Sharp's AR-C200P color printer is a relabeled version of Oki Data's Oki C7300n, but PC World tested a better-equipped configuration of the Sharp that included an internal duplexer and a hard drive, which pushed up the price to a mid-level $2999. On the hard drive you can store frequently printed forms and stationery, for example, as well as password-protected documents.

Though we lump it in with color laser printers, the AR-C200P actually uses four fixed arrays of LEDs--one for each color--instead of a laser beam to draw the image. In the early days of LED array technology, its print quality was inferior to laser, but that's no longer the case: The AR-C200P produced light but perfectly formed black text, and drew narrow, closely spaced parallel lines without speckling or fill-in. It also produced gray-scale photos with realistic textures and shading and clear detail despite a slightly dotty background. As with most color lasers, we were not especially impressed with the AR-C200P's color photos, which came out oversaturated and somewhat weak on detail. The printer kicks out text fast enough to keep your office moving, at 18.6 pages per minute, about 20 percent faster than the test-set average.

Working with the AR-C200P is easy. The hinged lid opens all the way to reveal the toner cartridges and imaging drums sitting in a basket across the top; you can lift the basket completely out of the machine, exposing the paper path and other components. Another door on the printer's front face provides reach-in access to the paper path. We also found the control panel easy to use, thanks to a backlit LCD and separate buttons for each level of the menu hierarchy. Sharp supplies Oki's in-depth on-screen manuals. However, unlike most newer color laser printers, the AR-C200P doesn't include an internal Web server with its network management tools--instead, the tools function as a client on a Web server running IIS and SNMP. Therefore, only a skilled network manager should attempt to implement features like client controls.

The AR-C200P has a 530-sheet main tray and a 100-sheet auxiliary feed, though you can expand its paper capacity with one or two extra 530-sheet trays for $520 each. Sharp offers no other paper-handling options. Based on PC World's page-yield test, toner for the AR-C200P costs 13 cents per color page--the average. Sharp, like Oki Data, warrants the printer's LED arrays for five years; the rest of the machine gets one year of coverage.

The AR-C200P boasts exceptional text quality and speeds, but many less-expensive models print comparable-quality graphics faster, and offer longer support hours.

Dan Littman

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