Dell launches low-cost mono laser printers

 

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Posted on 31 Mar 2010 at 12:09

Dell is expanding its range of low-cost mono laser printers aimed at home and small office users with the 1130 and 1130n mono laser printers.

The 1130 costs just £75 excluding VAT (£88 inc VAT). The more expensive 1130n costs £119 ex VAT (£140 inc VAT). It has a network port but, unusually, there are few other differences in the network version of this printer.

Its specification lists a maximum monthly duty cycle of 12,000 pages, compared to the USB-only version's 10,000; a quoted maximum print speed of 24ppm, versus 18ppm from the cheaper 1130 and 64MB of RAM – eight times as much as the 1130 – to support its built-in page description languages, including PCL 5e and PCL 6. The specification also lists support for PostScript fonts.

Dell hasn't yet let us know whether these differences are purely down to the devices' printer controllers (the printer's internal computer) or whether it's made the unusual move of using slightly different print engines for models in the same range. It seems unlikely, but a difference in engine is the usual reason for differences in duty cycles and print speeds.

We thought the 1130 looked a little familiar. A quick look through our archives revealed a striking similarity in appearance, specification and measurements to Samsung's very good ML-2525 mono laser printer. Dell usually rebadges printers from established manufacturers and installs customised printer controller firmware. If that's the case here, then they could choose much worse than Samsung's little laser.

Although the 1130n is a little more expensive than some network mono lasers, the PCL support will be a welcome feature for many users. We'll be reviewing it in April. We've contacted Dell with our questions about its original manufacturer and the differences between its USB and network versions, so should have answers to both by the time you read our full review.

Author: Kat Orphanides