Review: Dell Laser 1110 budget laser printer

Dell has recently taken a broom to its entire laser printer range. Replacing the Laser 1100, the Laser 1110 offers higher print speeds and an increased duty cycle.

It couldn't be easier to use or set up. USB is the only connection option available and the toner cartridge slots in to the front of the printer.

We were a little surprised at how far you have to push the cartridge in, but the foldaway handle ensures it's hard not to install it correctly.

In keeping with the simplicity of the Laser 1100, controls on this new model are kept to a minimum on the printer.

There are just two indicators on the top of the unit to show printing progress or any errors, while control buttons are limited to a single cancel button below the LED indicators.

Aimed at the home or small office, the Laser 1110 is very compact, weighs just 5.5kg and has quoted printer speeds of 16ppm (pages per minute); 2ppm faster than the Laser 1100.

Also increased on the previous model is the number of pages for the monthly duty cycle; 8,000 compared to the Laser 1100's 5,000.

In our tests the Laser 1110 achieved just over 15ppm with standard text output; this dropped to 13ppm with our mixed image and text document.

With a default print resolution of 600dpi the print quality of text is good, but when it came to printing our standard photo test, the printer ran out of memory; hardly surprising since it only comes with 2MB of onboard memory.

Laser printers, especially at this price, aren't intended for photo output though.

As far as consumables go, there's just the toner cartridge to replace. This costs £46 and gives 2,000 pages at five per cent coverage.

In order to supply the Laser 1110 as such a low price, Dell ships a starter toner cartridge as standard, which is half the capacity at 1,000 pages.

We're seeing more and more entry-level laser printers at the moment and this Dell is one of the cheapest available, but running costs are on the high side, especially since you'll need to replace the toner after just 1,000 pages.

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