UPDATE: This group test has been updated. See
Budget colour
laser printers
Highly Commended - Personal Computer World.
The C5100n from Oki differs from all the others here in that it uses a
single-pass LED engine in this group test. However, you'll also notice that it
is the most expensive printer out of the six on test by some way.
Shipped with low-capacity 1,500-page starter toners, it won't be long before
you have to make your first consumable purchase. What's more, each toner has an
individual drum that has to be replaced every 17,000 pages at a price of £118
for colour and £81 for mono.
If you plan to print more than 17,000 pages you'll find that there's a nasty
period where you have to replace the toners, followed soon after by all of the
drums. However, as you'll see by looking at our graphs later on, it's certainly
not the most expensive printer at 25,000 pages and before that point it's often
much cheaper to run than the rest.
LED printers don't have a great reputation when it comes to output quality,
and in terms of colour output the C5100n simply couldn't match the detail of the
other models - colours appeared oversaturated, which resulted in a loss of
detail. However, high-quality mono output wasn't a problem, although it didn't
manage well printing a 2point font.
Being a single-pass model, the C5100n was obviously going to beat the speed
of the other fourpass devices printing colour documents. It delivered our A4
colour photo in just 27 seconds, which was by far the best here.
Although it's got a high RRP, like the others, the printer is available for
less cash - try
www.pcw.co.uk/bestprices where, at
time of going to press we found it for £579.
It's a reasonably cheap printer to run but the photo printouts had us a
little worried and we'd rather spend a little more running a better quality
printer, such as the Konica Minolta 2300W. However, the Oki impressed us enough
to win an award.
Contact: Oki 0800 917 6015
ww.oki.co.uk
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