Note: In this review I mention that I am using the ML-1710 driver. People seem to get the wrong end of the stick as soon as they see 1710.

The printer I am using is indeed a ML-1610


After years of awful experiences with inkjet printers I decided to get this, since I dont print much in colour anyway I thought i'd chance getting a black and white laser printer. This was the cheapest one I could find

Installation
Samsung supplies drivers and ppd file for this printer, but I never had any luck with them. the ML-1710 driver included with most linux distro's works fine although the printer is a 1610. The only thing wrong with it is when one tries to print multiple copies. It takes a break in between every page and treats it as a seperate print job, most programs have an options to edit the printer driver settings. If you change the copies number in here it works fine and prints the pages one after the other. Probably as fast as the 17ppm it claims in the specs.

There are no drivers for Mac OS, but most other Samsung laser printers do have Mac OS drivers. This is particularly annoying because if I want to print something from my laptop I have to transfer to the computer with the printer connected first.

Printing quality
For black and white pages, the quality is perfect. The sheet comes out of the printer nice and warm just like a photocopier. There are only a few shades of grey this printer can print, yet black and white photos don't look bad at all. Not exactly 'photo quality' or as good as a half decent inkjet but not at all bad either.
As the cartridge starts to low the quality deteriorates, low-contrast lines and white lines start to appear on the page. After letting the printer cool down for a bit it will print another few pages in better quality but once you start seeing this lines, it is time for a new cartridge, or you could try refilling the old one

Cartridges
The first cartridge that was supplied with the printer started to pack up after about 900 pages. I also had the 'toner save' feature on for most of it so that was slightly dissapointing. I then had to fork out £45 (70 euro) ($85) for a new cartridge, this one is supposed to do 2000 pages, more with the toner-save button on but I have lost my faith in that button.
The cartridge is the easiest to replace I have ever seen, you just open the front door of the printer, pull out the big drum/cartridge thing and shove in a new one, no configuration no nothing. I have never tried re-filling one but re-fill kits are readily available on ebay for 1/3th of the price of the cartridge so I will give this a try when the cartridge I have now runs out.

There is a built-in testpage feature on this printer, this will print out the total number of pages it has printed. just before you put in a new cartridge it is a good idea to print out one of these so you can always tell how many pages you have printed since you're last cartridge.

Unless you are refilling old cartridges an inkjet will probably be cheaper, but of inferior quality and not anywhere near as fast.

Printing
When one tries to print a document the printer needs to warm up a bit first unless you have printed something just minutes before. Sometimes it does not like certain graphic-filled pages but these can usually be reduced in quality/size and re-printed. Since a whole pages has to fit in its puny 2MB memory and that is only has USB 1.1 this is kind of to be expected. Also when printing a document with several pages with graphics in them it will often take a break between pages. This printer is a budget printer and will only hold 150 sheets so this kinda sucks for large print jobs. But don't try printing 150 pages and walking away, because the top shelf will hold even less, you will come back to a gigantic mess of printers all over the printer and the floor, and it will most likely be jammed. The printer doesnt really jam unless you put bent pages in there, then it will suck up 2 or 3 a time.
Also when the printer runs out of paper there is a sensor built that will sense when you insert new paper, and it will continue printing as soon as you put more paper in.

The printer is quite noisy when its printing, this is mostly the engine running, there is no loud banging noise like with some printers. When a page comes out it is slightly crumpled and feels like it has been dehydrated, a slight puff of smoke also comes along with the page while it is printing if you have printed a lot of pages in a row, and there is a smell also. You either like the smell or you hate it

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 129
Operating System: Linux