Dell 1320cn - A Quality Printer? January 20, 2010 16:39 by Matt Bird
We have noticed a sharp increase in printer enquiries and cartridge demands for the Dell 1320cn. Were we missing a trick? Is it a machine even better than reported? So we thought, let’s buy a new one for StinkyInk headquarters, and critique everything we possibly can in regards to it. I even made notes on delivery! (the van was nice and clean but pulled up too fast, if you wanted to know).
The Birth of a Dell 1320:
A cardboard box. I don’t know what I expected, but not just a box. Upon opening, you are met by four A3 size Set-up pages resting on top of the printer, with pretty images and a nice blue and grey colour scheme. The pedantic in me wanted to complain about the size of the guide, not ideal for a small office environment if used in a cramped space, but I can swallow my pride and not mention it I’m sure. ( :) )
The printer itself was well packaged, and I’m sure if the driver had broadsided an elephant it would have still reached us unscathed and aesthetically pleasing. All good so far.
The Dell 1320’s steps to Adulthood:
Remove 4 - But 5 highlighted!
Bar some questionable numeracy – see image to the left – we got to stage 6 of the 19 part guide hassle free! But then, disaster struck. The wording became unclear, and the image guide turned to terrifying orange arrows all pointing in the same direction, with no discernable way of repeating that direction in the real world. Also, if a guide says “into the locked position”, you expect some form of stability as a result of a "lock" result. Not for the 1320cn.
No Flashy Flashy For Me
As a side note, this guide really is tailored to people who have previously set up a laser printer. At one point you must remove the Print Head device from the unit. Whilst numerous caution messages are located around this instruction, it does not inform you what you are being cautioned about. Hello 1320cn user, welcome to paranoia. Is what I am removing breakable? Can I put it down on another surface? TELL ME SOMETHING......
Turns out, it is sensitive to light after the guards have been removed. My manager gleefully pointed this out as I leant in with my camera, the flash primed.
Our Dell 1320c all grown up – but moody:
Excellent, it’s working. Connect by Ethernet, turn the power on: Error message.... What? I didn’t even send a print request, what has possibly errored? A jammed page, just by turning itself on.
Dell 1320's Helpful Error Light Display
Now that is a feature, not that the error message was catalogued clearly. There is no feedback from the printer about what was wrong bar the lights. We looked through the CD user guide - fruitless - eventually giving up and fiddling with everything in sight. When it finally worked, it took a good 5 minutes to warm up.
Changing Dell 1320 Toner Is So Simple
It gets better though. We connected the 1320 to our network, and it decided to make a statement of power.
‘BEHOLD THE MIGHT OF THE PRINTER DHCP’
Our adorable, dictatorship-aspiring, 1320cn - with no permission or warning - decided to take over server duties from our actual Server. Safe to say I was greeted with screams of dismay as I went back into the offices and discovered our workers cut off from the StinkyWorld. Unless you have a computer you can do a direct USB driver install for, thus able to disable the 1320’s thirst for power, you may struggle.
A final few gripes before I get to printing, but weren’t meaty enough to moan at fully:
- User info book is 207 pages long, but just 12 pages is English, 6% useful. Is it not cheaper/better for the environment to make area specific guides?
- This aforementioned guide is in a bag, HEAVILY TAPED to the inside of the box. Getting it out was messy.
Our Dell 1320cn is a Daddy *beams*:
We ran testing speeds for Text, Text and Image, and high quality image prints, with quite impressive results. Astonishingly, it is the exact same print speed for a page of text or a solid page of colour, both coming out at 16.5 seconds (including a few seconds warm up time). At full speed for a larger document, it peaked at 10 ppm, a respectable effort. It is impressive to see it maintain this speed for full colour images, and very quietly too. Difficult to set up, but worth it for this.
The quality - Text and blacks were not that deep or rich. It looked nice until compared to a different printer output, which showed its blacks to be lacking and its text to be slightly subpar. The images however are clean and crisp when trying the testing image to the left.
Changing to our Dell 1320 compatible toners was incredibly simple, managed with the minimum of fuss very quickly, 10/10.
