Okidata addresses the medium-size workgroup market with the 16-ppm, letter- and legal-size Okidata Okipage 16n . The Okipage produces excellent text and graphics output. But don't let the low price fool you: Network and PostScript support cost extra, and the documentation and network management and support tools are well below par.

Setup for IP was difficult; the manual lacked instructions for installing the printer on a Windows NT 4.0 network for any type of printing. We finally found a page detailing IP setup with DOS-based OkiLAN utilities--in the Unix section of the manual. For networks that are completely Windows NT-based, you must install both SAP Services for Windows NT and Gateway Services for NetWare in order for the OkiLAN utilities to run. Knowledge of how to set up an LPR port under Windows NT is also helpful. While the Okipage is a multiprotocol printer, it failed our Protocol Switching test: When we sent jobs to both the IPX and IP queues, the Okipage always printed the IPX jobs first, rather than interleaving them as we feel a true multiprotocol printer should.

The Okipage ships with OkiView, the Windows printer management utility. We used OkiView to configure the Okipage and hook the printer up to our NetWare network, but OkiView lacks both NDS and TCP/IP configuration support. OkiView displays rudimentary printer status information on paper jams and paper outages, and while the manual and READ.ME files claim the program can track print jobs, we could not enable the feature.

With Okidata's Oki Smoothing resolution-enhancement technology, this factory renewed, factory sealed, and factory guaranteed printer's standard 600-dpi resolution can be extended to 1,200 dpi. Text was crisp and graphics showed fine detail. Not that PCL output far outclassed PostScript, because Oki Smoothing is built into the PCL print drivers. When compared with other 16- and 17-ppm contenders, the Okipage's peformance was acceptable, though not outstanding. It produced 12.9 ppm on our Multiple Simultaneous Jobs test.