| Product: |
Samsung ML 1510 |
| Date: |
14/10/04 (3810 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Very good value, Relatively cheap to run, Easy to use and works with more than just Windows
Disadvantages: Doesn't handle envelopes well, Toner quite expensive, Print quality not excellent
OK, as I am a student, I thought that it would be great to buy a laser printer as they are so much more cost efficient than inkjets. Having used dot matrixes and inkjets before, I have always wanted a laser, but they have always been too expensive. Inkjets have always been the most affordable, but now lasers are getting cheaper by the minute. I was so surprised when this printer was advertised for about £50. As I don't really need to print in colour often, even though it would be nice to, I have decided that a mono laser printer is fine.
The printer itself is quite attractive, but although it is very compact for a laser, it is still quite big overall. The thing that annoys me the most is that it is sort of cube shaped, and that the back of the paper tray extends out at the back, so it doesn't look like it is pushed up against the wall as I would like. The size is not really an issue though.
Setting up the printer is extremely easy; loading the toner is very straightforward. I would say that you should tip it from side to side before installing it as I have heard that this increases the life of the toner. The toner cartridge that you get with the printer itself is just a starter one (1000 pages approx) which is actually quite a lot when you compare to inkjets which are roughly around 400 or so. The actual toner for this printer is 3000 pages, and cost around £50 to £60, which is not bad considering the amount of pages you get. Installing the drivers was also very easy - I am running Windows XP, but I think it goes back to 98. Another thing that might be of interest to some of you is that it not only supports Mac as well, but also Linux (not many printers do). However, when I installed the printer drivers, it worked fine, but when another user of the computer logged on, the printer didn't seem like it was installed. This happened a couple of times, but it has not happened for quite a while now.
The print quality I would say is not excellent. Most other lasers that I have used have produced much better results. However, compared to an inkjet for printing black and white text, there is no comparison. No 'bleeding' of ink no matter what paper you use. Print speed is also good, however, is still not the fastest thing in the world, but for this price range is excellent. Sheets seem to run off one after the other. Unless you seriously need to print reams and reams, this printer is more than adequate. But if you were looking to print a lot, you wouldn't consider this printer anyway because the toner compared to others is still very expensive (but cheap compared to most inkjets). There is also a 'toner save' button on the printer itself, which apparently saves 40% toner. Whether this is true or not I don't know, but you can definitely notice it when it is on. The pages appear lighter, especially images. Unless you want to have it in the best quality, I think that you should keep the toner save on.
The printer uses USB, which is pretty much standard nowadays. The paper feeder holds 250 sheets, which is plenty and good so you don’t have to refill it all the time. One thing that I would say though - If you print on envelopes regularly, consider something else as this printer is not good at handling envelopes. Samsung say that you can use them, but DL sized envelopes don't fit sideways as they would in a normal inkjet - you have to feed them in lengthways, and somehow the printer always manages to crease them, especially if you are printing on both sides.
I don't really thing that there is much else to say, after all, it's only a printer! If you need it for school, college or uni work, a small office or at home, then this is fine, but if you print a lot and need to print on envelopes regularly, look elsewhere. All in all, a very good effort by Samsung. They have produced an excellent printer for the price. They also give you one years on-site warranty, so if it does stop working properly in the first year, you don't have to take it anywhere or send it off and pay for postage, they come to you. Now that is service.
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