Superb Small or Home Office Printer
Written: Oct 28 '03 (Updated Oct 28 '03)
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Pros: Prints quickly, excellent text quality, 250 sheet loading cassette, small size and footprint
Cons: Graphics output is mediocre
The Bottom Line: If you print lots of text, and need a compact, fast, and relatively quiet printer, the ML 1710 is a good solution.
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| KarsinTheHutt's Full Review: Samsung ML 1710 Laser Printer |
I purchased a Samsung ML 1710 after recent driver problems with my Minolta-QMS PagePro 1100L. My 1100L became unusable after I installed security patches to the computed that it was attached to.
I found the Samsung ML 1710 for about $100 after rebates at Office Depot ($170 before rebate). For such an inexpensive printer, I don’t think one can find a better deal. Here are the specifications:
Monochrome Laser Printer, rated at 17PPM
300x300 and 600x600 DPI printing modes
Economy mode (supposedly saves toner)
Horizontal, internal paper cassette loader holds 250 sheets
66 MHz CPU
USB 1.1 interface
Starter toner cartridge rated at 1000 pages
Gross weight of box + printer was about 9.5 kg
12 month warranty standard, 15 months if you register the product with Samsung USA.
SETUP
Setup was easy. The toner cartridge came in a separate bag inside the retail box, and I was able to install the cartridge in less than a minute. The front panel above the paper cassette opens up, and the toner cartridge slides in easily. Likewise, connecting the ML 1710 to my Dell tower and installing the driver software was painless. Samsung provides drivers for Windows (from 98 to XP), MacOS, and Linux. I have used only the Windows drivers under Windows 2000 and XP. The drivers worked flawlessly on both the locally connected machine (running Windows 2000) and over my home network with my notebook (running Windows XP).
USE
The design of the ML 1710 makes printing both fast and convenient. Unlike many budget laser printers, the ML 1710 has its own 66 MHz processor, allowing it to print without using a host computer’s processing power. My old PagePro 1100L, for example, needed to use 70-80% of my 750 MHz Pentium 3 machine’s CPU resources during printing, making operation of the computer somewhat sluggish during print jobs. I have no such problems with the ML 1710. The ML 1710’s 250-sheet paper tray also makes the printer very compact and reliable. My experience with vertical and external paper loading printers (HP LaserJet 5 and 6 series, as well as my old Minolta) has been that they can be prone to jamming.
During use, the ML 1710 can get a bit warm, and hot air sometimes comes out the side vents. Although the ML 1710 doesn't whisper like an HP Inkjet, it certainly doesnt't make excessive amounts of noise either.
As far as print quality goes, the ML 1710 prints very sharp text at about 12-14PPM. Graphics are mediocre, but one would probably use an inkjet printer to print digital photos anyways.
Overall, I would rate this printer as an excellent home or small business printer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
KarsinTheHutt
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Member: Karsin Eng
Location: United States of America
Reviews written: 83
Trusted by: 19 members
About Me:
I am a part time computer hobbyist and moderator at forum.thinkpads.com
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