The feature packed Oki C3600

A colour laser printer would be the perfect answer regarding home offices that print a large number of colour paperwork. Offered at close to £270, the Oki C3600 is "network-ready" and prints at an amazing speed compared to its competitors, however it is actually larger compared to most printers and also does not have cool extras such as a full-colour LCD screen and a wireless print server.

We are not very pleased with the C3600's style and design, but we've really never been too taken with laser printers generally speaking. The matte white C3600 measures 371 by 290 by 478mm and weighs approximately 21kg. We wouldn't call it a behemoth, but it's larger than the Samsung CLP315W, which measures only 389 by 244 by 312mm. The C3600 even weighs around 19 lbs more as compared to the CLP-315W, and so people who have modest desk space are likely to be more happy with a more compact machine.

You can find all the ports you may need to connect the printer to your computer on the back of the chassis, which includes a USB and an Ethernet port for networking over multiple systems. One beneficial feature missing on the C3600 is a front mounted USB port allowing you to connect PictBridge- compatible cameras as well as direct printing from a USB flash disk.

Given that it is just a single function laser printer, there are only a few additional features, however we commend Oki for using a 400MHz processor in addition to a hefty 128mb of memory, which lets the C3600 to deal with even larger print jobs compared to the others. You can even upgarde the memory up to 640MB.

The C3600's cyan, magenta, yellow and black OKI toner cartridges} are individually separated and is postioned directly under the top cover and is lined-up in a horizontal row. This printer ships with 'standard' capacity cartridges. Based upon the claims from Oki, the black cartridge lasts for 1,500 pages and each of the 3 colour cartridges can last for 1,000 prints. A replacement black cartridge costs about £35, while replacement of the colour cartridges is about £55. You can also get high-capacity cartridges from Oki that can print 2,500 black pages (around £50) or 2,500 colour pages (around £70). There are also available toner cartridges that is compatible with OKI C3600 at 30% saving. The recommended monthly duty cycle for this particular printer is 35,000 pages, and that is more than enough for small businesses.

The C3600 fared really well in a direct output speed comparison with three other colour laser printers. It emerged second best on all our tests, just a bit behind from the Brother Hl4040CN, also a single-function printer at thesame price range. It printed black text at almost exactly the same speed as the HL -4040CN, generating 15.61 pages per minute, compared with the HL-4040CN's 15.66. This could not match the Samsung CLP-315W in the colour presentation test, but it's safe to say that you won't be waiting too long for any document with this printer.

The C3600 also performed well in all of our print-quality tests. The black text appeared just like we anticipate from a laser printer, it has bold line formation as well as smooth gradation on font size scales. The C3600 also dealt with our graphics text admirably, showing exceptional signs of colour separation as well as clear image variation, even in some of the refined blending detail. Not surprisingly, a portion of the images seemed slightly smudgy and pixellated, however the general print quality throughout presentations, graphics as well as simple text increased our overall impression of this printer.

The Oki C3600 is rather big and weighty, and fails to include a great many features. However, it does deliver high-quality prints at a quick rate, which makes it among our favourite colour laser printers.


Oki C3600 toner cartridges can be found here.