Color Laser Printers at Bargain Prices

Performance

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PerformanceDell3000cnHPLaserJet 2600nOkiC3200SamsungCLP-510
Warm-up time1 min 08 s15 s2 min 10 s1 min 17 s
Printing 20 pages of black text54 s2 min 59 s1 min 17 s1 min 02 s
Printing a 13-page mixed text/image document2 min 13 s1 min 48 s1 min 04 s2 min 05 s
Printing an 8 ½ x 11 photo at maximum resolution43 s35 s49 s1 min 04 s
Printing an 8 ½ x 11 photo at 600 dpi39 s32 s37 s38 s
Time taken to print 1st black page11 s19 s9 s15 s

Conclusion

In general, the printing quality these entry-level laser printers offer is nothing short of excellent. If you're looking for speed above all for monochrome printing and color will only be used from time to time, the Dell 3000cn and Samsung CLP-510 will be the best choices - the first two having the additional advantage of producing good-quality color prints. If you're looking for better balance between printing speed in black and in color, you might want to consider the HP LaserJet 2600n or the Oki C3200.

For their multi-use capabilities, the Dell 3000cn and HP LaserJet 2600n deserve special mention since they are the only models that offer a network interface as standard, and also the Samsung CLP-510, which is the only printer to offer a duplex-printing module as a standard option.

  • chrisbak
    Your image (laser2.gif) is an excellent animation of an LED printhead in action. Can I use it in some material I am putting together for Xerox, or is there a copyright on it.

    Christine Baker
    christine.baker@xerox.com
    Reply