Product Reviews

Oki has always had a strong presence in the small-to-medium workgroup printing market, and the introduction of the OkiPage 20 series of mono lasers signalled its move up to the departmental level. We were impressed with the OkiPage 20en/dx (reviewed issue 48, p157) as it offers a good combination of value and speed, but also for the fact that a duplex unit figured among its many features. However, that was a 18 months ago and it's taken until now for Oki to launch a new flagship.

The OkiPage 24dx/n uses the same compact chassis but increases speed to 24ppm and resolution to 600 x 1,200dpi. The operator control panel is common to the mid-range Oki lasers and isn't the easiest to navigate as each button has a dual function. We also found the LCD panel extremely faint and difficult to read.

A feature that always makes Oki printers stand out from the crowd is the fact that they use an LED array built into the top cover to produce a page image on the drum. Both models in the range also come with a duplex unit as standard, and the 24dx/n on review adds a dual-speed Ethernet print server card to the box.

Standard memory is 16Mb, which can be expanded to 80Mb via the three spare industry-standard SIMM sockets. Be prepared to get busy with a screwdriver though, as these are accessed from behind a metal side cover that requires 20 screws to be removed. Oki has, however, finally seen sense with its memory pricing as it now offers a 32Mb upgrade for a reasonable £120, whereas with the 20en/dx it was expecting consumers to cough up an unbelievable £600.

One criticism we frequently level at LED page printers is that graphics output quality is marred by an unsightly crosshatched banding effect. Alas, a comparison with the test prints from the 20en/dx shows the 24dx/n continues this tradition. Even at the higher resolution we could see no significant improvements, with general levels of detail little better than average. Text presented no problems with all font sizes pin-sharp, while the graphs and charts in our business report revealed smooth grey shades.

Although the 24dx/n falls over

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on quality it picks itself back up in the performance stakes. A 24-page Word document was dispatched in 61 seconds for a tidy 24ppm, while a five-page business report printed at 1,200dpi in only 14 seconds. What impressed us the most was the fact that it delivered a complex 24-page DTP document with heavy formatting, graphics and photos at 1,200dpi in only 65 seconds for an average of 22ppm, and then proceeded to churn the same document through the duplex unit in only 80 seconds.

Standard paper capacity is 530 A4 sheets from a lower cassette plus a further 100 sheets from the multipurpose tray. Two optional 530-sheet trays can be added underneath, bringing the total to a useful 1,690 sheets. Running costs are more acceptable now that Oki has reduced the cost of the 30,000-page print drum unit to £145. Add the 6,000-page toner cartridge (£35) and a page will cost a very reasonable 1.1p at five per cent coverage. It's worth noting that print drum longevity will depend on the type of printing, and the top figure quoted by Oki is based on continuous usage. Single-page prints will reduce its lifespan significantly as the drum has to keep stopping and starting after each job, incurring further wear and tear.

Installation on our NetWare 5 network proved simple enough thanks to Oki's AdminManager utility, although we were less impressed that the Ethernet card had to be manually reset first using the on-board DIP switches - a task that required the side panel be removed. AdminManager searches the network and displays all print server cards it discovers for easy access. You can enter the NDS tree and context, assign the printer to specific servers and create or delete printer, print queue and print server objects. Windows 95 and 98 users can also print directly in peer-to-peer mode over TCP/IP by installing the printer driver and redirecting their prints using Oki's LPR utility. As you'd expect, the printer can also be managed using a Web browser, although the interface merely mirrors all the options available in AdminManager.

For a 24ppm network-ready laser with a built-in duplexer the 24dx/n looks good value. Samsung's award winning ML-7000N (reviewed issue 56, p166) offers similar features, including a duplex unit, but is considerably slower. If you're prepared to take a drop in speed, HP's 17ppm LaserJet 4050TN (reviewed issue 58, p160) is worth checking out as its street price, including a duplex unit, is on a par with the Oki and yet it offers far superior output quality. Overall, the OkiPage 24dx/n is a good choice for busy departments with a high demand for printing text-based documents and basic reports, but look elsewhere if quality graphics output is on your shopping list.