A3 colour printers are all big, bulky and slow - right? Wrong. The OKI C8800 isn't much bigger than a lot of ordinary A4 devices and can print in full colour at up to 26ppm.

Available in a variety of guises, OKI sent us a basic C8800n for our tests complete with a built-in 10/100Mbps Ethernet interface and integrated print server for use on Windows and Apple Mac networks. Most buyers, however, will go for the C8800dn (£1365.62 + VAT), the “d” indicating a duplexer for double-sided printing. Or, perhaps, the C8800cdtn (£1513.80 + VAT) which comes with a cabinet for free-standing use and an otherwise optional 530-sheet second paper tray.

A 300-sheet drawer and 100-sheet multi-purpose feeder are standard on all models, and the same LED-powered print engine is used across the range. A 500MHz PowerPC processor looks after the processing, supported by 256MB of memory, with a hard disk being another optional extra (£197.50 + VAT).

Maximum print resolution is 1,200 x 600dpi with support for both PCL5/6 and PostScript emulations and we were very impressed with the results. Graphics professionals may find fault, but for proofing it's fine and more than adequate for most business documents. Photographs, too, came out well and without having to tweak the driver settings.

On the downside the printer was quite noisy even in standby and took a couple of minutes to warm up from cold. However, once operational the first page of any document appeared in under ten seconds with a top A4 speed of 32ppm in mono (26ppm colour). A3 documents, as you might expect, took twice as long, but it was still very nippy.

Other drawbacks include a fairly hefty price tag and the need for a good deal of maintenance with separate toner refills and image drums required for each of the four colours. On the plus side, however, the C8800 compares well on price with other colour A3 printers and shouldn't be that expensive to run.

The toners, for example, last for up to 6,000 A4 pages with black refills available for £36 + VAT and £77 + VAT for each colour. The image drums (£23 + VAT each) should last for about 20,000 pages in addition to which a transfer belt (£44.62 + VAT) is needed which will have to be replaced every 80,000 pages, and a fuser unit (£45 + VAT) every 100,000 or so.

Windows and Mac drivers are both included together with network management software to supplement the built-in Web-based interface. You even get a template manager utility to quickly create all kinds of document from business cards and brochures to beer mats.

It's not for everyone and if you don't need A3 then it's overpriced. But if you do need it the OKI C8800 delivers the capability in an affordable, surprisingly compact and quick format.

A3 colour printers don't have to be bulky or slow. The LED-powered OKI C8800 is little bigger than an A4 printer and can print in colour at up to 26ppm. It's not cheap and needs lots of attention, but if you want to print in A3 it compares well against the competition.