Printing the same images with these compatibles was a pleasant surprise. The text is still respectable, and the images were brilliant. Brilliantly brilliant. I could not tell the difference between originals and compatibles, and a sample group of individuals concurred ; 60% of the group preferred the compatible image, with the remaining 40% saying they looked the same! (They didn't know which was which)
So, the printer passes the performance test with flying colours. But what about page yield? Our compatibles, which aced the quality test, quote a 2000 page yield for 5% coverage. So I wrote myself a lovely 20% coverage poem – so a target of 500 pages - and printed until it ran dry. We thought these compatibles were good....we now know they are better than good.
It printed #drumroll please#................................... 688 pages. Yes - 688 copies of my amazing poem to distribute to friends and family. That equates to 2752 page yield at 5% coverage. Even more astounding, the final page it printed before stopping to alert me about ink levels was as clear as the first. No degradation or weakening of the print. Welcome to a thumbs up Dell, and it’s a big thumb.
Conclusion:
I wanted to end the article on the thumbs up, leave it at that and let people be happy it is a top notch printer. Apparently this does not sit well in the realms of a review, puh. So to summarise quickly for those looking at this printer but who don’t want to read the golden nuggets of my user experience:
- For its price, brilliant performance levels.
- Not the clearest setup instructions, but I managed it – so it must be simple
- Colours not as vivid as some printers, but still a very nice image output.
- Text printing, whilst not the deepest or sharpest, is more than acceptable quality.
- Print speed is more than adequate and similar for text and colour
- As far as printers go, aesthetically pleasing and a small footprint
- Compatible quality is fantastic, images exceeding original cartridge quality and text being just as sharp.
- Page yield on the compatible range is huge. We got over 37% more prints than the yield estimated, giving an average page cost of 1.3p per page.
If none of these plus points sell it to you, then all I can say is. I am a picky picky man. Hard to please and unforgiving. But this printer has warmed itself to me.
25 Responses to “Dell 1320cn - A Quality Printer?”
January 22, 2010 09:18
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Stinky Ink, Stinky Ink. Stinky Ink said: New Article, Dell 1320cn - A Quality Printer? (http://bit.ly/5JB58h) [...]
January 28, 2010 11:06
Not a bad review for a first-timer, but costs are not covered at all. For instance I print 45/50 pages of full colour every week so cost per print would be nice to know. This, to me, is an essential part of a printer review.
January 28, 2010 11:14
Hi
I have one of these - its used in the office for low volume high quality work. Its often called upon when the giant HP 4700n that sits beside it is in a grumpy mood - which is quite often. Print quality is excellent, and Stinky's toner works very well in it with a lot more coverage for a lot less money.
If you're looking for high quality photos - as in photo lab quality - go get a decent inkjet - the Dell 1320C won't do this for you. But as a workhorse office colour laser, its tops - and soooooo cheap to buy too.
Even manual duplex is a cinch with a lot of options for layout, binding space etc in the driver.
Like you, I've had an error light on it since I got it - the orange exclamation mark. I have no idea what its trying to tell me, but it works fine so I just ignore it.
Alan
January 28, 2010 12:04
Hi Mike, thanks for the comment.
Thank you for highlighting the print cost issue, I did intend to put the cost in for black usage. ( With the 2752 page yield I experienced off a single cartridge, it gives a cost of 0.77p per page)
I didn't go into cost per print in colour due to differences in coverage and cartridge use - I didn't want to mislead anyone with values. If you take a look at our page coverage article ( http://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/blog/2009/12/10/what-does-5-look-like/ ) and give that software a trial run on some of the images you print, you can get an idea of the kind of coverage you are experiencing. Compare that to 5% yield values on the cartridges and you'll have your printing cost.
I know this is a bit longwinded a process to get an estimation of costs, but I am not a fan of giving people values relating to money-spent when it is based off of something not far from a guess!
Haha Alan! Don't let that exclamation mark scare you. At least yours prints with it flashing, mine just sat staring at me stubbornly. Grr. Glad you agreed with my view on it, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality we got out of such a well priced printer.
January 28, 2010 16:47
The reason for increased enquiries about cartridges for this printer is fairly simple. Morgan Computers (the long-established "Line clearance" specialists) are currently offering an almost unbelieveable deal on them. If you missed the deal, and bought your laser somewhere else, then I'm sorry to tell you that you probably got robbed! What's the deal? Simple. The printer is FREE! Just buy two (full) sets of "compatible" toner cartridges from Morgans, pay around £7 delivery, and they GIVE you the printer. Total cost - the printer, eight toner units, VAT, delivery etc., was about £126. From many years experience, it occurred to me that my consumption of toner was likely to involve a LOT more black than the other three colours; I came to Stinky Ink's site and ordered a couple of spare black units. (Experience has also taught me that it's better to have more units than you currently need sitting in a desk drawer, than to run out over a weekend, and have none!)
