Solid ink technology uses solid blocks of ink as opposed to the powder-based toner used by laser printers.  These ink blocks or ink sticks are melted into a reservoir and then sprayed onto the drum for transferring to the page. 

One main advantage of solid ink is that it tends to be much less expensive than toner.  This is due in part to the fact that ink sticks do not require a cartridge, so their manufacturing costs are lower.

Solid ink is also more eco-friendly for a number of reasons.  First, since solid ink sticks require no cartridge, there is nothing to be thrown away or wasted when the ink stick is consumed, unlike traditional toner cartridges.  Solid ink is also made from more eco-friendly materials, which are mostly non-toxic, making them less harmful for both humans and the environment.  Lastly, solid ink is often more adaptable to printing on recycled paper than laser toner.

Laser toner has advantages over solid ink technology, however.  Laser prints tend to be more durable than solid ink prints.  In some cases, solid ink prints can be scraped off the page with a fingernail or other sharp object.  Laser toner also requires less warmup time than solid ink, as ink sticks must be warmed for a longer period to ensure they are properly melted before printing.

While comparing print quality between the two technologies is a somewhat subjective process, they are fairly equally matched on this subject.  Solid ink sticks are sometimes perceived as being more vibrant, while laser prints are often perceived as being sharper. 

Overall, there is never a single solution for every user.  Users comparing the two technologies should take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each in order to make an informed decision about which technology suits their particular needs.

While the Dell 2130cn does get points for its flat black design, rather than the usual beige, its bulky black frame looks a little imposing, especially in the small office setting for which it is designed.  It measures 16.3 inches by 15.7 inches by 16 inches, and weighs 41 pounds.  Paper capacity is good, holding 250 sheets in its single drawer.  The paper capacity can be expanded to a total of 500 sheets by adding a 250-sheet optional drawer.  Its output paper tray only holds 150 sheets, however.

 The printer can handle the processing of fairly large documents with its 400 MHz processor and 256 MB of memory.  The memory can also be expanded to a maximum of 1,280 MB.  The printer has a built-in ethernet port for connecting directly to a network and sharing it across multiple users.  It also has an embedded web server that allows users to access features, settings, and manage print jobs remotely.

Dell 2130cn toner cartridges are divided into cyan, magenta, yellow, and black configuration.  Each Dell 2130cn toner cartridge has a capacity of 2,500 pages, for both black and color cartridges.  Toner prices tend to be higher than most competing units, but using third-party compatible cartridges instead of OEM Dell 2130cn toner cartridges can help reduce the cost and make it a more economical printer.

Print speed is quite good, at 16 pages per minute for color and 20 pages per minute for monochrome.  Text is sharp, and photo and graphics quality is quite good for the price.

 Overall, the Dell 2130cn has a lot to offer for the small office.  Its fast speeds and great quality are impressive, but higher-than-average toner costs might drive away some buyers.

The Oki B4600 Printer is inexpensive and requires one of the lowest costing toners on the market. The print quality is clear and crisp at a resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi, uses a two-piece consumables system for long-lasting, high quality performance. The B4600 Laser Printer is a tough and rugged machine that has an unbelievable monthly duty cycle of over 40,000 pages.

The Okidata B4600 printer is compatible with almost every operating system used by offices and consumers around the world. Their toner cartridges are designed for maximum capacity ink-storage and great cost efficiency. The tray initially holds 250 pages but can be upgraded to a capacity of over 750 pages. With a compact design and a durability that goes unmatched, the B4600 Laser Printer maximizes print speed without sacrificing quality in any way, what-so-ever.

There is no office task the B4600 cannot handle. It is the best digital laser printer in its class, and sets the bar for all of the competition. It is the only laser printer built specifically to meet all the efficiency and speed requirements of any highly competitive business. No other printer can simplify your daily workload in the magnitude that the Okidata Digital B4600 laser printer does.

The Okidata C3400n is a color laser printer designed for the small office environment.  It offers fast speeds and good quality printing in monochrome and color.  Low paper capacity and expensive color toner costs are drawbacks.

