Dell Updates Laser, Multifunction Printers For SMBs

Dell 2350dn Multifunction Printer

Expanding its printer portfolio for the small and midsize business (SMB) market, Dell introduced on Tuesday six new printers, including several multifunction printers (MFPs), the industry's first multifunction monochrome laser printer with a 4.3 inch touch-screen interface priced under $600, LED laser-class color MFPs, and a universal print driver. All are available for sale immediately, with ship dates starting November 23.

"Offices who have not refreshed in a few years will get lots of new features like color and speed, along with the energy efficiency, and better cost per page," said Bill Muscato, global imaging product line manager at Dell.

According to Dell, the new devices can save SMBs up to 30% in total cost of printing (TCoP) relative to competitive offerings from other vendors. For example, one cost-saver, according to Muscato, is that Dell covers the fusers -- a key component of any laser printer -- in the base warranty, rather than treating them as a consumable. "A fuser for a $1,000 to $1,500 workgroup machine can cost around $300, and typically [needs] replacing around three times over four years," said Muscato.

Ann Priede, VP of publications at Lyra Research, commented, "Dell is making a big push on SMB-oriented products that reduce the [total cost of ownership], such as through reduced maintenance and lower cost per page, and with greater usability, such as the color touchscreen on SMB workgroup MFPs."

Dell's New Monochrome Printers

Dell's new laser printers and MFPs are the 2350d, 2350dn, and 2355dn, plus a refresh of the 2335dn. A "d" stands for duplex, meaning the machine can print double-sided; an "n" for networked, signifying the machine includes an Ethernet RJ11 port and other features needed to be a networked printer.

The 2350d (MSRP $249) and 2350dn (MSRP $299) black-and-white laser printers replace Dell's 2330d and 2330dn models.

According to Dell, the 2350d/dn machines are for any size business, workgroup, or home office. The new machines are nearly 13% faster than the models they replace, printing up to 40 black-and-white pages per minute (versus 35 ppm on the older models), have a higher duty cycle of 60,000 pages per month versus 50,000, and include both a USB 2.0 and a parallel port.

"Many workgroups and organizations are still running older machines that have parallel ports," said Scott Gray, product manager, Dell imaging and printing group.

Dell 2355dn Multifunction Printer hspace=

"The 2350d can be a personal printer, for a single user," said Gray. "The 2350dn adds Ethernet capability, makes it good for small workgroups -- we define a typical small workgroup as five to 10 people."

The 2355dn (MSRP $599), is a monochrome MFP (printer, copier, scanner, and fax) that's intended, according to Dell, for SMBs and all other organization sizes. The 2355dn prints up to 35 ppm, at up to 1200 x 1200 dpi print resolution and a cost-per-page of 1.83 cents, and a maximum monthly duty cycle of up to 80,000 pages. The 2355dn includes USB 2.0, Ethernet, and RJ11 phone ports.

One distinctive feature, according to Dell, is the 2355dn's 4.3-inch color touchscreen. "The 2355dn is Dell's first touchscreen MFP in its 2xx line," according to Gray. "Touchscreens are useful on MFPs for scanning and other tasks. For a $599 MSRP machine, this is a first; other machines with this feature cost over $1,000."

The 2355 is for scalable workgroup printing, and is expandable with a range of accessories.

Dell also announced a refresh of its 2355dn multifunction (print, copy, scan, fax) 35 ppm monochrome laser printer, doubling onboard memory from 128 MB to 256 MB RAM for improved performance, and increasing the duty cycle from 40,000 to 60,000 pages month.

Multifunction Color Printers

Additionally, Dell said that the new 1355cn (MSRP $379.99) and 1355cnw (MSRP $419.00) multi-function printers ("c" for color, "w" for Wi-Fi) announced last month are now available for order.

The 1355cn and 1355cnw are follow-on models to single-function printer versions that Dell launched September 29, and suitable for SMBs.

Dell claims that the 1355 is "the world's smallest 4-in-1 multifunction (print, copy, scan, fax) laser-class network printer." The 1355 has a footprint roughly the size of two A4 sheets of paper -- "good for somebody who doesn't have a lot of space, or for moving around an area, like on a cart," said Muscato.

Dell 1355cnw Color Multifunction Printer

The 1355 uses next-generation color LED technology, with an array of fixed LED lights, instead of the moving single-laser light used in laser printers. "Everything except the laser is the same as in a laser printer, like the toner, drums, and fuser," said Dell's Muscato.

The LED technology is "more energy efficient, faster, lighter, and smaller," said Muscato. "It means fewer moving parts, more reliability, and easier maintenance. We've moved all our entry-level color lasers to color LED now."

According to Muscato, the color quality of Dell's LED printers is "'quite remarkable, for skin tone, color brilliance, color quality as a whole, in many ways superior to laser printers."

The 1355 prints at up to 15 ppm mono and 12 ppm color, and, according to the company, is "virtually maintenance free, with drum and fuser designed to last the lifetime of the printer."

Open Printer Driver

Dell also announced its Open Printer Driver (OPD), a universal driver that will work on any Dell or other PostScript, PCL5, or PCL6 printer. According to Dell, the OPD "is designed to reduce the complexity of printer driver management.

The Dell OPD is "an all-in-one single software package with multiple supported printer description languages (PDL) in a small installation file, and has a common user interface for all printer types (single function, multifunction, color, and mono laser printers)," said Don Heath, group manager of Dell's imaging and printing group.