Frequently Asked Questions

The printer has four slots — why does this set contain five cartridges?

Because the fifth cartridge is shelf insurance. The set spans the same four part numbers the Dell 2150 platform runs on — 331-0719 black (3,000 pages), 331-0716 cyan, 331-0717 magenta and 331-0718 yellow (2,500 pages each) — with one extra cartridge beyond the four that go into the machine. Toner never runs out at a convenient moment; it runs out during the print run someone is waiting on. Having the fifth cartridge in the cupboard turns that moment into a quick swap instead of an urgent order, and the remaining stock gets replenished on a normal schedule rather than an emergency one.

What does the five-cartridge math look like against the four-cartridge set?

This set is $60.06 for five cartridges, which is about $12.01 per cartridge. The standard four-cartridge set is $52.28, or $13.07 per cartridge. So the fifth cartridge effectively joins the box for $7.78 — the difference between the two set prices — and it pulls the average cost of every cartridge in the set down by just over a dollar. If your office reliably works through its toner, that is the cheapest way to hold a spare: bought inside a set, at set pricing, instead of as a standalone cartridge later.

Which printers does this set serve?

Any machine on the 331-0719 / 331-0716 / 331-0717 / 331-0718 platform — Dell's 2150 and 2155 family, including the Color Laser 2150cdn, the Color Laser 2150cn and the Multi-Function 2155cdn, with this listing named for the 2150. The reliable confirmation is always the part number: check the supply list in your printer or the label on a cartridge you are replacing. Where those four numbers appear, this set fits, and the spare in the box fits the same machine the day it is needed.

How should I rotate stock if I buy five at a time?

Simply: install four, shelve one, and treat the shelved cartridge as the trigger, not just the spare. When it goes into the printer, your stock is at zero and it is time to order the next set — which, at the pace the ratings imply (3,000 pages for the black, 2,500 per color at 5% coverage), should still leave you comfortable lead time. Keep the spare in its packaging, in a normal office environment, and use oldest stock first if you ever hold more than one set. The discipline is deliberately boring; that is what makes it work.

Is a five-cartridge set right for a light-use printer?

Honestly, not always. If your 2150 prints a few pages a week, a set's ratings — thousands of pages per cartridge — already stretch across a very long period, and the spare's value drops: you are unlikely to be caught mid-job, and a standard four-cartridge set at $52.28 covers you for a long time. The five-cartridge set earns its $7.78 premium in busier offices, where running dry has a real cost in stalled work. Match the stock level to the workload; that is the whole logic of the option existing.

What backing comes with the set?

A 1-year warranty on each cartridge and 1-year free returns on the set, with the full terms on our shipping and returns page. These are compatible cartridges, not Dell-manufactured ones, and the year of cover applies to the spare sitting in your cupboard just as it does to the four in the machine. Orders ship from our warehouses in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia or California, and support is available Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST.

When I refresh the printer from this set, does the installation order matter?

No — the four slots are independent, so you can change the 331-0719 black, 331-0716 cyan, 331-0717 magenta and 331-0718 yellow in any order that suits you. The useful habit is what comes after: run one color test page once all four are in and check that each channel lays down a clean, solid block. That single page confirms the whole set at once instead of leaving you to discover a weak channel on a customer's document.

A photo-heavy month is coming — which cartridges in the set will feel it first?

The colors. All three color cartridges are rated at 2,500 pages against a 5% coverage test page, and photographs cover most of the sheet, so a month of photo work spends the 331-0716, 331-0717 and 331-0718 down far faster than their ratings suggest. The black, rated at 3,000 pages and mostly laying down text, barely notices the same month. Expect the colors to call for the shelf spare while the black still has life left.

The four cartridges went in together — why will they not run out together?

Because your documents do not spend the four channels evenly. One office leans on blue charts and burns cyan; another prints warm marketing pieces and burns magenta; nearly every office spends black on text day after day. Equal ratings — 3,000 pages for black, 2,500 per color — meet unequal appetites, so the warnings arrive weeks apart. That staggering is normal, and it is exactly the situation the fifth cartridge in the box exists to absorb.

What should we do with the spent cartridges as the set cycles through?

Collect them in the set's own box as they come out, rather than scattering them around the supply cupboard. Keeping the empties together makes the state of your stock easy to read — four in the box means a full round has turned over — and gives you one tidy package to hand to a toner recycling collection when you reorder. Hold the most recent empty only until its replacement has proven itself, then let it join the others.

About This Dell 2150 Five-Cartridge Set

This is the five-cartridge version of the Dell 2150 platform set: the four part numbers 331-0719 black (3,000 pages), 331-0716 cyan, 331-0717 magenta and 331-0718 yellow (2,500 pages each), plus one extra cartridge as a shelf spare — $60.06, about $12.01 per cartridge, against $13.07 in the four-cartridge set. It carries our 1-year warranty and 1-year free returns and ships from one of our US warehouses in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia or California. More options for these printers are on our Dell toner page.