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We see a lot of printers in the course of a year, so occasionallyget the feeling we've seen a particular model before. It sometimesmeans we've inadvertently requested the same model twice, which isannoying if we've started a second review, but it can also mean themodel is rebadged from another manufacturer.

OKI's B6250 produced this d?vu feeling, but no, we hadn't askedto review it before. We checked other printer makers and cameacross the Epson EPL-N3000, which looks suspiciously similar to theB6250, but we haven't reviewed that, yet. Then we came across the Konica Minolta PagePro 4650EN , which we reviewed a couple of months back and again lookssuspiciously similar, physically and on the spec sheet, to the OKI.

So we have one machine being sold in at least three differentguises. Our guess as to the manufacturer of all three is Epson, asthe company sells an A3 printer with similar styling to theEPL-N3000, which the other two ranges don't include.

OKI has to bring something to the party to make the B6250preferable to the Epson or Konica Minolta offerings and we suspectthat's price. The cheapest we can find the OKI machine for is ?03,while the PagePro is ?61 and the Epson is ?86, all including VAT.

The OKI B6250, like the other two, is a big machine, with somesubtle curves relieving an otherwise boxy appearance. Paper feedsfrom either of two, 200-sheet paper trays to a deep indentation inits top surface, so you can expect the printer to cope with longprint jobs unattended.

The control panel is well laid out, though the 2-line, 16-characterLCD is another one that is hard to view and badly needs abacklight. Why printer makers are so reluctant to use a couple ofwhite LEDs to provide backlights on printer displays is beyond us.They cost pence to include and fractions of pence to run, given theprinter is taking over 550W, anyway, when printing machine.

This printer doesn't have networking built in - odd for a machineaimed at the workgroup - though it's available as an option, as areone or two extra 550-sheet paper trays, a duplexer, hard drives andan offset stacker.

The machine is very easy to set up and maintain, as it uses asingle drum and toner cartridges that drops in through a hatch inthe printer's top cover. Close the hatch and you're covered for11,000 pages of print. Software installation, which includes bothPCL 6 and PostScript Level 3 emulations, is also easily done.