Ten... colour laser printers

Rainbow warriors

Dell 1250c

Dell’s recent range of small-footprint, LED colour printers appear to offer very good value for money. Indeed, on-line prices are now down to about £60, but there is a catch. Toner cartridges, which are only available from Dell, cost £218 a set for standard yield and £244 for high yield. That’s 3.0p for a black page and 16.1p for a colour one; both high. The printer itself has simple, but sleek lines, with nice touches, like a slide out-cover for the 150-sheet paper tray. Print speeds are modest, with a maximum of 8.6ppm, but print quality is much better than its price would suggest; crisp blacks and bright colours.

Reg Rating 65%
Price £143
More info Dell

Epson AcuLaser C3900N

This is a big laser printer for small networks, designed to be fast and with duplex print as standard. It has an unusual design, more like a traditional photocopier, with a paper path running right to left, rather than front to back. It still only has a 250-sheet tray, with a 50-sheet multipurpose tray, though an extra 500-sheet tray is an option. Under test, the printer returned over 22ppm and 13.5spm duplex. Printed output is well above average, with dense black, bright, but not exaggerated colours and even fairly natural photos. Running costs are 2.1p for a black page and 10.9p for a colour one; both OK, but not spectacular.

Reg Rating 85%
Price £569
More info Epson