Sharp's AR-P450 is a 45 page per minute (ppm) monochrome laser printer that can be fitted with a range of paper handling and finishing options.

A network interface, hard disk drive and document scanner can also be specified, while a pick-and-mix approach to configuration enables the printer to be used to handle a wide range of printing requirements. The starting price of the AR-P450, without any options, is £2,995 (ex. VAT).

At the heart of the unit is a 600dpi laser engine, developed and manufactured by Sharp, which is accompanied by a controller built around a 200MHz 64-bit RISC processor.

This comes with 32Mb of memory, upgradeable to 288Mb, with an optional 5Gb hard disk drive also available (£994.99 ex. VAT) to support high volume printing.

PCL5e/6 emulation comes as standard, and PostScript Level 3 is an option (£494.99 ex. VAT) along with Windows and Macintosh drivers for both set-ups. There's one parallel interface on the controller, but the printer can be fitted with an optional 10/100Base-T print server card (£294.99 ex. VAT).

The print server card allows the AR-P450 to be shared on a range of networks including Windows, Unix, AppleTalk and Novell environments. There's also support for the Internet Printing Protocol, and a built-in HTTP server allows the networked printer to be set up and managed remotely via a web browser.

The basic printer is a bulky table-top device with a single 500-sheet paper drawer capable of holding up to A3-sized stock. This can be expanded using trays that fit underneath the unit, turning it into a free-standing device.

Our review model shipped with a stand containing three additional 500-sheet paper drawers (normally an extra £1,345 ex. VAT). Alternatively, there's a 2,000-sheet high-capacity feeder with a multipurpose tray capable of feeding envelopes, transparencies and other materials. Overall, the printer can be configured to support up to 3,100 sheets.

A duplexer is another option £564.99 ex. VAT), while on the output side there's a mailbox stacker (£1,395 ex. VAT) and add-ons to punch holes in finished output (£649.99 ex. VAT) and fold and staple documents (£2,895 ex. VAT) as they're produced.

Add the optional 45ppm duplex scanner and the AR-P450 becomes not just a photocopier, but a digital document distribution centre with facilities, for example, to distribute scanned documents via email. This facility must be specified in advance. The scanner-equipped version is known as the AR-M450 and costs £5,999 (ex. VAT).

Output quality is excellent, with the usual built-in smoothing of text giving a 1,200dpi equivalence from the 600dpi engine.

The AR-P450 is sold through resellers trained to work out what's required, and the flexibility the modular approach affords means customers need only buy what they need.

In addition, the printer has a toner capacity of 27,000 pages (at six per cent coverage) and a duty cycle of 27,000 pages per month, making it ideal for a wide range of high-volume printing tasks.

Price: (as reviewed, ex. VAT) £4,340

Contact: Sharp 0161 205 2333
www.sharp.co.uk