Review: Oki B2200

Laser printers are a better bet than inkjets if you don't colour and want to keep a lid on running costs.

Oki’s B2200 is designed not to take up much room on a desk and to provide laser-quality black print, but without using a laser.

Since it started making these page printers, Oki has used an alternative technology that relies on a strip of high-intensity LED lamps rather than a laser beam to create the page. This is a simpler technology, it takes up less room, has no moving parts and is less expensive to make than a laser printer – it makes one wonder why other manufacturers haven’t made use of the technology.

The B2200 isn't quite as compact as it at first looks, because there's a 150-sheet paper that clips in at the top of the back panel, nearly doubling the depth of the printer. Paper feeds from this tray, performs a 180-degree turn and feeds out on top of the feed tray's lid. There's a secondary, single-sheet feed slot at the front, which can be used for special paper such as envelopes.

A column of four lights at the bottom of the front panel provides status information, with a power switch beneath that. At the back is a single USB socket, the only connection provided. Lift the grey cover of the printer to gain easy access to the drum and toner cartridges. The 2,000-sheet cassette clips neatly into place, and on current prices we reckon it'll cost around 2.4p per printed page.

This isn't cheap for a page printer, but it depends a lot on where you buy the toner and paper. Text print quality is good, with clear and sharp letters and numbers even at small sizes, and few jagged edges on curves and diagonals. Photo reproduction isn't quite so good, with some banding visible and loss of detail in darker parts of the image.

Oki claims a print speed of 20ppm from the B2200, but we saw little more than half this on test. A true 11ppm from a printer in this class is not bad going, though.