This is a personal monochrome laser printer that is definitely worth having.
With so much attention on inkjet printers it is easy to forget that laser printers have a great role to play. Probably 90% of the printing that I do, things like web pages for reference, articles, etc, could be printed as well on a mono laser printer as on an inkjet. Further, for some things like business letters and such a laser printer is preferable because of the print quality on type.
Samsung’s new ML-1630 is a compact and very stylish mono laser printer. Its glossy black finish and lights and displays behind the black Perspex top make it perfect to sit in the highest class of office, home office or indeed any room of the house that you need a printer in.
The ML-1630 can print at two resolutions: 600 and 1200dpi. Print quality at the 600dpi driver setting is good but not exceptional. This is perfect for general printing for personal reference. For business letters or that book manuscript to send off to publishers you are better to choose the higher quality 1200dpi mode. In this mode type is crisp and lovely and very suitable for high demand uses. The printer will also do a decent job of printing photographs. There is banding but the quality is more than adequate for most business purposes. It has a 100-sheet slide in paper tray and will take things like labels. Drivers are supplied for both Mac and Windows and installation is easy.
It is a quiet printer in operation, doesn’t generate strong smells (some lasers do) and worked flawlessly with no paper jams. It is fast, turning out 16 or 17 pages per minute. There are two things I don’t like about the printer. One is its size. Whilst compact it is a flat rather than vertical design, so it takes up 14.76″ (375mm) deep by 13.07″ (332mm) wide of desk space. It is only 4.78″ (121.5mm) high though. The second is the paper catcher that needs to plug into a slot in the front, further taking up space but also destroying some of the great look of the printer. You don’t need it if just printing single sheets, as they can fall out onto the desk. But with multi-page documents you really don’t want this and so must use the catcher.
Despite the above issues this is a fantastic printer and works well, is quick and has excellent print quality. With a street price in Australia as low A$169 and a US list of US$199, it is a very reasonably priced personal laser. It comes with a starter cartridge rated for around 1,000 pages (which I certainly got out of it) and replacement ones are rated for 2,000 pages. Overall running cost will be a lot less than an inkjet printer. I happily recommend this printer.