- Gain productivity for your office with fax, copy, scan and print capability in one device
- Maximize your workspace with this compact printer, which will fit almost anywhere in the workplace
- Stand out from the crowd with amazing color printouts
This printer is much more than I expected. The network operation (wifi or ethernet) makes it very nice. You can also connect to it directly with USB, but I haven''t bothered with or tried that.
First, the caveats. There are specific drivers for printing on Windows and Mac OS X. Scanning software is provided for Windows only. Linux (at the point of this writing, at least) can neither print to nor scan from this all-in-one directly. I use all three operating systems within my home. Here''s how I have it working from each OS.
For printing:
Windows uses the drivers provided. They work fine.
OS X uses the drivers provided. They also work fine.
As for Linux, I''ve been unable to find any CUPS drivers that work. I found a post that mentioned it uses the same drivers as the Xerox Phaser 600B, but I couldn''t get those to work. Thus, my Linux machines use the printer via OS X. On the Mac, I''ve shared the printer with the network. Linux CUPS can communicate directly to this Postscript virtual printer and print. (Note that this sort of setup does not work as easily with Windows sharing the printer).
For scanning:
While there is software included for scanning on Windows, I don''t even bother with it. This printer supports scanning directly to an SMB share or to an FTP server. That means I can create an SMB share on Windows, OS X, and Linux, On the scanner, I can manually select the scan quality and which computer should receive the scan. The scanner will scan to a PDF file (or TIFF or JPEG) and deposit in the SMB share I selected. It''s great. It''s easy. And it requires nothing proprietary anywhere. The tricky part is setting this up. You do it by adding entries to the Address Book via the printer''s web interface which is easily accessible by pointing your browser to your printer''s IP address. The web interface actually lets you change a lot of settings. There is a lot of power in there and it''s an unexpectedly nice surprise. You don''t need any of the software they include. You can do everything and more from this web interface.
You can also have the printer email your scans to addresses you set up in the Address Book.
Faxing:
I haven''t tried faxing anything yet, but it seems like a fairly normal fax machine. Dial the number, scan and go.
And then the quality -it''s impressive. I read a lot of reviews for color lasers as I was looking to buy one and a common complaint among the cheaper ones seemed to be issues with page curl, banding, and grain. I have not seen any of these issues with this printer. Even a photo that I printed on plain paper, which I expected to look somewhat newspaper-like in quality, looked pretty good. Based on that, I''m fairly confident that if I had used glossy paper, I wouldn''t really be able to easily distinguish it from my old inkjet (but I have not tested this -no laser-safe glossy paper on hand -so don''t take that as fact). However, unlike an inkjet, a laser printer generally cannot do borderless prints. This printer definitely has hard borders at the 8.5"x11" edges, so if you do print a lot of photos, you may still want to stick to an inkjet. Personally, if I need to print photos, I just use a drugstore or discount store now.
Speaking of inkjets... I''ve owned at least 5 different inkjets in the past decade or so, all by different manufacturers. Like an idiot, I kept buying from different companies hoping that THIS TIME I''d get an inkjet where the ink didn''t evaporate, or didn''t need to clean the heads when I wanted to print, only to use up all the remaining ink during the 10+ minute cleaning cycle. Invariable, by the time it was finally ready to print, I had to replace an ink cartridge. It was maddening and I was spending so much money on ink. I don''t print every day, and I hated that EVERY TIME I wanted to print, I had to go through the cleaning process and replace at least one (but usually 3) color.
Now, I don''t worry about that anymore. This thing, like all lasers, uses toner. Toner doesn''t evaporate. It doesn''t have some unbelievably long cleaning cycle. It does take about 30 seconds to power up from deep sleep, but that''s lightyears ahead of my inkjet experience and far, far less frustrating. And this is the case whether it''s been 1 day or 1 month since the last print.
So overall, the only thing that disappoints me about this printer is its lack of Linux printing support. But I knew that when I bought it, and at least, as long as I own a Mac, printing from Linux is possible.
