With the Dell MFP Laser Printer 1815dn ($389 direct), Dell redefines the ideal monochrome laser AIO for a small office or busy home office. Though not perfect, it raises expectations for what a small-office AIO should be.

Here are some impressions from pcmag’s review:
In addition to printing, scanning to and faxing from a PC over a network, the multitalented 1815dn also works as a standalone fax machine and copier. The machine is a digital sender too, letting you scan and e-mail without a PC. Most AIOs with digital sending that I’ve seen up to now have been aimed primarily at large offices. In particular, they didn’t work with most ISPs and required you to have your own corporate-style e-mail server to connect to. By contrast, the 1815dn operates with standard ISPs, as I confirmed by testing it with the Verizon DSL home Internet service.

An even nicer surprise was the 1815dn’s ability to turn faxes into e-mails. It accomplishes this bit of magic by converting the fax image into either a PDF or TIFF file and then sending it off as an e-mail attachment. Better still, you can forward incoming faxes, outgoing faxes, or both.

The 1815dn’s paper-handling features are impressive for a printer at this price, with a duplexer for printing on both sides of a page, a 250-sheet paper tray, and a 50-sheet multipurpose tray coming as standard. The 300-sheet paper capacity should be enough for a typical small office and easily sufficient for home-office use. But just in case, you can also add an optional 250-sheet tray ($100 direct) for a maximum 550 sheets.

All of these features are packed into a relatively small AIO, at 18 by 17.7 by 17.2-inches (HWD), that consists of a flatbed scanner mounted on a laser printer. An automatic document feeder with a 50-page capacity sits in the scanner cover. The 1815dn is really too big for my desk. But at 38.5 pounds, it’s not too hard for one person to move into place.

Read full review on pcmag.