Dell 1600n All-In-One Printer

It's a low price MFC laser printer, a bit loud whe ...

Strengths: low price for a lot of features

Weaknesses: poor quality -- after six months of use got "unlock scanner" error.

Summary: It's a low price MFC laser printer, a bit loud when printing. The software quality is poor.

After 3383 pages, we keep getting "unlock scanner" error and printer wont scan or copy. Dell tech support could not find a solution. After several months of trying, warranty ran out. We now got another error "PC Print pending" and the printer can no longer print. It's just a heavy paper weigh.

Make sure you get the extended warranty if you are going to buy it.

TN

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I bought this printer for my parents, hoping it wo ...

Strengths: Multifunction, networkable, affordable.

Weaknesses: VERY LOUD if left on. No color printing. Toner costs a lot.

Summary: I bought this printer for my parents, hoping it would be fairly simple to teach them how to use all the various functions. So far, they can copy, scan, and print but the fax aspect of the printer is still foreign. I haven't put that much effort into diagnosing the issue yet but so far I have encountered interference with incoming phone calls when the printer is on. I also have been having problems getting the printer to automatically receive incoming faxes without messing up the phone line for regular calls. I suspect I will have to spend more time reading the manual and testing it.

The printing, scanning, and copying are all very nice. It's so much better than going to Kinko's or having a separate printer and scanner and copier. I do not like low-end, multi-function devices that do nothing well and instead went for the more expensive, do-everything-decently-or-better path. During the Christmas season, I was able to get this from Dell for almost half off so it wasnt't really that much more than the other multifunction printers. The laser printing instead of inkjet itself is enough to warrant the costs. Scanning is clear with good resolution and you can select various programs to scan into from the printer. Copying is nothing special but just really convenient to have.

The drawback is that the toner cartridge that comes with the unit isn't a full-capacity one. The software for the pc tells you how much is left and "reminds" you to buy more from Dell. Within 2-3 days of less than average use, the cartridge registered a 10% drop in capacity. So far, it has not run out, but I do not look forward to shelling out extra dough for the next toner cartridge. I may consider trying refills although Dell of course, recommends only their own stuff.

Costwise, you don't save a lot of money for copies and printing. It's just very convenient and my parents like it a lot. I will advise buyers to not leave the unit on unless they're using it a lot because it's pretty noisy. For reference, imagine your oldest, ghettoest pc with the dirtiest fan possible. That's the regular "hum" it makes.

Anyways, I felt it was a good purchase at the price I got it (little more than half retail). I would not recommend it at full price.

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This is the second Dell 1600N I have installed in ...

Strengths: Inexpensive & fast multi-function printer. Paper tray fully enclosed and not sticking out. Network printer. Software and Drivers load easily for Windows XP Pro. LCD and Buttons are easy to read.

Weaknesses: Scans are slightly blurry as if out of focus. Too many buttons to push for scan-to-computer including a forced pass code of 4 numbers. Toner not available locally if you run out without a backup.

