Kyocera 2160 D

The Color Laser Printer Guide: Vendor & Product Profiles

While a few years ago the Brother HL-4200CN would

be considered a competitive choice,it is now at the high-

er end (price-wise) of general color laser printers. Its fea-

tures are respectable, but other models offer more for a

lower price. Check out the Konica Minolta magicolor

5400 family, which is considerably less expensive for

roughly similar features. This Brother model needs an

upgrade or a price reduction to compete.

Chart entry—page 70

DELL

Round Rock,TX

800 999 3355

www.dell.com

Vendor Profile

Dell Computer, the number one computer retailer in the

US, is now putting its name on a growing set of printers.

Just a few yearsago, it entered the color laser printer mar-

ket with three models based on Fuji Xeroxengines.

Dell sells its printers both online and through catalogs.

The company,through its catalogs and Website, also sells

printers under other vendors’ brands, but it is moving

more and more toward selling its own brands.

Dell printersaredistinguished by lowstreet prices and

reasonable consumables costs. These are straightforward

models, intended for small-office use. They are so low

priced that they have set off a series of price reductions

by rivals.

Note that Dell printers are set up to work with

Windows PC computers only, natural enough in that

Dell is primarily a computer maker supplying printers for

its clients. Remember also that unlike most of its com-

petitors, printers are a sideline for Dell. Furthermore,

note that Dell’s support ratings have been slipping badly,

something that should enter into your considerations.

That may not make as much difference with printers,

since they are far simpler than the combination of hard-

ware and software that Dell must support in its personal

computers.

Product Profiles

Dell Color Laser Printer 3010cn

5ppm color

25ppm black & white

Dell Color Laser Printer 3110cn

17ppm color

31ppm black & white

Sum-up: Low-cost color printers, yet with reasonable costs

per page.

These new color laser machines (based on the discontin-

ued Color Laser Printer 3000cn and Color Laser Printer

3100cn, respectively) have remarkable performance and

Brother HL-4200CN

Consumables costs at-a-glance

Price

Yield

Full-color cost per page

Black-and-whitecost per page

Black toner $62.99 9,000 $ 0.007 $ 0.007

Cyan toner $157.99 6,000 $ 0.026 N/A

Magenta toner $157.99 6,000 $ 0.026 N/A

Yellow toner $157.99 6,000 $ 0.026 N/A

Print head cartridge $419.99 30,000 $ 0.014 $ 0.014

Transfer Roller $57.99 25,000 $ 0.002 $ 0.002

Fuser unit $241.99 100,000 $ 0.002 $ 0.002

TOTAL PER-PAGE COSTS

$0.1047 $0.0257

10.47 2.57

Dell Color Laser Printer 3010cn

Consumables costs at-a-glance

Price

Yield

Full-color cost per page

Black-and-whitecost per page

Black toner $40.00 2,000 $ 0.020 $ 0.020

Cyan toner $70.00 2,000 $ 0.035 N/A

Magenta toner $70.00 2,000 $ 0.035 N/A

Yellow toner $70.00 2,000 $ 0.035 N/A

Drum/black $169.99 42,000 N/A $ 0.004

Drum/4-color $169.99 10,500 $ 0.016 N/A

TOTAL PER-PAGE COSTS

$0.1412 $ 0.0240

14.12 2.40