by Ben Pate
The Dell 1700n is an affordable, solid printer that may be just what you need. Joining a low price with high-line features, Dell has made this networkable office unit very easy to handle in a Windows-based environment. If you need something that prints high volumes of copy, though, you may want to shop around a bit. As far as ink, Dell 1700n toner cartridges are plentiful and can be easily ordered.
Dell 1700n Considerations. Making quality black-and-white pages, the 1700N starts at a price well within reach of the average small business owner. In fact, it’s hard to find a less-expensive networked laser printer on the market. With a printing capability of about 15,000 pages per month, the Dell is no slouch, either. It also delivers acceptable graphics that are clear and easily-readable in mass-produced form. For anything that requires a fancy or expensive look (very rare), perhaps another more-expensive printer is in order.
Vital Statistics. The printer is easy enough to move around, at twenty-five pounds. It’s also nicely proportioned in approximately square-foot dimensions, so it doesn’t take up much room in an office. It comes equipped with standard USB and Ethernet ports, and also an older-style parallel port, for easy usage. You can access these ports at the rear of the unit. The 1700n also takes in paper manually (one-by-one) or from its paper tray, which has a max capacity of 250 sheets of paper. For additional cost, you can expand its paper storage upwards.
Costs of Ownership. The Dell uses a standard toner cartridge (1700n) which sits above an imaging drum. Each cartridge is good for thousands of pages (about 3,000), which should be more than sufficient for any home-based business or small network in an office. There are also higher output cartridges, again for additional cost.
How About Memory Storage? Equipped with 32 megs of storage, you’ll find it can handle most applications. That memory is expandable all the way up to 160 megs, if needed for bigger print jobs. Memory is so cheap nowadays; it might make sense to immediately upgrade it anyway. Also, this printer can still interface with Windows 98, which is a rarity on most PCs, but it’s there if you need it. The Dell 1700n is also connected to PCs or a network through the interface ports located at the rear. If the 1700n laser toner starts running low, it’ll email you if you set it up for such a function.
Print Job Output. Unusual in a printer of this size, its 1200dpi resolution helps it deliver clean-looking copies right out of the box. It can also do more complicated print jobs, such as double-sided printing and other tasks. Watermarking can be done, if configured as such.
Dell 1700n Laser Toner. Dell makes getting new laser toner easy and pain-free through its online order system. Cartridges are also sold by aftermarket companies, too. It comes with a one-year 24/7 service plan that can be increased up to 5 years if you’d like. That’s extra cost, but some people want it. Also, those cartridges aren’t too expensive, for the most part.