It's difficult to come up with any good reason why someone would NOT want the little bundle of joy that is the Samsung ML-4500. I suppose color-philic kids (and adults, for that matter) would be appalled by the fact that there is no color. But let's assume for the moment that one is in the market for a laser printer, and color isn't an issue. The only situation I can think of where the ML-4500 wouldn't be appropriate is perhaps a large corporation where its 8 pages per minute wouldn't satisfy the time-thirsty demands of executive vampires.

In any other circumstance, what is there not to love about this printer? Truth be told, it doesn't actually print 8 pages per minute; the first page requires about a 20 second warm-up period, so the actual page-per-minute count is between 7 and 8. But, for one thing, this won't make a difference for most of us. Besides, this isn't a condition of only the 4500; all laser printers require a warm-up.

The print quality is excellent. You can select from either 300dpi and 600dpi, and believe me, this is sufficient for the vast majority of people. The next-up model, the ML-4600 offers resolutions up to 1200dpi, but really only resolution-fanatics who want to print in a 1pt font should ever have to worry about going above the ML-4500's 600dpi. Besides, the 4500 is cheaper!

I had an easy enough time networking the printer. My roommate and I both put our printers on the school's network (with a password, of course) so that if he needed good quality, he could use mine, and if I needed good color, I could use his inkjet. I simply used the "network printer" function in Windows, and it was up and running in less than a minute.

Another big plus that the 4500 has going for it is Samsung's outstanding customer support. About 4 months after buying my printer, the feeding mechanism decided it was high time to develop a problem, so one day I just couldn't print anything without paper getting jammed. I emailed Samsung, and within a day they told me the name of my nearest repair place. And because I live in da 'hood, I was surprised to hear that the repair place was less than ten minutes away. Cool!

Well, I took it to that convenient little shop and left my cute little companion there for a few weeks, and when I picked it up, it was looking just fine. Know what they found in it? A little slide for a toy-microscope. You can believe I felt quite the fool when the lady there handed it to me. But my embarrassment was soon replaced by relief and joy when the same woman told me that though it shouldn't have been covered by that 1-year warranty, they were nevertheless going to pass the bill onto Samsung. I guess they don't find too many toy-slides in the copiers and printers they normally fix for big-businesses.

That, unfortunately, wasn't the end of it. When I got home and excitedly printed out something (I was really printer-starved by then), I saw some really weird stuff. Ya know what DNA looks like? Well, my poor, sick 4500 was spewing out all sorts of double helixes, ruining any printings where a DNA-lookalike was undesirable. A biology professor may have enjoyed it. . .just like he or she may have enjoyed giving me a big fat F for unprofessionalism (though I don't think they're THAT bad, even at Rice).

Obviously, that little repair shop had injured my printer! They, insisted that it wasn't their problem or fault. Instead, they suggested that maybe some really-high-tech-sounding piece had died, and that was the cause of the weird marks. But after only 4 months? Yeah, sure. Besides, I've never heard of printers just one day deciding to print DNA molecules. I was furious, because I knew it was the repair shop's fault, and that Samsung would probably not be willing to help me because of it.

But ya know what? They did. They sent me a brand-spanking new replacement toner almost as soon as I emailed them. And I haven't had any problems since. Now, there's a company who values their customers.

I really only have two minor problems with this snazzy little printer. First, it only uses a parallel cable, no USB. However, given a choice between the two, I still would have gone with the parallel: all my USB slots are filled! The only major concern I can see with the parallel port is that in the near-future, parallel support on new computers may disappear. But then again, seeing how reluctant ultra-conservative computer geeks have been to letting such things as the floppy drive die, parallel ports may be with us longer than some people think (and hope).

The other little thing is that the toner cartridge the printer comes with isn't completely filled. I believe a filled drum prints about 2,500 pages, while the initial one only prints 1000. It's a bit of a rip off, but if you just look at "1000" alone, it's not so bad. And it's waaaayyy better than any inkjet you'll ever get. I'm not too concerned in any case, because I now am the proud owner of a NEW toner cartridge. And all I had to do was face the humiliation of dropping a toy into my printer!

So, just in case you couldn't tell by my constantly referring to the printer as "cute," I really love the little thing. Its obviously not quite the same love as I hold for my girlfriend, but it's love nevertheless. And it really is cute. My room's small and cramped (I live in a dorm), and this thing is perfect because it doesn't take up any room whatsoever. It's quiet too, so I never wake my roommate when he's taking his mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and mid-evening naps!









Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 199.99
Operating System: Windows