdrive option (as you already have to be physically at the printer to feed it the pages you want scanned).

Thank you so much for both of your detailed explanations of this printer! You gave me so much reassurance in choosing to buy this as the main printer for my household ☺️

Scan is simplex. From my office printing experience, Xerox is the best. But nowadays scan has to be duplex..

Quote from ifundef : thanks, WilsonZhang83, for reminding me... i forgot about the "Device Start-Up Page" and "Banner Page" because they were such non-issues having been tipped off by the Amazon reviewer (ie don't let it keep you from buying it because you can configure it otherwise), and i did my homework reading the user guide and watching Xerox's youtube videos. anybody who complains about the default system administrator password being the printer serial number only has themselves to blame. (the rest of the internet learned long ago that hard-coded default passwords, eg "password", are bad and will eventually get your printer enlisted in a botnet.) There are two official Xerox configuration videos that, as part of the configuration process, tell you how to log into the web interface using the serial number from the "Device Start-Up Page", ie https://youtu.be/oexlxh74B18?t=55 & https://youtu.be/EU2YZrS7Uvg?t=100. the user guide, ie Xerox_B215_mfp_ug_en.pdf, tells you on pages 39, 50, 51, & 249 that the default system administrator password is the printer serial number, with page 51 being the most detailed in the section "Accessing Xerox ® CentreWare ® Internet Services and Changing the Default System Administrator Password". the banner page is usually a waste of toner & paper in home offices, but sometimes beneficial in a small/medium size business (to differentiate print jobs because all spreadsheets look the same at a cursory glance). it's easy to find in the printer's web interface: Index (button) → Banner Page (link). to go the "long way": Properties (tab) → Services (sidebar) → Printing (sidebar) → Banner Page (button) → Disabled (radio button). the "Device Start-Up Page" is harder to find because it doesn't have an industry standard name (unlike "banner page"), but once you find the "Banner Page" configuration, the "Device Start-Up Page" is one button over from "Banner Page". i actually left the "Device Start-Up Page" enabled because it only prints when the printer is turned on, not when it wakes up from sleeping, and i never turn the printer off, but instead allow it to sleep for days/weeks between uses. i'm curious about the MacOS driver problem. i presume the driver is only needed for direct-to-computer scanning functionality, because nearly full-featured printing worked out of the box with Linux using the printer's AirPrint functionality (aka "IPP Everywhere", ie Bonjour + IPP; see https://www.pwg.org/ipp/everywhere.html) as implemented in CUPS (the same underlying print subsystem as MacOS). of course that standards-based printing approach, as compared to a proprietary driver, doesn't give you the nifty printer GUI / control panel as featured on Windows in the aforementioned youtube videos, but i use the printer's web interface instead. and for scanning i use a standard network protocol method (SMTP/"email", FTP, SMB), but I understand not everybody has the infrastructure and/or aptitude for that (though a youtube video walks through the SMB process for a Windows computer), so there's always the USB thumbdrive option (as you already have to be physically at the printer to feed it the pages you want scanned).

About the driver, I have a Samsung MFC now, they sold the business to HP, with Catalina I am still able to print, but they don't offer anymore driver for scanning, so when I tried to scan it through imagine capture it always failed. I guess that was the case for this printer. I checked out the download page, they didn't have the driver out till this month. The only solution for me was to buy an app that can scan from the Samsung which cost around $50. So I am giving this a try, got the Amazon one tho.