10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Useful as a fax/scanner/copier
Date of Review: Mar 10, 2008
The Bottom Line: good as a secondary machine or if you printing needs are minimal. Photos are ok; text quality is poor. Recommended with reservations. Not for professional use.
Calling the Dell 948 All-In-One Printer is for your home office. It works as a standalone copier and fax machine; it can fax from and scan to your computer. Although this feature is nice for the home office, professional or full time offices will want separate pieces of equipment that are sturdier, more durable, and faster. If you have a home office and wish to use time productively, you may wish to consider more equipment.
What the home office often lacks is space. Often, a corner of a room is used. If you have the luxury of a spare bedroom, it is usually the smallest room which puts space at a luxury. Hence, the need for multi-purpose machines which tend to compromise on quality throughout. This machine is no exception to this general rule. I've worked with several multi-tasking printers and set them up for clients. For the most part, users are satisfied. However, when their requirements are increased, they often send out the printing, etc. to a local print shop.
When purchasing printers, too often the printer cable is NOT included, that is about $15-$30 depending on the brand. Sometimes they will work between different brands, double check first. Wireless hookup is a nice feature...no cords which is great. Again, that is another cost. You can easily add another $100 to the purchase price of the printer with these cords.
Regarding the Dell Printer, its best feature is the automatic document feeder for faxing, scanning, and copying. In addition, you can print directly from PictBridge cameras, memory cards, and USB keys. In addition, you can use the Dell wi-fi option to connect to the printer. (of course that is an additional fee).
It is a good price; $149. However, quality is not always the greatest and the speed is slow. If text quality isn't critical, it can be a good choice. It s not a huge machine, 11.3 H by 18.0 W by 16.1 D inches. The AIO comes with both Windows XP and Vista drivers.
This machine does not do well on text and graphics speed. It can take up to 50% longer to print versus other similar printers.
Fortunately, the story is different on photos. This machine lets you swap out the black cartridge for a photo cartridge to print photos using six colors instead of four. Although the speed increases when this is done, color photos are improved. An 8x10 took well over four minutes, faster than other machines and also very good quality.
Text is legible; however it s not professional looking. According to Dell, this can be upgraded by downloading an update from their website. It s ok for personal correspondence, nothing that I d use for business purposes.
Photos are good with true photo quality. Some colors are a bit brighter. Black-and-white photos were good with a bit of an off-black tint. Photos are water resistant and somewhat scratch resistant, which means you can pass them around for people to look at without worrying that they'll come back ruined.
Fortunately, graphics are better, but not as good as other ink jets. You might see banding in some graphics with a loss of thin lines. Again quality is sufficient for schoolwork or internal business needs. For graphics that cover most of a page, however, you may wish to use better quality paper.
If your printing needs are light, this machine is ok. Photos are good. If you do a lot of written memos, this is NOT a good idea (get a b/w laser). The scanning, copying, and fax features are what make it a good supplement to your laser printer.
