OKI Printing Solutions C7350n

Like the C3400n, the OKI C7350n also uses an LED array instead of a laser to lay down the patterns on the drum that attract the toner to print an output page. Unlike the C3400n, however, the C7350n uses a much faster print engine: it's rated at 26 ppm for black-and-white, and 24 ppm for color. This is a big, heavy, and bulky printer, with dimensions of 16.9" x 16.9" x 24.4" (42.93 cm x 42.93 cm x 61.97 cm) and a weight of 105 pounds (47.6 kg). It's also one of the more expensive printers covered in this article, with street prices ranging from just under $1,000 to slightly over $1,400.

The big block format on the OKI C7350n provides access to two large paper trays on the front of the unit.

On the output side of things, this printer really shines at print quality for documents in both black and white and color. Text quality is sharp and clear down to 5 points for most fonts, and as low as 8 points for complex type. Graphics are generally good, especially line art and simple graphics, but the unit does not excel at printing photographic images or other high-resolution artwork.

In short, with a monthly duty cycle of 100,000 pages, good durability, and strong paper handling capabilities - the unit comes equipped with trays sufficient to accommodate 630 pages, and add-ons boost overall paper capacity to 1,690 pages total - the C7350n is more of a high-volume workhorse than a do-it-all color output device. A black cartridge with a 10,000-page rating costs $108, while CMY color cartridges with the same page rating cost $185 each. Image drums must be replaced every 30,000 pages, and cost $144 for black, and $155 each for CMY color. All this makes the C7350n much better suited for SOHO situations than for personal use (especially for those who want to print the occasional photo).