Samsung SCX-4500 is a mono multifunction device and a unique thing about this printer is that it is really attractive. Manufacturers usually don’t make beautiful printers and hence this was a welcome change that I saw in my labs. The feature set of this printer is very basic though. I haven’t reviewed any mono laser multifunction devices between $250 to $350 and hence I will make comparisons only to the more expensive devices. The cost of this device is $300 but I would recommend you to spend a bit more and go for the $400 more expensive printers because they have good feature set to offer for this price bump. You get goodies like advanced task features, auto duplexers, automatic document feeders, network-readiness, and fax capability. It really makes sense to spend the extra buck. For instance, there is the Canon ImageClass MF4690 which costs $400 and comes with automatic document feeder, manual feed tray, fax capabilities, USB port (front-mounted)  [...]

Lexmark Pro715 is the latest all purpose office printer and a streamlined version of previous model, which provides 2.4 inch higher resolution LCD display, enhanced Vizix 2.0 set of inks of Lexmark for professional quality documents and vibrant images. It is the company’s latest offering that introduces new set of inks with separate print head, which outputs higher quality images as compared to previous model. Nevertheless, the competing models provide convenient features such as bigger touchscreen display and cloud printing for same price. You can enhance productivity and efficiency with time saving shortcuts, such as Scan to PDF, Scan to Network and Scan to Email. The Lexmark Pro715’s Print from Anywhere function offers flexibility of networking through wireless network or Ethernet. With multimedia support, you can easily load different kinds of paper with optional 550-sheet tray, which boosts plain paper input capacity to 700 sheets. You will like the rapid print speeds and updated  [...]

Dell 1250C is a color LED laser class printer that offers conventional design, high resolution documents, 600 x 600 dpi Mono/Color speed, up to 10 pages per minute color and 12 pages per minute mono and 150 sheet input capacity. It is a single function LED printer that provides superior output quality and faster speed. The Dell’s compact frame design makes it best suited for users in cramped space, but it doesn’t come with any wireless connectivity options and Ethernet. The 1250C is an excellent choice for those who are looking for a single function laser color printer that provides color and black documents in light duty printing environment. It is available for the price of $150, which puts it in the same price segment like multifunction all in one inkjet printers, which can fax, scan, copy and printing. The Dell 1250C can easily blend into any professional atmosphere with exceptionally small footprint and dark black exterior  [...]

Samsung CLP-315W is a color laser printer having wireless connectivity built-in and this lets you connect the device to a lot of computers at the same time. This is one of the smallest printers in this class that I have ever seen and the individual toner cartridges will save you some money as you can replace each one when it is finished. The printer is designed well but the quality and print speed leaves a lot to be desired. My test results showed that the Samsung CLP-315W is about twice slower as compared to average color laser printer. The output quality too is less than what is expected. This device is priced at $250 and for this price, I would’ve expected much better quality. The design of the Samsung CLP-315W is pretty straightforward unlike some of the other flashier products from this manufacturer. Majority of its chassis is piano dark black with plastic glossy trim around its perimeter. This computer peripheral is 15.3 inches wide, 12.3 inches deep, 9.6 inches  [...]

HP Color LaserJet CP1518ni is an inexpensive color laser printer having a decent design. However, the printer is lot slower and the paper handling too is limited as compared similar priced devices in the market like Dell Color Laser 1320c and Brother HL-4040CN. I would recommend it for small office or home use. In my lab tests, the HP Color LaserJet CP1518ni printed text pages at 11.2 ppm or pages per minute and the speed for graphics print was 2 ppm or slower than that. On the bright side, the quality was really good. The text looked crisp and black. The photo quality was natural but a bit dark. I didn’t see any pink or green overtones on the grayscale images that I am used to seeing a lot in such printers. This might be due to HP’s ImageREt 3600 feature which is supposed to enhanced images. Other tricks on the HP Color LaserJet CP1518ni include the manipulation of position and size of the dot inside the usual resolution grid for giving the images a more natural  [...]

