Thanks again for the comments. I have been looking at the solid ink prSounds like the larger consensus is to go for Xerox (whether it be wax or laser) which has really suprised me.
p.s. My budget it between £400 and £700
I have the Xerox Phaser 8550 DN (wax) and 7850 GX (laser). It depends on what you want to do with your printer. For gorgeous digital photos, use a high-resolution inkjet printer. At 2400 dpi, the Phaser 8550 does a great job also but requires considerable wax, which does not absorb into the paper. Therefore, on close examination you can see tiny dots. Whereas, at the same resolution, ink absorbs into paper, subtly diffusing the dots so images appear nearly continuous tone. I consider the Phaser to be a workhorse for general purpose color printing requiring minimal non-expiring consumables (paper, wax and maintenance unit). The Xerox Phaser 7750 color laser printer prints continuous tone but has no less than 14 consumables and an annual service contract that exceeds the price of the 8550.
Like you, I ordered the print samples from Xerox. Of course I was blown away with the quality. However, the full-page sample photos are not cost-effective for a wax printer. Wax duration/page-count of 1000 pages each is based on little image coverage (5 to 15 percent). OEM wax is pricey but necessary for the most vibrant results. Also keep in mind the samples are highly optimized - designed to sell and difficult for consumers to repeat. At the risk of inaccurate color matching, I use third-party Media Sciences wax; yellow shows the most deviation from OEM. This Phaser is primarily used for printing Word documents, Google maps, invoices, etc. Duplex is great and speed is respectable. Genuine PostScript Level 3 interpreter is a definite plus in a graphics environment but I use the 7750 for that.
Phaser maintenance units come in two varieties: 10K pages ($99) and 30K pages ($150). These page-counts are fixed regardless of whether pages have zero to 100 percent coverage. The High Capacity Kit is a no brainer but unit initially comes with standard capacity. I learned this hard way when imprinting a return address on 5000 pieces - not much ink but chewed through remainder of my Maintenance Kit pretty fast.
I purchased the 3-year extended contract which paid for itself after two years when the power supply had to be replaced. A few times a day, the wax Phaser makes a loud noise as it warms wax and rotates mechanics to keep things from sticking. It is not recommended that you unplug this printer, which is OK since very little power is used in Energy Save mode.
I like my Xerox printers but use them for business so they have paid for themselves. Best advice is to consider what you will be printing. Do you plan to print many photos or mostly text? Will you be printing EPS files or LZW TIFF files?
Though mostly discussing inkjet printers, you may find value in my article: "
How Much is that Printer in the Window?
