Dell B3460DN Printer: In-Depth Review and User Opinions

The Dell B3460dn is a monochrome printer designed for small to medium-sized offices and workgroups. It's part of Dell's 3460 series of printers aimed at delivering robust performance, security and manageability for businesses.

This is a multifunction printer that can print, copy, scan and fax. It uses laser printing technology to deliver crisp, clear text and graphics at speeds up to 42 pages per minute. The monthly duty cycle is up to 80,000 pages.

Some key features of the B3460dn include:

• Print resolution up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
• 250-sheet input capacity
• Automatic duplex printing
• Gigabit Ethernet & Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity
• 50-sheet automatic document feeder
• 3.5" color LCD touchscreen

Overall, the B3460dn is a fast, reliable monochrome printer suitable for moderate print volumes in office environments. Read on for a more in-depth look at its design, features and performance.

Design & Build Quality

The Dell B3460dn is a compact monochrome laser printer designed for personal and small office use. Measuring 14.2 x 14.2 x 10.5 inches and weighing just 16.7 pounds, it has a small footprint that fits easily on a desk without occupying too much space.

Despite its small size, the printer feels very sturdy thanks to its durable plastic casing that protects the inner components. The top of the printer features an output tray that can hold up to 150 sheets of paper. There are also control buttons positioned on the top panel, allowing you to operate the printer without accessing the display screen.

Overall, the Dell B3460dn features a simple but practical design suitable for home or office use. It combines a robust build with a compact form factor.

Print Speed & Quality

The Dell B3460dn is a fast and efficient monochrome laser printer. It has a print speed of up to 42 pages per minute (ppm) for A4 size paper. This makes it well-suited for moderate to high volume printing in a home office or small business environment.

Text printing is sharp and clear at true 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution. Even at the max print speed, text remains legible without any noticeable reduction in quality. The printer excels at cranking out text-heavy documents quickly.

For graphics and images, print quality is also very good. The 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution produces crisp and detailed prints. Print speed does slow down a bit for graphics-heavy pages, but is still fast enough for most purposes at up to 42 ppm.

Overall, the B3460dn combines fast print speeds with good to excellent print quality. It's a great choice if you need to print large text documents, reports, or presentations with some embedded graphics and charts efficiently.

Paper Handling

The Dell B3460DN printer offers excellent paper handling capabilities. This monochrome laser printer comes equipped with one 250-sheet input tray, one 150-sheet multipurpose tray, and an optional 550-sheet tray can be added for a maximum total capacity of 950 sheets.

The main tray can hold paper sizes up to legal and has an adjustable guide to accommodate envelopes as well. The multipurpose tray supports a wide variety of paper types and sizes - from 3"x5" index cards up to legal size paper. Both trays have sensors to detect when paper is running low.

One of the standout features of this printer is the additional 550-sheet tray which can be purchased separately. Adding this extra tray boosts the page capacity considerably, making this an ideal printer for high volume print jobs. It also provides the flexibility to load different paper types or sizes in each tray.

With its generous paper capacities and ability to handle everything from small index cards to legal size in multiple trays, the Dell B3460DN is equipped to meet the needs of most small and home office users. The optional extra tray also provides expandability for managing more demanding print volumes.

Connectivity

The Dell B3460DN offers excellent wired and wireless connectivity options.

For wired connectivity, it has a 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet port, allowing for high-speed network and shared printing. Connecting via Ethernet provides a reliable, fast connection to get documents printed quickly.

Wireless connectivity is available via the optional Dell Wireless Print Server Wi-Fi Direct accessory. This allows for convenient wireless printing from laptops, mobile devices and more without needing to connect to an existing wireless network. It uses Wi-Fi Direct technology to connect directly to mobile devices for printing on the go. With the wireless print server, you can print from anywhere in the office or home without being tethered to the printer by a cable.

Overall, the wired and wireless capabilities provide flexibility in setup and allow both individual users and entire workgroups to easily print from multiple devices. The connectivity options make it simple to get quality documents printed fast whether at a desk or on the move.