The OKI C3400n is a little bulkier than the average small office printer.  The printer measures 11.4 inches by 14.8 inches by 19 inches (HWD), so it tends to be deeper than most.  It weighs in at 42.6 pounds, so don’t expect to move it around the office without some help.  Most of this extra size is accounted for by its high-speed printing engine, and its color toner cartridges. 

The printer includes an ethernet port for connecting and sharing it across a network of computers.  It also includes a built-in web server, which can be accessed by any computer on the network via a browser for changing settings, viewing status, and other useful functions.  It does not include automatic duplexing.  Manual duplexing is supported, instructing users how to feed pages back into the printer for two-sided printing, but this is a bit tedious.

The OKI C3400n includes a 200 MHz processor and 32 MB of RAM.  If this is not enough, the RAM can be upgrade to a maximum of 288 MB.  Unfortunately, paper capacity is not as upgradeable.  The input tray has a capacity of 250 sheets, but it cannot be expanded in the future.  Offices expecting to grow will need to decide if the 250 sheet tray will be enough both now and in the future.

OKI C3400 toner cartridge costs are reasonable for black toner, working out to around 2.7 cents a page for mono prints, but color prints, even when using high-capacity cartridges, are quite expensive, at around 16.7 cents per page.  Print speeds are around 15 pages per minute for black and 11 pages per minute in color.

Overall, the Okidata C3400n offers excellent quality and speeds at an affordable price.  Color toner costs are high, and lack of expandability might be an issue for a growing office.

The Lexmark E260dn is a monochrome laser printer designed with the small or home office environment in mind. It has the capacity to handle a small workgroup of users, but larger office environments may find it restrictive. However, the printer does have the ability to expand. The printer’s design is relatively compact, but it is a little larger than most personal laser printers. Consequently, it may be difficult to fit into tighter spaces or to set it on a desk. At 29 pounds, it is heavier than most personal printers as well, but still fairly easily moved when necessary.

For a laser printer at its price point, the E260dn is extremely fast. It is capable of printing at a speed of around 35 pages per minute, far exceeding most of its competition. Users who value printing speed over other aspects of a printer will find a lot to like. The E260dn also includes some unexpected features for its price point, such as automatic duplexing, which allows users to print on both sides of a page, saving paper costs and allowing for more printing options.

The Lexmark E260dn is also expandable, allowing it to grow with the needs of an expanding office. There is an optional 250 sheet add-on tray or an optional 550 sheet add-on tray available for a maximum input capacity of 800 sheets.

Where the E260dn really falters is in print quality. Text quality is below average, with smaller fonts being undefined and difficult to read. As laser printers are geared toward producing sharp, readable text, this is a major stumbling block. Graphics quality, always a challenge for laser printers, is also below average, even for a laser printer, with more than a few artifacts and missing lines when printing.

Overall, the Lexmark E260dn is a well-designed, affordable laser printer with some nice extras and room for expansion. Unfortunately, its major downside is poor print quality, making it difficult to recommend, as high quality printing should be the first requirement on any buyer’s list of qualifications.

As it is designed to be a personal printer, the base model does not include an ethernet port, nor does Brother sell an optional ethernet add-on for the printer. If you want ethernet, you must purchase the HL-5370DW or HL-5370DWT models, which have ethernet and wifi both built in. While it is understandable not to include ethernet in a personal printer, in today’s world where laptops and routers are extremely common even in the home office, this is a consideration for buyers, and many manufacturers are including ethernet even in their base configurations, realizing that most users want to connect a printer to a wifi router for portability around the home or office.

The print speed is quite impressive, especially for the price. At 32 pages per minute, it is one of the fastest personal laser printers available. Print quality is very good. Text quality is excellent, but doesn’t fare as well on very small fonts as other laser printers. Graphics quality is surprisingly good, and exceeds expectations for a laser printer.

The printer includes a 250-sheet paper tray, which is quite roomy for a personal printer, with a 50-sheet multipurpose tray as well. You can also purchase two additional trays of 250 sheets each if you need more capacity. It is worth noting that the printer supports duplexing (two-sided printing) even in the base model. This is an uncommon, but welcome, feature in a personal laser printer.

