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The OKI C332dn ($349) is a color laser-class printer suitable for medium-volume printing in a small workgroup or a micro or home office. It is reasonably fast, and its paper capacity is comparable to that of similarly priced printers, though its running costs are high. In terms of graphics quality, the C332dn falls short of the Editors’ Choice HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dw ($899.90 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , but its graphics should still be fine under most circumstances.
Design and Features
The C332dn ($1,350.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) is a single-function color printer that uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in place of lasers as a light source. It measures 9.5 by 16.1 by 19.8 inches (HWD), too big for a desk, and weighs 48.5 pounds, so you may want two people to move it into place. The C332dn has an off-white base and a dark-brown top. Its two-line monochrome display, controlled by a four-way rocker switch with a central button, lets you navigate the menus and displays the levels for each color of toner.
With a maximum duty cycle of up to 45,000 pages per month, the C332dn is suitable for up to medium-duty printing. Its standard paper capacity is 350 sheets, split between a 250-sheet legal-size main tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose feeder. You can add one optional 530-sheet paper tray ($199) to increase the maximum capacity to 880 sheets. This model includes an automatic duplexer for two-sided printing. The HP M452dw has similar paper handling, with the same 350-sheet standard paper capacity, a duplexer, and a 50,000-sheet monthly duty cycle. The Editors’ Choice HP Color LaserJet Pro M252dw ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , built for lighter-duty use than the C332dn, has only a 151-sheet standard paper capacity, and a 30,000-sheet maximum monthly duty cycle.
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The C332dn offers USB and Ethernet connectivity; a Wi-Fi adapter is available as a $75 option. It does come ready for both Google Cloud Print 2.0 and Apple AirPrint. The printer includes both PCL and PostScript drivers. I tested it on an Ethernet network with its drivers installed on a PC running Windows 10 Professional.
Print Speed and Output Quality
The OKI C332dn averaged 31.4 pages per minute (ppm) in printing the text-only (Word) portion of our new business applications suite, meeting its rated speed (31ppm for monochrome printing). In printing the full suite, which includes PDF, PowerPoint, and Excel files in addition to the aforementioned Word document, it averaged 13.8ppm. This makes it slightly slower than the OKI C612dn ($879.37 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) (36.7ppm and 14.7ppm for the Word document and the full suite, respectively). We can’t directly compare the C332dn with the HP M452dw, which is rated at 28ppm for both black and color printing, because we timed that printer using our old test protocol.
In our testing, text quality was a touch below par, and graphics and photos were average. Slightly subpar text is still suitable for most business uses, except for those requiring small fonts, such as demanding desktop publishing applications.
See How We Test Printers
With graphics, colors were rich and well saturated, although several backgrounds were not as dark as they should have been. Several illustrations showed dithering in the form of dot patterns. I saw mild posterization (abrupt shifts in color where they should be gradual) in one illustration. But overall, the graphics quality is good enough for PowerPoint handouts, at least for distribution to general audiences, if not important clients.
I saw posterization in one photo, and colors were slightly off in one print. A monochrome image had a mild tint.
Running Costs
Running costs for the C332dn, based on OKI’s price and yield figures for consumables (toner and drum), are 4 cents per black page and 17.6 cents per color page, high for a printer of its price. They are a little higher than for the HP Color LaserJet Pro M252dw (3.2 cents for black, 17.6 cents for color) and considerably higher than for the HP M452dw (2.2 cents for black, 13.6 cents for color).
Conclusion
The OKI C332dn is a good choice as a color laser-class printer for up to medium-duty printing in a small workgroup or micro office. It is reasonably fast, and its paper capacity is typical for a printer of its price. Its running costs are high, and its graphics quality falls short of that of the similarly featured Editors’ Choice HP M452dw, which is currently available for well under its list price. But the C332dn is a solid and capable alternative.
3.5
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The OKI C332dn is a fast LED-based color printer that delivers solid output quality for a small workgroup or a micro or home office.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/oki-c332dn