Laser Printer Roundup : Dell 2335dn
3. Dell 2335dn
Scanner and copier
Although the 2235dn only prints in black and white, it can scan in colour. It's reasonably fast but nothing impressive. A preview scan takes around 12 seconds, and then the full scan of a 4 x 6'' photo takes 10 seconds, which is entirely reasonable. Scanning a page of A4 takes around 22 seconds. The quality is nothing special. The contrast is respected but the colours are dominated a little by reds. Scans are still sharp and there is plenty of detail. Copying documents is fast, with a single-page document taking just under 11 seconds, but see the main article for information about the quality of copies.
Handling
The 2335dn is a black and white multifunction laser printer with a fax machine. It's got a very traditional look with a boxy shape and black plastic, but its imposing size makes something of an impression. It will be more at home in an office or with a small team than at home. With 128 MB of memory, it will be able to stack up several large documents.
Although it doesn't have WiFi, the printer has a network port and an automatic two-sided printing mode. The printer tray can hold 300 sheets. It's compatible with PCL6, PS3 and has drivers with Windows, Mac and Linux.
| Specifications | ||||
| Resolution | 600 x 600 ppp | Number of Cartridges | 1 | |
| Speed B&W / Color | 33/ppm | Number of Base Colors | 1 | |
| Ink Drop Size | Picolitres | Scanner/Copier/Fax | Yes/Yes/Yes |
Speeds
Dell claims the 2335dn is capable of producing 33 pages per minute (ppm). Using our test documents, we measured speeds of 33.8 ppm. The automatic two-sided printing mode is a little less rapid but is still a speedy 14.4 ppm.
Today, printers are all relatively fast, with an average minimum of 10 ppm, but things become more complicated when it comes to measuring the time taken to process a document and print its first page. Fortunately, the 2235dn is well within the time published in Dell's specification. When the printer is warmed up, the first page arrives in just 8 seconds, which is good. After being on standby for a while, you need to wait 23 seconds, which is still respectable. It's after turning the printer off and back on that it takes longer: the first page takes 50 seconds.
The times we measured are about average compared with other laser printers.
Noise and Energy Consumption
After being on standby for an extended period, the printer uses 12.4 W. That's already quite high for a printer that isn't doing anything, but when it's printing, that rises to an average of 850 W--contrast that to the 20 W required by an inkjet.
The 2235dn is also a very loud printer, with average noise levels of 62 dB at a distance of 1 metre measured in our test suite.
Printing Quality
The quality of printed documents is entirely satisfactory. Text is a good deep black and individual characters are sharp, with only a small staircase effect around the edge of some letters. The graph clearly illustrates the gradients in the bars of the chart. Otherwise, the text is clean and stands out well on a black and white background. The contrast is well reproduced.
Be careful, though, as this excellent quality isn't maintained on photocopied documents, which are rather disappointing. There is too much contrast and the different lines on the chart are practically invisible. The text is still legible, though.
Cost per page
While most laser printer manufacturers rarely provide full cartridges, Dell stands out by shipping the 2335dn with a standard cartridge that's full with enough toner for 3000 pages.
Using this cartridge, the cost per page comes to 1.96 p, which is already very low, with an average of around 2.2 p per page for black and white printers. Using a high-capacity cartridge, the cost falls to just 1.15 p.
| Pluses | Minuses |
|---|---|
-Speeds -Very low cost per page -Printing quality -Automatic double-sided printing -Network port | -Poor quality photocopies -Bulky -Noisy and uses a lot of energy |
 The Dell 2335dn is fast, cheap to run and produces high quality documents ... BUT to do that, it uses a lot of power and is very noisy. | |
I have the scx-4500w and the review is pretty correct, setting up that Wifi make me want to pull my fingernails out.
My biggest pet peeve is the "scan to pc" button doesn't work as its said to. It will work, if it is in Ad-hoc mode, but if its on the network then you will need to open a program do it, it still works but it takes 5 times longer. Overall a great printer though, its certainly far from an eyesore and fits perfectly on my small filecabinet.
Quote from the Dell 2335dn page: "but when it's printing, that rises to an average of 850 W--contrast that to the 20 W required by an inkjet."
You probably meant 85 w? I'm pretty scared if you didn't.
I wouldn't doubt 850 watts, some of the others hit 600....
Any chance to do a review on the Brother MFC Series MFC-9120CN. It just came out and I can't find anything on it.
Precisely as the conclusions of the reviewer, I have tested the Samsung SCX-4500W and immediately run into several problems during configuration. I cannot see how the average user will get the machine to work with full functionality. Scanning is extremely weird, requiring you to start programs on the computer, click buttons and run back and forth to the machine to feed the document. It should simply scan to email or to a file share by pressing ONE button! For the record I have tested this device with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
I believe that the manufacturer of the SCX-4500W would clearly benefit from releasing the software of as open source. The original software and documentation has so many flaws and limitations despite the fact that the product has been on the market for perhaps more that a year. No updates seem to be available. Shall I conclude that further development has been stopped?
There is much more that could be done with a beautiful machine like this if the software and documentation are improved!