Ricoh SP 3500N Toner
Aficio SP 3500N Toner Cartridges

Ricoh SP 3500N Printer Review

The Ricoh Aficio SP 3500N is a desktop-style laser printer for the home or small office, with quick speeds of up to 30 pages per minute and excellent output quality of up to 1200 dpi resolution. It features network sharing options, but lacks automatic duplexing, and it is somewhat hinder by high replacement costs for Ricoh SP 3500N printer toner.

While the SP 3500N might be a little expensive for personal use, it is really designed for sharing among multiple users in a small office or even a home environment. Setup is quick and painless with the included ethernet port, though it also includes a USB port for those who want a direct connection to a PC. The control panel is fairly basic, with only a two-line LCD, but it is tilted for a better view.

The SP 3500N is around 10.4 inches high, and has a compact footprint of just 14.6x15.4 inches. It is also surprisingly light, weighing only 25.8 pounds, even with the single Aficio SP 3500N toner cartridge installed. Busy offices may find its starting paper capacity a bit light, with a 250-sheet main tray and a 50-sheet bypass tray, but it can be further expanded with an extra 250-sheet tray as well.

While so many of the unit's features are very appealing, the expense of replacement toners is almost enough to offset them all. Aficio SP 3500N toner is surprisingly expensive compared to its competition, which hurts its overall value significantly. Standard Ricoh SP 3500N toner cartridges offer 2,500 pages of output, while high-capacity versions offer 6,400 pages, but neither offers a compelling cost per page, especially for those on a tight budget.

Small office users will be understandably drawn to the SP 3500N and its combination of easy network sharing, fast speeds, and very sharp output quality. But the high cost of Ricoh SP 3500N toner starts to make it impractical for a small office budget, making competing models a much safer choice.