The main difference between the Dell 3100 and Okidata C3200 is that the Oki is an LED printer and the Dell is a laser printer. The printers differ first on speed of printed documents; the Dell 3100 is rated for 25 pages per minute in black and white while the OKI is rated just under 20. The Dell also beats out the OKI LED printer with 64 MB of base memory, twice that of the OKI unit. Maximum memory is also higher at 576 MB; opposed to the 288 on the 3200 from OKI. This allows the Dell printer to compile larger and more complex documents with greater speed and accuracy.

Processing on the Okidata C3200 is performed by a 200 MHz processor, but is once again beaten out by the Dell which possesses a 300 MHz processor. All of this leads to a difference in print quality. OKI delivers nice fine lines and good color definition, although the printed colors don’t always match what is displayed on the screen so an end user needs to get acquainted with the colors in order to print the desired result. The Dell 3100 produces full color documents as displayed on the screen, no need to compensate through adjustments in color.

The Dell has a tricky toner replacement set up; you must advance the color toner cartridge via the display and pop open the panel before the toner loads which can cause spills. The Oki C3200 is straight forward with no fuss. Probably the biggest difference is that the Oki C3200 requires a Mac OS, while the Dell can be used with Windows, Mac and Linux distributions. The printers both come equipped with image enhancements in the form of software and features, and have networking standard. The Oki sets up a little quicker, but that is due to its single operating system compatibility.