I too had minor problems with setup: the destruction leaflet told me to "Pull the blue tab to the left" (or words to that effect) The tabs they were describing were (a) on the toner cartridges - which I hadn't yet been told to insert! - and (b) on the supplied "compatible" cartridges, the tabs are black, not bue. The Dell I bought has both a USB A socket, AND a socket for a network cable. As a commentator on Morgan's website suggests, pulling the blue (or black!) tabs to the left is often not enough to latch the toner into place - a second more vigourous push my be required (and with my laser, it WAS required, but by then, I knew about the second shove.) Comparing costs-per-page is doubltless entertaining, but when this laser's being given away for FREE, it's the "cost per laser printer" that really grabs ones attention. My initial reaction to seeing the offer was "this must be a really RUBBISH printer". So I googled it. And "PC Pro" magazine 's review commends it very highly. About 30 seconds later, I'd bought one!
January 28, 2010 17:32
Hi Matt - I have one of these and researched the market well before buying it, as my business involves printing chocolate bar wrappers. I have been very pleased with it in respect of quality of print, cost per page (particularly as you have now furnished me with sound information on which to calculate cost per page - see the above aforementioned link). The only very small thing I don't like is the very silly plastic thing that goes at the back of the paper tray. It doesn't fit properly on mine and so has ended up on the floor - totally superfluous unless you advise me otherwise?
As for tricky to set up - pah, you sound like a real girl!! :) I am definitely not a technical person, have only 1 previous experience with a HP Inkjet Printer bought in 1999 and I had no problem setting the printer up....in fact I feel very pleased with myself.....grin
Caroline
January 28, 2010 19:13
I bought this printer about 2 months ago to print out a book and for political leaflets it was just over a £100 for a colour laser seemed excellent value to me I was a little concerned it might be costly to run but it has been quite reasonable (thanks Stinkyink!).
I have printed about 1500 sheets and it has not jammed once. The set up was a doddle (only USB though) it took about 10 minutes to unwrap all the packaging, install and print.
The quality of printing is excellent, not photo quality obviously but for flyers, booklets etc it is very good. Only downside is it is a bit bulky for home use. It sits under my desk just but would not blend in anywhere like a nice inkjet.
Overall excellent quality and value.
January 28, 2010 20:10
I bought this printer for our retail shop for two reasons:
1) We needed to print barcodes, and only a laser can provide a clear, crisp enough printout for a scanner to read (unless you decide to chew up money by setting your inkjet to top-quality!)
2) I knew we'd be printing A LOT, and inkjets just aren't viable in volume.
The deal for this printer on printer land was great, so I went with it, and upon needing my first refill, I found StinkyInk. Best combination I could have found. The printer does have its gripes, such as loving to simulate a paper jam when the single sheet feed is used, but I look at it as I do my car (Renault Megane, incase you were wondering!); excellent economy for the price, cheap to run, looks smart, when pushed it can achieve a respectable speed, but has a few little bugs that have to be looked on as (almost) endearments. You get to know what it likes and doesn't like, it has a personality!
Okay, I might need some therapy after reading that back, but seriously, great printer for the price and very economical to run. You won't be disappointed!
January 28, 2010 21:20
Can anyone recommend gloss paper for this printer? I bought 170gsm laser gloss paper from ink2paper.com but it won't take the heat and the image has bits missing.
I agree with others. It's a good reliable printer which will handle a wide range of paper.
DB.
January 28, 2010 23:25
One issue that's been ignored here (but was raised by the PC Pro review www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/printers/353707/dell-1320cn) is the life expectancy (and replacement cost) of components OTHER than toner. The Image Drum apparently has a life expectation of 20,000 pages, and costs £99 to replace. Not a vast sum, but it really OUGHT to be factored into the running costs, since it's not that far short of how much the toner's going to cost to produce 20,000 pages. Non "compatible" toner's also extortionate, at a reported £61 RRP. But, as they say, "one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth". I hadn't realised that compatible toner was available for colour lasers until this offer came along. The packaging with the eight cartridges which Morgans supplied looks remarkably similar to the units I bought from Stinky.