We put a selection of high-capacity office printers to the test. We analyse what printer is best for your workplace and what dosn't work.

There isn't much point, after all, in owning a network printer capable of printing thousands of pages per month at a ridiculously low price per page if the people that use it don't print out that much on a day-to-day basis.

Printer sales in Australia fell 12 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003 to 390,000 units, and are expected to fall another 13 percent for the full year 2004, IDC said.

The second most expensive printer to purchase, Epson’s C900 outlay cost is quite high given its fairly low quality results; as a consequence, this printer’s value rating suffers. Saving face, it managed to finish fourth overall for the speed portion of our testing. Surprisingly, for a printer of this cost, it is another unit to lack integrated network connectivity, although it is available as an expansion option.

Surely, this can't be right – a full-colour laser printer for only $1,800? You'd better believe it, The catch is that the 2300W is a GDI (graphical device interface) printer, so it doesn't have an internal processor and relies on the host system to do all the legwork in preparing the pages. Furthermore, it's parallel and USB 1.1 only and it can't accept a network card. That aside, the printer offers a fine set of features for the price. There's a 600 x 600dpi resolution with a 1,200 x 600dpi Fine ART mode, along with 4ppm colour and 16ppm mono print speeds.

The FS-2020D puts in another excellent display for a business laser printer that swept all our printing awards and catagories. It dosn't get much better than this Kyocera printing marvel.

Some items just don't fit any other category, but their looks, features or quirkness scream 'Christmas Gift Idea'. From everyone's favourite AI dinosaur, Pleo, to the groundbreaking Tivo PVR, we think we've got a little something for everyone.

Ignore the price – incredibly low running costs Make this a winner.

TCO, or total cost of ownership, is virtually a mantra when it comes to volume printers. Unlike other peripherals, like monitors or scanners, the initial purchase price of a printer represents only a small proportion of its overall cost over its lifetime. Consumables, like toner and replacement image drums, add to the cost, and some printers with low initial purchase prices can easily turn out to be significantly more expensive than more pricey units, after a couple of years.

It is all well and good selecting expensive printers based on the quality of the photo prints they produce, but the general home user often wants something that can do basic print jobs well, and make the kids' homework look good.

an Australian product that effectively cleans out the gunk, by following the page path through the printer.

Yet another solid HP laser, but it’s beaten by ?rivals in virtually every key area.

Plenty of features, but printing and scanning results proved average at best

One of the most impressive printers we received, it features plenty of well-thought out and logical technical features. One of only a handful of printers we tested that had an LCD for displaying print information and settings, the B4300 has eight single press buttons allowing you to view menu options, change values and cancel print jobs.

The LBP-2410’s real strength clearly lay in its speed, as opposed to its print quality. It was the third fastest printer overall, but fell in the shadow of the Labs Winner OKI C5100 for printing times and TCO over both low and high monthly duty cycles.

Epson has two current specialist photo printers and the model which takes care of the lower end is the $399 Stylus Photo 810.

As a television-based photo printer, the NX-500 is quite capable

An impressive little printer, its incredibly light and portable design makes the LBP-1120 perfect for the space-conscious small business home business operator with limited work area.

Superb quality, packed with features and cheap to run. A worthy alternative to the Kyocera.

One of the largest form factor printers in our roundup, HP’s Colour LaserJet 1500L has a giant footprint. Although not unattractive, with a purple ramp-like front cover, be prepared to sacrifice a reasonably sized piece of office real estate for this printer.