Overall, its speed and print quality combined with its compact size make the HL-5340D a great choice for a personal laser printer. Bonus features like duplexing and a large input capacity simply sweeten the deal.

One of the most common networked printer problems is that occasionally a user may not be able to print to a networked printer, even if they have previously done so. First check to see if the network is working properly and that the computer you are printing from is connected to the network. If you do not typically handle the network problems consult your staff IT member. Next check your print queue via the printing utility provided by the manufacturer or the utility your company uses to maintain its networked printers. These programs will vary slightly but you should be able to find the print queue in your task bar. Open this up and find out if your print has in fact been sent to the printer.

Should your printer be plugged into another computer on the network as a shared printer make sure the other computer is in fact connected to the network and working properly. This is a common case within home networks or small offices; if you are printing via another computer make sure you check to see if the printer is online and ready to print. Another common problem happens when a loss of power occurs. When this happens, the TCP/IP address of the printer may inadvertently have changed; this causes the port over which communications occur with the printer to be invalid. In this case simply ‘adding’ the printer to the network again usually solves this problem.

Lastly, an update or new software may be conflicting with the old drivers or, in extreme cases, may have over written the existing drivers. Find the version of your operating and search online, usually on the manufacturer’s site, to find the applicable drivers. A change in printers or recently downloaded new drivers may in fact cause this to occur.

Speaking of shared users, the printer includes a USB and parallel port, but not an ethernet port. Sharing the printer across a network will require connection to a PC at all times, or a connection to a printer server. While this is not a major issue, it would have been nice to see an ethernet port included, especially for the price. Also, the printer does not support duplex (double-sided) printing. While this is also not a major downside, as only some users utilize it, many less expensive printers include duplex printing, though they may not have the print quality of the 5200.

Print quality is everything one has come to expect from HP. Text is dark and sharp, even at very small fonts, and graphics quality is excellent. The 5200 can print at a resolution up to 1200 dpi for extremely detailed print quality.

Paper capacity is 350 sheets, divided among a 250-sheet standard tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose tray. The included toner cartridge has a capacity of 12,000 pages, so most users will not have to change cartridges for quite some time.

The unit can handle a wide variety of media sizes, from 3” x 5” up to 12” x 18” if necessary, and a wide variety of media types, including cards, envelopes, labels, vellum paper, bond paper, and transparencies to name a few.

At 44 pounds it is a fairly heavy unit, but its 10.8 inch height and 22.2 inch depth make it a little more compact than many laser printers, making it easier to find a suitable place for it.

Overall, the HP LaserJet 5200 is a relatively compact laser printer with great speeds and print quality that will fit the needs of most office environments nicely.

The HP Color LaserJet 9500 mulitfunction printer provides ample workload capacity for busy workgroups and departments and is considered expensive at close to $6,000 for some models and options.

The HP 9500 comes standard with a 500 MHz processor and 160 MB of RAM; and a maximum of 416 MB. HP has included their Web JetAdmin software to enable any user to receive alerts via email which can help a department track printing costs and budget accordingly. Networking is made possible with an Ethernet 10/100 BaseTX port, but an external print server could be added for wireless networks. An additional modem connection is standard on the multifunction model in the HP 9500 series. Paper is handled through 2 – 500 sheet auto loaders and a 100 sheet multipurpose tray which is far less than similarly priced printers, but auto duplexing, and paper stacker/finishers can be added.

A resolution of 600 dpi by 600 dpi is enhanced by Hewlett Packard’s HP ImageREt image enhancement technology to compensate for imperfections in the paper, toner, and differences in color representation. Color production on the HP LaserJet 9500 is, quite honestly, impeccable. It is sharp and well defined even at smaller font sizes, and text rendering is suitable for most any office application. Color cost per printed page is close to $.13 at 40% coverage; and is suitable for most medium work groups with a 200,000 page monthly duty cycle. The higher speed processor and HP’s Instant-On technology allow for first page out times in less than 15 seconds and the device can print color documents at up to 12 pages per minute.

The HP Color LaserJet 9500 multifunction printer is a fine addition to a workgroup if the users are willing to wait a bit longer for the printer to wake up but the color production is worth the wait if you can afford the extra time spent waiting.