User Interface

The Dell B3460dn has an intuitive user interface that makes it easy to configure settings and operate the printer. The printer has a 2-line LCD display that shows status information and menus. Navigation is done through 6 buttons on the control panel.

The control panel buttons allow you to navigate through the menu options to configure settings like paper size, resolution, networking, and more. The menus are logically organized and easy to navigate. The LCD display shows the menu options and settings in a clear manner. One nice touch is that the display shows animated graphics to illustrate certain functions like clearing a paper jam.

Overall, the user interface is well-designed. The combination of the LCD display and buttons makes it simple to access the various menus and configure the printer settings. Even novice users should have no trouble navigating the menus and operating the printer. The graphical display adds a bit of polish to the experience that is not common on basic monochrome printers.

Security Features

The Dell B3460dn has robust security features to help protect sensitive documents and data.

Authentication

The printer supports advanced authentication protocols like LDAP and Kerberos to control access. Users can log in with username/password, PIN codes, or proximity cards. The admin can set permissions to restrict color printing, duplexing etc based on user authentication.

Secure Print

The B3460dn has a "Secure Print" feature where print jobs are held in the queue until the user authenticates at the device. The documents won't print until the user logs in, preventing confidential info from being left in the output tray.

Jobs can also be password protected for an extra layer of security. Users enter a PIN code on the printer's interface to release their print job.

Overall the B3460dn has enterprise-level security features like user authentication, access controls, and secure print release to help protect sensitive data in office environments.

Mobile Printing

The Dell B3460dn is designed for easy mobile printing from laptops, tablets and smartphones. It supports wireless printing standards including AirPrint, Mopria Print Service, Wi-Fi Direct and NFC touch-to-print.

Users can print directly from iOS devices using AirPrint or from Android devices using the Mopria Print Service app. There's no need to connect to a router - you can print directly to the printer using Wi-Fi Direct. The printer also supports NFC touch-to-print - just tap your NFC-enabled mobile device on the printer to automatically connect and print.

The printer is quite mobile friendly with these wireless options. You don't need any printer-specific apps or software installed. As long as your mobile device supports one of the standards like AirPrint or Mopria, you can start printing right away without extra setup. The Wi-Fi Direct and NFC options make it especially easy to connect and print from phones and tablets.

Supplies & Consumables

The Dell B3460dn uses Dell's standard toner cartridges, which are relatively affordable and easy to find.

The printer includes a starter toner cartridge that yields around 3,000 pages. Replacement high-yield cartridges can print up to 10,000 pages and cost around $60-70 each. Standard yield cartridges with 5,000 page yields cost approximately $45-55.

Dell offers a toner subscription service that automatically ships new cartridges when the printer detects the current one is running low. This can help businesses better manage their budgets by spreading the costs out over time.

Overall, the reasonably high cartridge yields combined with widely available, competitively priced replacement toner makes this printer very economical to operate long-term. Businesses that print high volumes will appreciate the low cost per page.

Pros & Cons

The Dell B3460DN monochrome laser printer has many strengths as well as a few potential drawbacks for buyers to consider:

Pros

• Fast print speeds up to 40ppm help maximize productivity
• Built-in duplex printing saves paper by printing on both sides
• Supports secure PIN printing and LDAP authentication for enhanced security
• Easy to set up and use with intuitive control panel and print driver
• Standard Ethernet and USB connectivity for flexible installation
• Reliable paper handling up to 850 sheets input capacity
• Long-life consumables keep operating costs low over time
• Energy efficient with deep sleep mode to save power

Cons

• Lack of built-in fax capability
• Maximum paper size limited to legal (8.5 x 14 in)
• No support for printing from mobile devices
• Higher upfront cost than some basic monochrome printers
• Large footprint may not fit smaller office spaces
• No color printing capability

Overall, the Dell B3460DN is a fast, efficient monochrome laser printer well-suited for medium to high volume printing in a small or home office. Its extensive paper handling, security features, low running costs and reliability make it a good choice for environments printing thousands of pages per month. The lack of fax, mobile printing and color may be drawbacks for some potential buyers.