Summary: 2005-05-10 08:23:00 This is the second Dell 1600N I have installed in the last 4 weeks. My only major complaint is the blurry or washed out scans. The HP 1220 printers I have are crisp and clear. The Dell is good but has a slight blur to it. It seems like the JPEG conversion quality is poor or something. I hope Dell does something about this because I really hate supporting HP printers due to their driver installation and integration with Windows OS. The Dell 1600N installs easily without having to stand on one foot, hold hand over left eye and jump up and down while installing drivers like HP does. One other minor irritation with Dell 1600n is the number of buttons that must be pushed to get a scan started. 1. Press "Start Scan". 2. Press "Select". 3-4-5-6. Press 4 digit pass code that you are forced to set (cannot leave blank). 7. Press "Select" (accepts code). 8. Press "Select" (Starts Scan). So as you can see, that is way to many steps for a novice. It is not hard by any means but if your clients have a revolving door on employee hiring then it means a ton of support calls every time a new employee gets hired. Another thing about this printer is the size and weight. All multi-function all-in-one laser printers are huge but this one is smaller in size then the monstrous HP 3330. The Dell is also lighter in weight. The paper tray is fully enclosed unlike the HP printers that have the paper tray sticking out several inches taking up more space and getting bumped and screwed up from time to time. I am also very glad to see Dell add a Network Ethernet port to the printer at no additional charge. I have always thought it was a complete rip-off for companies to charge several hundred dollars more for a network printer when the cost to build it into the printer is pennies. Dell has proved this to be the case by including for free the best network printing setup I have seen. Finally, the printer is priced right when Dell has it available on their Small Business site for $299.25 and free shipping. But Dell plays games with their pricing so one day the price will be low and then the next day the lowest price will be $369 like it is today. I wanted to order another one for a client today but will wait a few days and see if the price goes down. I may call them about that. That does bring up one other thing. I had to call for support on the last one due to a printing problem right out of the box. The problem was just a piece of styrofoam that got into the toner area during manufacturing/shipping. The problem was taken care of quickly when they got me transferred to a Support technician that spoke English with a Texas accent. But to get to her I was on hold for 25 minutes. Then the first person had a thick foreign accent that was rather hard to understand. He finally transferred me back to the states where a very capable person told me exactly what to do and waited on the phone while I did it and verified that the problem was resolved. When will all these companies quit sending tech support calls to foreigners. If Arab needs tech support then give him a number to another Arab. But if an American needs tech support then give him an American. I will continue to purchase the Dell 1600n and would give it a 4 star rating at this time. A 4 1/2 would be appropriate if they make the scanned documents crisp and clear.

Edit:

I now have three of these Dell 1600n printers in use and have setup and used the fax extensively on this latest one. I can say that it is also does a good job at sending and receiving faxes. The only problem I still see is the washed out scans.

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Overall, this is a very nice multi function printe ...

Strengths: High quality printing, and fast. Connects to my network, so I don't have to turn on my 'printer server' in order to print from another PC.

Weaknesses: One of the networked PC's didn't pick up the Printer, so I had to enter the IP address manually. Might be tricky for those not used to configuring their PC's/Printers.

Summary: Overall, this is a very nice multi function printer. I haven't used the fax yet, but the copier function works nicely, and regular network printing is terrific. It's very fast and the quality is excellent. For now, Dell is not charging for shipping or tax, so the price is pretty reasonable for what I consider a high end printer. For the features on this Dell, the nearest competitor was at least $100 higher in price. Check for sales on the Dell website, because I could have gotten this printer for $279, but I waited a week, and the price went up to $329. Still a good deal.

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Toner costs more than twice as much per sheet comp ...

Strengths: -'Cheap' network multifunction

Weaknesses: -Cheap network multifunction -Expensive toner -Copier prints are washed out even when on highest contrast setting -Poor quality integrated network print server -Refuses to print when toner is low

Summary: Toner costs more than twice as much per sheet compared to HP printers. The copier refuses to make reasonable copies. The print server is buggy. Manual configuration is required for most computers. And to top off the cake, it will often completely refuse to print when the toner is low. I listed "cheap network multifunction" twice because it is cheap to buy but you get what you pay for. I recommend looking at HP's refurbished section on their website. They have some good deals on REAL printers.

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This printer is a business quality product with hi ...

Strengths: Superb build quality, fast, no papar jams, inexpensive toner

Weaknesses: none

Summary: This printer is a business quality product with high build quality, similar or perhaps better than HP 3380 sold for $600. The print quality is superb, no paper jams, excellent adf, scanner, productivity features. Dell is probably giving them away cheap to capture the market.

I had a Brother MFC 6800 before. I was considering to buy Brother again, but the problem with Brother is that it uses a separate drum/toner. The drum is advertized to last 20,000 pages, but in fact lasted much less than that and is very expensive to replace. The print quality deteriorates extremely quickly in Brothers if you don't keep replacing drums. Another problem with Brother is the build quality and lack support - frequent paper jams, breaking parts, etc.

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