computerwoche.de

Archiv

Dell V715w: Decent Inkjet MFP, Pricey Supplies

23.06.2011
The Dell V715w color ($170 as of June 15, 2011) aims for the small office, offering good print quality and paper-handling features, as well as both fax and Wi-Fi capabilities. However, only the high-yield inks are reasonably priced.

Setting up the V715w via its USB or Wi-Fi connection is pretty easy if you have a PC; Mac users need to download drivers from the Dell website. Dell's on-screen installation process gives you the option of full hand-holding or more-streamlined guidance. If your router lacks Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), you'll need to tether the V715w briefly via USB. The V715w also won't let you select a network and enter a password manually via the control panel.

Bundled software includes ABBYY FineReader Sprint optical character recognition software, which worked better on our text-only documents than on mixed documents. The Dell Printer Home task center provides one-button access to most basic scanning chores.

The Dell V715w's control panel, with its 2.4-inch color display, is straightforward but plain. Instead of providing the usual color and monochrome copy buttons, the MFP has one button that toggles color and black modes, and another that initiates the copy--an awkward, though bearable, deviation.

Media-handling features on the V715w are mostly good. The unit has a 50-sheet automatic document feeder for scanning or copying multipage documents. Duplexing (two-sided document handling) is supported for the printer, but not the scanner. The single input tray holds an adequate 150 sheets of letter/legal-size paper (and even banner, somewhat awkwardly). You'll also find an SD/MultiMediaCard slot and a USB/PictBridge port for saving scans and printing photos.

In tests, at default settings on plain paper, black text printed at a middling rate of 6.4 pages per minute on both the PC and Mac platforms. On the PC, snapshot-size photos printed at 2.6 ppm at default settings and 1.5 ppm at finer settings. For a full-page, high-resolution photo on the Mac, the V715w printed at a rate of 0.7 ppm--faster than most other MFPs managed to do with the same image. If you switch the V715w into draft mode, you can get your printouts in a hurry, with passable quality. Monochrome copying speeds were slower than average, but scanning speeds were faster than average.