PC World Top Ten Printers April 2003

Top 10 Printerstop 100

Visit find.pcworld.com/33971 for reviews of all products tested this month and ranked in this chart.

The OKI Data C7300n, at the top of this month's chart, prints nearly any type of document quickly -- so quickly that you may decide just to print everything in color. But even the least-expensive color laser here, the Minolta-QMS Magicolor 2300 DeskLaser, prints monochrome text at better than 10 pages per minute. A cool $1200 less than the next-cheapest model on the chart, the DeskLaser does a fine job with text and graphics, and it produces passable color photos. Note: We revised our tests for this month's chart and retested several older models, leading to changes in our performance results.

	Color Laser Printer	Street price (1/27/03)	Overall rating	Speed for plain text/full-page graphics (ppm)	Print Quality for text/ graphics	Comments
1	OKI Data OKI C7300n find.pcworld.com/33929	$2179	86	16.9/5.5	Outstanding/ Fair	Features: Rated 24 ppm monochrome/20 ppm color. Standard 64 MB of RAM, 1200-by-600 dpi maximum resolution, 630 sheets input, 500 output. Summary: the C7300n did a stellar job when printing monochrome text or line art, and it's very fast for the price, especially in color. ()
2	Brother HL-4000CN find.pcworld.com/29201	$2349	83	11.3/5.3	Outstanding/ Fair	Features: Rated 16 ppm monochrome/16 ppm color. Standard 64 MB of RAM, 1200-by-1200 dpi maximum resolution, 600 sheets input, 250 output. Summary: The HL-4000CN printed clean text, and its color images--though slightly garish--showed good detail. Brother omits a printed manual, but its online documentation is superior. The unit comes with an automatic duplexer. ()
3	Lexmark C750n find.pcworld.com/33956	$2199	83	11.6/2.7	Very Good/ Very Good	Features: Rated 20 ppm monochrome/20 ppm color. Standard 64 MB of RAM, 2400-by-2400 dpi maximum resolution, 600 sheets input, 350 output. Summary: The C750n produced sharp text and, for a color laser printer, attractive color photos. Ample capacity makes it a good choice for busy offices. ()
4	Minolta-QMS Magicolor 3100 DN find.pcworld.com/92902	$1999	83	10.8/2.6	Outstanding/ Fair	Features: Rated 16 ppm monochrome/16 ppm color. Standard 64 MB of RAM, 1200-by-1200 dpi maximum resolution, 600 sheets input, 250 output. Summary: Based on the same engine that the Brother HL-4000CN uses, this printer delivered comparable output and speed (except when processing color). It includes an internal duplexer. ()
5	Ricoh Aficio CL5000 find.pcworld.com/33947	$2999	81	21.3/2.6	Outstanding/ Good	Features: Rated 36 ppm monochrome/10 ppm color. Standard 64 MB of RAM, 1800-by-600 dpi maximum resolution, 350 sheets input, 400 output. Summary: The CL5000 printed razor-sharp text at twice the clip of the slowest printer on the chart, and it can handle 12-by-18-inch paper. It's one of the slowest at printing in color, however. ()
6	Minolta-QMS Magicolor 2300 DeskLaser find.pcworld.com/33926	$799	81	11.3/2.7	Very Good/ Good	Features: Rated 16 ppm monochrome/4 ppm color. Standard 32 MB of RAM, 600-by-2400 dpi maximum resolution, 200 sheets input and output. Summary: This surprisingly capable office printer has a great price. It produced sharp text, though not quite up to the standards set by pricier units. ()
7	OKI Data OKI C9500dxn find.pcworld.com/33932	$5149	80	19.5/5.1	Outstanding/ Fair	Features: Rated 37 ppm monochrome/30 ppm color. Standard 320 MB of RAM, 1200-by-1200 dpi maximum resolution, 630 sheets input, 500 output. Summary: The C9500dxn comes with a long list of features, including a duplexer, and was consistently fast in our tests. Along with its sibling, the OKI C7300n, it generated the best-looking output of any printer here. ()
8	Xerox Phaser 6200n find.pcworld.com/33959	$2399	79	10.5/4.3	Outstanding/ Fair	Features: Rated 16 ppm monochrome/16 ppm color. Standard 128 MB of RAM, 2400-by-600 dpi maximum resolution, 600 sheets input, 250 output. Summary: A speedy printer when printing in color, the Phaser 6200 produced crisp text and perfectly straight narrow lines. Color graphics looked somewhat dark and fuzzy, however. ()
9	HP Color LaserJet 5500n find.pcworld.com/33941	$3599	78	12.2/5	Outstanding/ Good	Features: Rated 21 ppm monochrome/21 ppm color. Standard 96 MB of RAM, 600-by-600 dpi maximum resolution, 600 sheets input, 250 output. Summary: The 5500 turned out great text and line art, but it produced dark, muddy gray-scale images. Though it printed color photos quickly, its other times were middle-of-the-pack. ()
10	Lexmark C910n find.pcworld.com/20822	$4999	76	11.8/2.6	Very Good/ Very Good	Features: Rated 28 ppm monochrome/28 ppm color. Standard 64 MB of RAM, 2400-by-2400 dpi maximum resolution, 1200 sheets input, 650 output. Summary: The C910n generated consistently great output, whether in monochrome or color, but newer models are faster. It can print on tabloid-size paper. ()

HOW WE TEST: The overall rating for color laser printers is based on print quality (25 percent), price (25 percent), features (15 percent), ease of use (15 percent), speed (10 percent), and service and support (10 percent). For all ratings, higher is better. Data based on test designed and conducted by the PC World Test Center. All rights reserved. See find.pcworld.com/10860 for details on PC World's Star Ratings. ¹All street prices include a network card.