Review: Dell 3100cn laser printer

Dell’s 3100cn stands out from the crowd, in terms of both physical stature and its combination of performance, quality and features.

Finished in a striking black and grey, it stands tall upon a detachable 250-sheet paper tray which, in combination with the multipurpose feeder, brings the total paper capacity to 400 sheets – expandable to a maximum of 900.

It features full PCL 5e, PCL6 and Postscript 3 support, making it compatible with a large number of operating systems. It also boasts 25ppm printing in mono (5ppm in colour), a fast time to first page and by far the lowest running costs in this group test.

Also included as standard are USB and parallel ports, plus a network interface with browser-based management and configuration. Unlike budget models such as Canon’s Laser Shot LBP 5200, a 16 x 2 character dot matrix LCD status display is provided, which allows full configuration via built-in menus.

It also provides a constant display of toner levels. A printed manual is provided, which is a welcome change from the disc-only documentation so often delivered with low-cost printers.

In our tests, the 3100cn was a good performer across the board. It printed close to its rated speed on all but the full-page photographic test, which it completed in a fast time with a very high-quality result.

Initial setup does require a little patience, but Dell includes a huge wall-chart-sized reference card to guide you through. Driver installation is simple, with the option to select a personal or shared network installation immediately.

Features such as a toner status monitor with email alerts, network management and optional duplex printing, give the 3100cn the flexibility to work in larger networked environments while remaining cost effective and easy to use in smaller ones.

If the initial price is too high, check out this printer’s baby brother, the 3000cn, which comes without the lower paper tray.

This is part of a group test on budget colour laser printers. Other articles are:
Intro and Editor's choice
Canon Laser Shot LBP 5200
Epson Aculaser C1100N
HP Color Laserjet 2600n
Konica Minolta Magicolor 2430DL
Lexmark C510n
Oki C3200
Xerox Phaser 6120
The Real Cost of Printing