Oki B2500 MFP

A decent laser multifunction device has obvious appeal for small offices, with lower running costs, higher duty cycles and quicker speeds than its inkjet equivalents. Oki claims a duty cycle of 2,000 pages per month for the B2500 MFP, with print speeds up to 16ppm. Add a numeric keypad and a 600 x 2,400dpi scanner, and you have a system that should be suitable for all kinds of jobs.

It sped through our first test, a simple 50-page mono document, living up to its 16ppm claims. But our testing revealed a number of areas in which the B2500 MFP struggled. A 12-page Excel document brought it to its knees at 3ppm, and a 24-page Word DTP document printed at 7ppm - both disappointing results for a laser printer.

Image quality was mixed - black text printed perfectly, but coloured text was handled poorly, and the lighter the colour the less readable the results. Graphics printed acceptably well, although dithering was rough on solid backgrounds. Text on solid backgrounds was at least always readable, so Excel tables should reproduce well enough.

The B2500 MFP is much stronger when it comes to photocopying. We ran off ten copies of an A4 document in just 51 seconds, and the copied pages were indistinguishable from the original.

The 600 x 2,400dpi scanner itself is capable, but isn't as good as a standalone photo scanner. Colours were accurately reproduced, but detail was lacking in our tests and we also saw banding. Speed wasn't too impressive either - a 6 x 4in colour print at 300dpi was ready for editing in 24 seconds, while scanning a 10 x 7in print at 600dpi took more than two minutes to complete.

We like the USB port on the front, which allows you to scan directly to a storage device as a PDF. Alternatively, you can print whichever JPEGs are on your portable media. However, given that laser printers are inherently worse at printing photos than inkjets, Word and PDF compatibility would be much bigger pluses. The lack of a built-in fax is another potential minus.

The biggest quibble we had with the B2500 MFP, though, is the noise it generates. The printing mechanism itself is fairly loud compared to personal laser printers such as the Samsung ML-2510, but the bulk of the noise is the result of a very loud fan that cools the printer's internals. It runs for about half a minute after each print job and will be easily audible even from a neighbouring room. If you're using it frequently for short jobs, this could become quickly irritating.

Replacing the consumables on the B2500 MFP is simple - the toner cartridge is the only consumable. It comes in two varieties - a standard version (£48), which prints 2,200 pages at a cost of 2.2p per page, or the 4,000-page cartridge (£52), which is only a little more expensive but translates to 1.3p per page. That makes the B2500 much cheaper to run than an inkjet, although Brother's HL-5250DN (see issue 140, p65) costs less than 1p per page.

The B2500 MFP has some clear faults. Complex documents take too long to print and the scanner isn't good enough for more than simple graphics or plain text. If you're sure you'll only be printing mono text documents and copying the same, the B2500 MFP is temptingly priced. However, the noise and uninspiring performance tarnish its appeal.

Author: Dave Stevenson