Toner Store Reviews – Reviews for Printer Toner & Printer Ink Shops

Dell 3110cn Toner Printer Review

The Dell 3110cn stands out from the crowd of boring, beige-box printers with its black and silver design. While the intent was certainly to look more modern, it doesn’t necessarily achieve this goal. Further, some users will likely prefer a more traditional look.

Upfront price is higher than similar competing models, such as the Xerox 6180, which has similar speeds and features. Paper handling is quite good, with a 250-sheet main drawer and a 150-sheet bypass tray for handling alternate media. This is an essential feature for those users who frequently use multiple types or sizes of paper, as they can load a second paper type without having to clear the main drawer. Unfortunately, the bypass tray is a bit cumbersome, as users must fold nearly the entire front panel of the printer out for the bypass tray, taking up a lot of space. Paper capacity can be expanded with the addition of a 550-sheet drawer, bringing the total paper capacity to an impressive 950 sheets.

One area in which Dell printers excel is in toner costs, and the 3110cn is no exception. Dell toner cartridges are consistently less expensive than their competitors, resulting in a lower cost per page and a lower total cost of ownership over the lifetime of the unit. One thing that brings the cost per page down significantly for the Dell 3110cn is its high capacity cartridges. Dell 3110cn toner cartridges have capacities of 8,000 pages for each of the color cartridges, as well as the single black cartridge. Comparing this to the Xerox 6180 toner cartridges, which have capacities of 6,000 pages each, and are more expensive, the cost per page difference is around $70 each time the cartridges are replaced. Every 10 times the cartridges are replaced, a business could be saving $700.

Of course, savings are only worthwhile if print speeds and quality are good enough for the buyer’s needs. Print quality on the 3110cn is quite good. Its text quality is extremely sharp, with clean, defined characters. Graphics quality is also excellent, and above average for a laser printer. Color quality is very sharp, and while photos are not nearly as good as a high-quality inkjet printer, colors are accurate and details are sharp, making it one of the better choices for photos at its price point.

Print speeds are generally fast. Text prints at a speedy 18 pages per minute, but color prints are a bit slow, at around 4 pages per minute. This makes the Dell 3110cn a better choice for users who only do occasional color printing, as heavy color users will likely want more speed.

Overall, the Dell 3110cn impresses with its excellent text quality and affordable toner costs, but slow color speeds may be a problem for some buyers.