Dell 2130cn colour laser printer

Colour laser printers used to be a viable option for larger businesses only, as the price was always seen as prohibitive, but not any more.

Prices have tumbled so far that Dell’s latest colour printer, the 2130cn, is easily within reach of the small office, offering fast print speeds, good print quality and features normally found on more expensive models.

The 2130cn has a 400MHz engine with 256MB of memory (expandable to 1,280MB), with claimed print speeds of up to 20ppm for mono and 16ppm for colour, although our tests gave a consistent 16ppm for mono and mixed pages at the default normal setting, and just 4ppm when printing a full A4 colour photo, again with the default settings. The maximum monthly duty cycle is 40,000 pages.

Print resolution is 600dpi and quality is good, with sharp, crisp text. Photographic content is fairly well dealt with, with skins particularly well reproduced.

The four standard toner cartridges (black, cyan, yellow and magenta) are good for around 1,000 pages depending on usage, and cost £25 (£29.38 inc Vat) for black and £36 (£42.30 inc Vat) for each colour cartridge. Larger capacity cartridges are available and cost £34 (£39.95 inc Vat) for black and £44 (£51.70 inc Vat) for the colour units and last for 2,500 pages (depending on usage). Replacing the cartridges is a straightforward job, as they all sit neatly behind a panel in the side of the printer.

As standard the 2130cn comes with a 250-sheet input drawer but can handle up to 500 sheets if you add another 250-sheet drawer. Maximum output capacity is 150 sheets.

The review model came with the optional duplex unit (£128), but both USB2 and 10/100 networking interfaces are supplied as standard.