A Closer Look At The Okidata C5200 Printer

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Ever since the Okidata C5200 printer and Okidata 5000 series toner was released, it has been regarded as one of the best low-cost color printers in its time. The primary reason for all the success is its price. At $800, it was the most affordable colored laser printer. Let us look at it again and see if it can still beat the latest laser printers available.

Speed is an essential factor that should be present in any office printer. A couple of people may be using the printer at any given time. If it is too slow, it will be overwhelmed and the users will need to wait until it is finished printing.

For any laser printer, it should exceed 18 pages per minute for the monochrome prints. The Okidata was able to print at 24 pages per minute for monochrome and 16 pages for colored prints. The speed makes it a good choice.

Speed is not always everything. The text and image should be clear and sharp enough. As for the text quality, the Okidata's prints were nothing short of excellent. Unfortunately, the colored printing is not that good. Discoloration and inconsistency was apparent in the prints.

An office printer should be cost effective. The average office of 20 to 30 people prints around 30,000 pages in a month's time. Keeping the printing cost down should be a priority. The Okidata C5200 toner cartridge was able to print black and white documents at 2 cents per page, which is actually quite reasonable. The color printing is little steep at 14.1 cents per page.

A major thing that makes the Okidata C5200 printer stand out is its huge 50,000 monthly duty cycle. It is actually twice the value of other colored laser printers in its class. The major paper tray can handle up to 930 sheets, which makes the C5200 a very good corporate printer.

It also has an Ethernet port that makes networking a lot easier. Just plug it in to a router, and everyone can get access. There is no need for fancy and complicated software installation. In addition, since it is connected directly to the router, there is no need for a computer to serve as its hub.

The maximum printing resolution is 1200 x 600 dpi. That goes for both colored and monochrome prints. If you want to get a duplexer, one is available at around $300. This will enable the printer to print on both sides of the paper automatically.

For a colored printer, the C5200 is actually smaller than most. Its size is comparable to a 17-inch CRT Monitor. It weighs around 57 lbs, which makes it one of the heaviest printers in its class. It is highly recommended that you find a permanent place for it. Moving something as heavy as this is dangerous and painstaking work.

The 200 MHz processor and 32 MB RAM is good enough for a small office of three to five people. If there are a lot more people who are going to use it, you might want to upgrade the RAM. It can support up to 288 MB.

Although it has been almost six years, the Okidata C5200 printer is still one of the best colored printers out in the market. Okidata 42127403 toner provides quality prints without the hefty price. Shop at online toner and ink cartridge retailers to find the best deals on Okidata C5200 compatible toners.

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