Product Reviews

A3 laser printers are usually hefty beasts that take up a fair chunk of your office space. Oki is hoping to lure those of us with small office space but large printing needs with its latest model. The Executive Series ES2632a3 is an colour A3 laser printer that's been shrunk to more manageable proportions. It's still designed to be an office workhorse printer - it just takes less space to house the beast. It may be small but it's aimed squarely at businesses with large-volume A3 printing needs.

Oki is right to boast about the small footprint of the ES2332a3. For a printer in this category it's not very big at all. In fact one person can just about manage to lift it, though we wouldn't recommend doing that too often. It's still a fairly sizeable printer but for a single-pass A3 printer, it's certainly compact. The printer is hardly a head turner in terms of design but then it's not really meant to be and it's by no means ugly, just a bit plain.

The ES2632a3 is well built with a solid-feeling construction. Servicing is made easy by the hinged top, which opens at the touch of a button to reveal the toner and other user changeable parts. The manual paper feed tray is a bit flimsy and has a cheap and plasticky feel, and we can't imagine it lasting long in a busy office where it gets used regularly. It's the only downside to an otherwise well-built printer. The front information panel is clear and the menu system easy to follow so even the tech phobic should be able to get to grips with operating the printer should it need attention.

As standard, the ES2632a3 ships with 256MB of Ram, Ethernet and PostScript support. It's also got duplex built in. Should you

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need it, there's also a USB port though this device really is meant for network use. The main paper tray only holds 300 sheets and though you can purchase an additional one to hold an extra 530 this is clearly where some of the size-saving measures have been taken. An office printer that can't take a full ream of paper strikes us as a bit of an oversight.

Print speeds from the Oki are very good: it ripped through our 10-page text document in 38 seconds. The first page was out and ready in just nine seconds. With more complex documents, the ES2632a3 was just as impressive. A three-page A3 full colour layout document with text and graphics was ready in just under 30 seconds. The printer isn't noisy, though, even at these speeds. It could hardly be described as whisper quiet but it's not going to bring the office to a halt every time it begins to print either.

Print quality is very good with fine text reproduction down to tiny sizes. Though this machine is hardly meant for pages of A4 text it's good to see that the characters were pin sharp and a deep shade of black. Colour is punchy and accurate and even subtle changes in shade are handled well. The Oki really did impress us with its ability to lay down sharp accurate colour at speed.

The ES2632a3 is only available through its Executive Series Dealers, which means the price will fluctuate depending upon what kind of contract you take.

A three to five-year agreement should work out at around 6p per print, although the precise figure will depend upon the kind of work you do and the agreement you come to with Oki. You'll pay monthly or quarterly and that figure includes the cost of the printer and toner replacement. You'll need to supply your own paper though.

Oki clearly is going after the high-end professional and large business market with this approach. Aside from rather complex purchasing issues, the ES2632a3 has plenty going for it. The smaller footprint, excellent print quality and speed are very impressive. We think it's a mistake to supply a paper tray that only holds 300 sheets but it has kept the size of the Oki down. If you're tight on space and need a fast network A3 printer that's going to be used all day everyday then the Oki ES2632a3 is certainly worth a look.