Dell 2145cn colour laser

A versatile multifunctional printer – surely not?

By Simon Williams • Get more from this author

16th September 2009 12:02 GMT

We had problems printing from some USB drives, where the machine registered the insertion of the drive, but didn't come up with a folder and file display, so we couldn't select files for printing. Other drives work as expected. Scans from both flatbed and ADF were fair, though suffered a bit from over-emphasis of colour. The scanner can scan at up to 600 x 1200dpi and in 24-bit colour.

The ADF takes 50 sheets, but the paper tray only 250

The drum and toner cartridges are the only consumables in this machine and are available in two capacities. Supplied as standard are a 2,500-page black cartridge and three, 2,000-page colour ones, but 5,500 and 5,000 page, high-yield cartridges are also available. The transfer belt also needs to be replaced, but only every 50,000 pages.

Using the high-yield figures gives costs per page of 2.51p for a black page and 10.5p for a colour one. Neither of these page costs is particularly high, when compared with other machines aimed at the same market. In fact, the colour page cost is around 0.5p below average.

Looking at the total cost of ownership, which takes into account purchase price, running costs and the cost of maintenance, which in this case will be quite low, this looks like quite an inexpensive multifunction to run. The only element that will push the maintenance costs up is the small size of the standard paper tray. After all, if you're buying the 2145cn as a general-purpose office machine, you’re likely to tire of having to stick a half-ream of paper into it several times a week.

Verdict

This is a very versatile multifunction printer, which can produce all kinds of simplex and duplex copies, as well as faxes and scans. Although we had some problem printing from USB, this may relate to particular brands of drive. You could make considerable paper savings with this machine, though print costs themselves are higher than average. ®