OKIDATA B411D TONER CARTRIDGE

Okidata B411D Review

Overview:

When dealing with a 35 page per minute printer that costs less than two hundred dollars such as the Okidata B411D, it is tough to go wrong. The printer also demonstrates excellent print quality and respectable specs all around, making it generally a great buy for the individual user or small office.

Pros:

Not only is the Okidata B411D fast at volume printing, but it is quick to get its first page of material completed. It takes less than five seconds for the printer to produce its first printed page, making it faster than some printers that cost literally thousands of dollars more, as well as a great small volume printer.

64 MBs of memory are included and installed with the Okidata B411D and, with one of its few expandability options, users can upgrade the printer’s memory all the way up to 320 MBs. The other piece of expansion hardware that can be purchased separately to improve the performance of this already competent device is a 530 sheet paper tray that is compatible with letter and legal sized paper.

When printing to non-standard paper sizes and types in high volume is required, users can choose the upgraded version of the printer, the Okidata B431D, and take advantage of the quite large 100 sheet multipurpose tray that can be loaded full of envelopes, transparencies, custom greeting cards, and other media. The Okidata B411D includes only a single sheet multipurpose slot and a standard 250 sheet tray.

A 350 MHz processor powers the Okidata B411D and its robust built gives it an 80,000 page per month maximum duty cycle. Various print resolutions are selectable, but the best the device can deliver is 2400 x 600 dots per inch. Those who upgrade to the Okidata B431D will have the advantage of printing to true 1200 x 1200 dot per inch resolution. While the “fake” 1200 dpi provided by the 411 cannot match the real thing, it comes pretty close.

Duplexing comes as a standard feature on the Okidata B411D and all related models, as is made clear by the D in the product name. The unit is not actually a laser printer, though it uses the same type of technology and replaces the laser with LED technology. Interestingly, Oki backs the LED print head on this device with a 5 year coverage plan, though the rest of the hardware receives the standard one year limited warranty.

While many basic printers such as the Okidata B411D rely on hard to distinguish LED blink codes on their control panels to alert users of toner warnings and such, this printer is equipped with an easy to read, easy to understand 2 line 16 character LCD screen. The alphanumeric screen is a luxury that definitely should not be overlooked, even if the unit is just a single function printer.

Cons:

Though network ready versions of the Okidata B411D are available, this particular model relies solely on its single high speed USB port for connectivity. While this is not necessarily a downside on its own, buyers should definitely consider looking into the network ready Okidata B411DN before making a purchase.