The Dell 1815dn

If you want a monochrome laser multifunction printer for your home or small workgroups under $400 that not only prints, but scans, faxes, copies, comes with an built-in duplexer, is network ready and prints black text at around 18 pages per minute then I seriously suggest you take a look at the Dell 1815dn.

In addition to all the above, the Dell 1815dn comes with a built-in USB port for scanning to or printing from a USB flash drive. This drive supports Windows, Macs and Unix machines so no one in your team need be left out! Although the dell 1815dn is strictly a work-orientated machine, with it’s countless options and low cost consumables, you’d be a fool to not think this printer would benefit your office.

For a printer that does so much, the Dell 1815dn ain’t so big - it comes in at 17.7 inches wide by 17.2 inches deep by 18 inched high. Weighing around 38.5 pounds with it’s standard 250-sheet paper tray means it’s not hard to move around if needs be. To further help transportation, there are two deep handgrips on either side of the printer.

The hinges of the lid lift out so you can scan bulky books for photocopying and scanning. There is an automatic document feeder (ADF) which is mounted on the scanner lid and can accommodate up to 50 pages for batch scanning, copying or faxing. This ADF can also double-duty as an automatic duplexer, allowing automatic double-sided printing and copying saving not only the environment, but money too.

You’ll find the power switch and the connecters (USB 2.0) at the back of the machine for direct attachment to a PC and an Ethernet port for sharing the printer on a network. The 1815dn has a control panel on the front with a two-line text LCD. A full numeric keypad will allow you to dial a fax number or easily enter the number of copies you need. The LCD screen will show the printer’s menus and dedicated forward and back keys allow you to drill up and down the menus at your leisure.

There is an internal output tray which means there is no annoying appendage poking out from your printer, though this does mean that you can’t expand the output capacity of 150. There are options available to increase certain aspects of your printer if you wish to do so.

Through the control panel, you are able to set paper size, reduce or enlarge copied images, auto fit or clone copies, input paper type, select advanced fax features and change scan resolutions among other things. With the scanner bed only able to accommodate up to A4 size, the duplexer’s dedicated scanner (the platen) is a godsend if you need to scan up to legal-size pages.

For more on the Dell 1815dn, visit cnet.com

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