Dell 3100cn Review

Overview:

The Dell 3100cn color printer is the same unit as another model from the company, the Dell 3000cn, with the exception of a very useful additional paper tray and, in a very strange twist of fate, higher capacity toner cartridges. Both units are fairly fast, fairly cheap, full color laser devices that are a great way to incorporate color printing abilities into a small office environment.

Pros:

The 3000cn variation of this model is one of the only printers you will find on the market that does not include a standard paper tray along with its multipurpose tray. The Dell 3100cn remedies this predicament by including a 250 sheet capacity standard tray along with the very large 150 sheet covered multi purpose drawer. Also available are additional 250 sheet and 500 sheet drawers, though the unit’s maximum overall paper capacity stops at 900 sheets total.
 

With an optional duplex unit, buyers have the choice to spend the additional cash on two sided printing functions or to save money and stick without it. A duplexer is a great option for those looking to reduce paper usage by as much as half, or to create two sided full color brochures or pamphlets.

Cons:

The 25 page per minute monochrome print speed is fairly impressive, but if one were to print in color the Dell 3100cn can only offer them a maximum speed of 5 pages per minute. Considering you would assume that one would only buy a color laser printer with the intention of frequently printing in color, this simple fact is absolutely crippling for the unit, as light duty users could simply buy a much cheaper, much faster color inkjet.
 

The units monochrome first page out time clocks in under ten seconds, while time to first print for color is a very sluggish 17 seconds, meaning even if high volume printing isn’t required, single pages will still force users to wait considerably.
 

Standard memory is adequate, but not enough for a color laser device. With 64 MBs built in, monochrome printing tasks will run just fine, but color projects or complex print jobs will suffer severe slowdown, as is shown in the varying print speeds. Memory can be upgraded all the way up to 576 MBs maximum, but more should have been included in box.