Lexmark C543DN is a laser color printer with a new engine and is available for a low price of just $399. I would recommend it to small offices looking for a simple printer. There is also a duplexer inside. However, if you are looking for a fast printing solution with complex graphic printing capability, stop reading this review now. Setting up the Lexmark C543DN printer was really easy. I had just 1 problem – the setup guide layout. There 24 languages crammed in to a single page and hence it is difficult to read. I bet you will have to spend some time finding your native tongue too. In my print quality and speed tests, this device had mixed results. Text was printed at a decent speed of 19.8 pages per minute or ppm which is average as compared to other printers that I have tested before in my labs. However, the color graphics prints were a bit slow at 2.8 ppm which is nowhere close to what competition is offering right now. Color photos and graphics looked natural  [...]

Dell 3130CN is a laser color printer and is recommended for small office/workgroup related purposes. It is really capable in a lot of areas and there is plenty of room inside for growth. The broad, tall Dell 3130CN is a powerful printer and I was pleased with the test results. Plain text pages printed at a speed of 25.3 ppm or pages per minute, this is amongst the fastest I have ever seen to date. The printer prints graphical documents at speed of 5.7 ppm which is equally impressive too. Speed is not the only impressive factor in this printer, the text quality was really crisp and the photos quite realistic even on a plain paper. There is power available on the Dell 3130CN and hence I was surprised to see that the manufacturer chose to omit the duplexer function from the standard configuration of the unit. This would have saved a lot of paper and there wouldn’t have been any major sacrifices in speed either. There is an optional duplexer sold for $199 but Dell should  [...]

Samsung ML-2525W is a simple device which prints just black and nothing else. But it does come with a few goodies like double sided printing, wireless networking and single sheet tray. All these are a boon when it comes to small office or home printers. The cost of this printer is $150 and it is one of the most inexpensive printers we have ever had in our test centers. We will recommend you this device for it good print quality and dirt cheap price. Samsung ML-2851ND’s top has a power button alogn with two LCDs which show network status and print activity. There are also two buttons located there, one to cancel the print job and the other for demo sheet print. The input tray goes in to the bottom of the printer and has a capacity to hold up to 250 paper sheets. There is also a 250 sheet drawer sold separately. The manual tray is located below the toner access handle through it, you can feed single paper sheets to the device. There are various ways to connect the Samsung ML-2851ND to  [...]

The Lexmark Interact S605 printer has touch-screen interface that is very quick and easy to use. The small business and home users will definitely appreciate its professional text and graphic printing quality as compared with laser printers. The Lexmark has completely redesigned the Interact S605, but its chassis looks similar to that of the Impact S305. If you are wishing to buy the best photo printing quality then you have to look elsewhere. On the back side, the folding paper tray feeds the papers into the Lexmark Interact S605 and exits out to the extendable tray at printer’s bottom lip. The paper input tray can adjust the media sizes including letter, legal, and envelope due to its adjustable arm that collect the incoming sheets before feeding to the printer. The Lexmark Interact S605 has 4.3 inches touch-screen located in the center of control panel and occupies most of the space. The PictBridge USB port and the media card reader slot are on the right side. It is important  [...]

The Canon Pixma MP560 is an all-in-one printer with great look, bright display and functional feature set including auto-document feeder. These features do not come in budget price of $150, but the MP560 does not have an Ethernet jack. However, its printing quality is average and the printing speed is mediocre. Therefore, we will recommend you to go for Lexmark Impact S305 that has both Ethernet jack and Wi-Fi. In addition, the S305 printer delivers higher quality with fast printing speed in $50 less. You can flip out the right side panel on the Canon Pixma MP560 to reveal a colorful 2-inch LCD display on the lid and controls on the panel. These controls are Easy Scroll Wheel in the center, start/stop buttons, option for number of copies, and some switches. You can use the wheel to navigate the menus and image albums. The memory card slot is located behind a small door beneath the display and supports micro-SD, MMC, SD, xD, and Memory Stick cards. You will also find the PictBridge  [...]