Buy Dell 1355cnw Wireless Color Printer Now
I just got this Dell AIO Color Printer. It is simply amazing. As a Mac User I was surprised it came with excellent Printer Drivers for the Mac. The color output is stunning. Photo Quality. if you have been looking for an All in One printing solution this is it.
Read Best Reviews of Dell 1355cnw Wireless Color Printer Here
The Dell 1355cnw all-in-one arrived well in advance of the stated delivery date. However, I believe the machine I received by been perviously used, even though the box was sealed and the inside packaging was in place.
1. The toner cartridges were installed in the printer with the protective tape removed. The bumps during shipping had obviously left them well shaken and spilling.
2. The printed hard copy "User Guide" was missing.
3. The Mac installation disk was badly scratched, as if it had been dragged across a rough surface. I am a Mac user and the scratched disk kept ejecting. Finally I was able to copy the information from the disk to the desktop before it ejected spontaneously again.
Once up an running the 1355cnw produced great copies. I decided to keep it, in spite of it being "not new" ... rather than go through the hassle of a return.
One thing to note, and I should have been aware of it, is that there is no scanner application for Mac included with the machine. You get a scanner but no way to use it. Hard to believe Dell can still get away with this sort of piety discrimination in this day and age.
Not realizing it was not supposed to be included, I called Dell tech support & customer service to ask about the scanner app. The polite, but unintelligible, folks in India (I talked to several) didn''t know Mac user didn''t get a scanner app either ... and one fellow wanted to charge me $99 to analysis and solve the scanner problem. My advice is avoid Dell Customer & Tech support if you have trouble with accents.
I eventually bought a third party scanner app online from VueScan and am happy to report the the app and the scanner do a wonderful job in combination.
Want Dell 1355cnw Wireless Color Printer Discount?
Update after using for 1.8 years....
Went through my Windows 7 machine and update drivers and reinstalled all software
Machine works alright with occasional crashes or bugs
I am using the Cannon PIXMA with greater productivity and lower cost
Still can''t get wireless features to be reliable
lowering my star rating due to all the down time and expense of cartridges
Update after using for 1.5 years.....
Same Pros and Cons.
I am using this printer less and less because it requires so much interaction on the LCD keyboard to accomplish tasks that
are repeatable. I am wishing for a RECORD/MACRO button here.
Am using a $85.00 Cannon printer instead with less time involved and satisfying results.
I have had this machine for 8 months now as a business printer for my home office. It is used weekly but overall I am not pleased with my purchase.
Pros-
Good color quality prints when the time is taken to review wettings and hone the correct parameters for printing.
Crisp B&W prints and copies
Prints on differnt stcoks quite well
Cons-
About 3 days and some professional IT support to get the wireless connectivity working
Of course, my MACBOOK found it under a minute and I could print right away?!
When Black toner went out it was a "two page" warning. So two pages later out of another 30 and I couldn''t finish my proposal.
I replace the Black cartidge to the tune of $69.00!! and the color went out within two days!!
I am in a major metropolitan area and nobody carries these cartridges.
Keep spares on hand if you have important deadlines and print in color oftenwho doesn''t
If you are out of color the manual says it will print in B&Wno such luck after spending an hour on this.
Overall this printer is great. I had no problems setting this up for both Windows and Mac. I am not using the Wireless functionality at this time though. I have it plugged directly into the router and both OSes have no issues. I did read the comments here in Amazon reviews and forced an IP address assignment instead of using DHCP.
There were a few problems related to the Windows setup not holding correctly but that maybe more related to the fact that the XP box is shared by my kids and the box in general has issues. My win7 and Mac Book (OSX10.7) both work just fine. The wife''s iMac also has no issues. I used the included driver CD for each and promptly had the system upgrade to the latest it found on the Dell site.
Prints quickly when warm up has completed. The warm up is a bit slow but still liveable. the copy function is fairly easy. Colors are accurate but I have not sent an photos to this yet. The stuff I have printed has been crisp and clear.
My only complaint is that the printer is not AirPrint compatible. I was able to over come this with a open source mac software. This is more my fault in not reading about the printer completely.
