Artwork: Rick Rizner, Chris Manners

The $799 Oki Printing Solutions C5800Ldn looks like other models we've seen from the company, but it offers faster, more economical printing. It comes with a built-in duplexer for double-sided printing, which costs $320 as an option for other members of the family.

The C5800Ldn uses your PC's processor to render its pages from the Windows GDI. Printers that support PCL or PostScript use their own memory and processor for this task, and tend to be faster than Windows GDI-based models.

Nonetheless, in our tests, this printer was very fast, outputting 19.5 pages per minute for text documents and 6.1 ppm for color graphics. The text on our monochrome text pages seemed a bit light, but the characters were crisp and sharp. Our line art sample appeared lighter than its competitors, too, perhaps in part because its lines were so thin and precise. In spite of this precision, we observed some vertical banding and graininess in blocks of very close lines.

Our grayscale image had the opposite problem: This image was too dark to show good shadow detail and was marred by a magenta cast. The shiny ink made our color graphics test look almost photographic, but strong dithering patterns hurt the effect. With the driver adjusted for higher-quality printing on glossy paper, the color image fared no better, showing dark and unnatural colors scored horizontally and vertically by narrow banding.

This model's main paper drawer has a 300-sheet capacity. The fold-down multipurpose feeder tray can hold 100 additional sheets of paper, though Oki advises you to stack no more than ten envelopes at a time. You can add an 530-sheet drawer for a steep $456 to raise the maximum paper capacity to 930 sheets; 250 sheets collect face down in the output bin on top of the unit. The face-up stacker that folds down from the rear of the printer accommodates another 100 sheets and provides a straight path for envelopes and other heavy media.

The C5800Ldn ships with four toner cartridges, each rated for 2000 pages. Its horizontal paper path contributes to its large footprint (16.7 by 22.1 by 13.6 inches), though it doesn't tower above the desk like its vertical rivals). Its horizontal path design simplifies replacing the ink cartridges. The inks are available in more-economical 5000-page capacities, priced at $90 for black and $144 for each of the three colors. You also need to replace the black drum (reasonably priced at $68) and three color drums ($74 each) every 20,000 pages. The warranty covers replacement of the fuser unit and transfer belt, each rated for 60,000 pages. The estimated per-page costs are 2.1 cents for monochrome and 11.9 cents for color.

Good paper handling, fast print speeds, and reasonable page costs make this color laser a good fit for busy offices.

Paul Jasper