The Dell 2145cn color laser multifunction printer (MFP) offers some helpful features for a midrange cost along with the quality of its installation with documentation show how much Dell cares about the consumer knowledge. The machine's design makes it difficult to use, but, it performed very gradually.

Dell justifies credit for an effortless setup with outstanding certification. The installation wizard worked effortlessly. The PDF-based user guide covers all feature of the MFP's operation in detail, from directions for using the package software along with set in Web monitor to how to use the MFP in Linux. Unluckily we wanted the documentation a bit more than standard because the 2145cn's design can be puzzling. On the control panel, the buttons for chief functions (such as copy as well as fax) have symbol rather than word labels; wording labels along with icons are hard to understand because they are gray on a black background; and the menu-navigation keys have black-on-black embossed icons that are approximately too small to see. A large front support opens the 100-sheet multipurpose tray if you pull down; if you pull up, you release the whole front panel to expose the toner cartridges with the transfer belt. A label representing the distinction would have been good.

Paper handing is appealing good. The normal, 250-sheet paper drawer is perhaps too strong: On our unit, the paper guides were very firm as well as not easy to shift. An extra 500-sheet inner tray costs $230. The output area is a small cave below the control panel and holds a somewhat inadequate 170 sheets. The 50-sheet automatic document feeder is openhanded, as is the normal automatic duplexing.

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The Dell 2145cn performed insufficiently in our tests. Dell selected PostScript as the unit's primary printer language; using that driver, it printed simple text at a rate of just 14.3 pages per minute (ppm), well below Dell's assure of 21 ppm. Its graphics speed was the slowest we've tested to date: 1.7 ppm. Scan as well as copy speeds also lagged following the pack. Print quality suffered from an overall ruddiness, with marked skin tones along with a pinkish cast to grayscale images. Scanned images looked somewhat dark as well as blurry.

Dell's 2145cn Multifunction Color Laser Printer is intended for a hard workgroup, but there are numerous selection obtainable that are quicker as well as easier to control; as well as some may have a lesser price mark. Ricoh's Aficio SP C232SF costs a little more and isn't much quicker, but it uses cheaper toner and also has a nicer design. Dell's 3115cn is costlier and is intended for larger offices.