The Dell 3110cn is a color laser printer geared to fill the gap between budget laser printers and more expensive laser printers. It offers basic functionality with faster speeds and better print quality than most budget lasers, while leaving out some of the extras of higher priced models.
The design of the Dell 3110cn is a little on the bulky and heavy side, especially when compared to monochrome laser printers, as the color toner cartridges take up a fair amount of space inside the unit. At 15.8 inches wide, 18.5 inches tall, and 19 inches deep, it takes up quite a bit of space, and its weight of 53 pounds makes it a bit of a chore to move around. While this won’t be much of a concern for office users with more space for equipment, home users or small office users attracted by the low price will need to consider its size and weight when purchasing, and ensure they have the room to accommodate a large printer.
The front control panel is simple, with a two-line LCD panel and a small array of buttons. While a more detailed LCD display is always a welcome feature, it is no doubt a cost-saving measure in this case. The unit comes with 128 MB of ram standard, which can be upgraded to over 1 GB of memory if needed. Given the target market of this printer, most users will not have the high volume that would necessitate upgrading the memory, but it’s a comfort to know it is possible, nonetheless.
Print quality is sharp and dark for text, and slightly better than what you find in a budget laser printer, but color quality is somewhat lackluster, showing fuzziness and inconsistencies in many cases. Print speeds for monochrome are good, at 22 pages per minute, but color prints are a little slow for the price point at around 12 pages per minute.
Dell toner cartridges are reasonably priced and are rated for 5000 pages in monochrome and 4000 pages in color. Dell 3110cn toner cartridges are also available as a large capacity version. At 8,000 pages for both the color and the black, the high yield toner cartridges are a great choice to keep up with the jobs that this printer is fitted to do.
Overall, the Dell 3110cn strikes a good balance of better speed and print quality than budget printers without the higher price of high-end laser printers. While its color quality could be better, its monochrome print speeds and quality are impressive.
