Printers Manuals

OVERVIEW: One of HP’s first “Internet-enabled” printers of 2001, the LaserJet 8150 series gave users not only network printer access, but by providing printer management via a web browser, HP made it easier for administrators to manage multiple network printers from one location. The 8150 is able to provide medium to large-volume printing of ledger-size paper with high resolution images at print speeds up to 32 pages per minute.  Two 1-ream trays, Adobe PostScript 3, and 32MB memory makes the HP LaserJet 8150 a reliable workhorse for classrooms and offices alike.

OVERVIEW:
For those on a budget looking for a reliable monochrome laser printer, the Samsung ML-1740 offers no-frills, while producing sharp text printouts.

PROS:
When laser printers first came on the market, their sharp, smudge-proof ink made them the envy of anybody with a monochrome inkjet or thermal printer. However, their prices put them out of range of the home computer user. The Samsung ML-1740 provided an economic answer to an affordable laser printer.

At 17 pages per minute, this personal printer has a decent speed for a laser printer of its age. With current inkjets pushing B&W print speeds of 20 ppm, inkjets are now giving lasers a run for their money in performance.

The maximum resolution for the ML-1740 is a modest 600 x 600 dpi. This resolution is fine for creating sharp text and simple graphic images. Photographs will have a more grainy quality but still viewable.

To keep costs low and affordable, the ML-1740 comes with 8MB of memory.  8MB is large enough to print all but very detailed graphics or large Acrobat files. However problems may occur if the printer is shared across a workgroup as print jobs fill up the queue. For one office or cubicle, the ML-1740 can handle most single-user print needs.

The ML-1740 has a 250-sheet main paper tray. This is almost more than double the capacity of many other personal-use laser printers have. The tray has an adjustable rear lever to allow the ML-1740 hold 11” x 14” legal-size paper, while maintaining the same footprint on your desk. There are other Desktop laser printers with smaller footprints out there. But those often gain their small footprints by having a pull-down paper tray to temporarily add paper.  Adding the 3,000-sheet capacity toner cartridge, the ML-1740 makes maintenance in an office easier with less frequent toner and paper refills.

Speaking of paper refills, the little mechanical lever on the front of ML-1740 that indicates how much paper is in the tray is an easy, simple way to know when to refill at a glance.

The ML-1740 is one of the more quieter ML printers. It produces 50dB of sound during startup and printing, 30dB on standby, plus a sleep mode that makes the ML-1740 run silent until needed. To give you an idea on the amount of noise this means, 53 decibels is about the sound of low conversations and 30 decibels is the noise from a quiet office.

When Samsung introduced this printer on the market, USB was still new to Wintel machines and parallel the primary way to connect non-networked printers to a computer. While PC’s with a parallel interface have become few and far between, it’s nice to free up a USB port if your computer still has a parallel port. You get that choice with the ML-1740. The USB also makes it easy to connect a laptop to the printer.

CONS:
Unlike similar laser printers with 50-sheet multi-purpose trays, the ML-1740 has a 1-sheet manual feed slot. So, if you want to print 30 invitations from a Word mailing list you will have to stay by the printer feeding the envelopes one at a time.

On the top of the printer, Samsung has 1 button and 2 LEDs for your manual print controls and status indicators. Depending how long you press that button can cause your printer to perform several other functions than just “cancel”. And, if you want to know just what the various flashing LEDs are telling you, you’ll need the User’s Manual to find the flash codes. (Or you can do what I did: copy the page and taped it on the printer.) I can see Samsung wanting to follow the K.I.S.S approach to a console control, but this went past K.I.S.S.  all the way to M.I.C.K. (Made It Complex, Kretin)!

It takes the ML-1740 thirty seconds after it wakes-up to print. Add that plus the 12-second delays between print jobs, the ML-1740 has one of the longer start times of the Samsung ML series. Think of the ML-1740’s warm-up time like the old vacuum-tube T.V. sets. If you ever heard your parents or grandparents talk about how long it took TV’s to “warm-up” when they were kids, this printer will give you a rough idea what they went through.

INK / TONER NEEDS: 
The cartridge is used in the ML-1740 (the same toner used for the ML-1750 and ML-1755 printers) has a 3,000 page print capacity. On the other hand, the toner that you get with your new ML-1740 comes with toner that is only one-thirds full. So it might be a good idea to buy the full yield toner the same time you buy the printer.

SOFTWARE:
It’s nice that Samsung recognizes there are other operating systems than the one from Redmond. The CD that comes with the ML-1740 provides software support for Windows, Mac OS 8.6-9.x, and Linux operating systems. The Samsung web site offers new drivers you can download for Mac OS 10.3 up to the new 10.6 Snow Leopard systems.

OVERVIEW:
There’s something about glossy black that says Classy:  those big flat-screen displays, black leather pumps, black ties, black European cars, grand pianos. So why not add a little class to a printer? Enter the elegant and stylish Samsung ML-1630W wireless monochrome laser printer.

PROS:
Who says laser printers have to be beige and gray? You built the ultimate high-end, liquid cooled, multi-processor computer and put it in the sleekest case you could find. So why mar the image by having a plain old office-looking printer next to it? The ML-1630W’s low-profile design with blue LED accents under the translucent piano-black surface replaces geek with chic.

There’s nothing like class with a touch of sci-fi. The first thing you notice is there are no apparent buttons on this printer. The 14-pound ML-1630W uses soft-touch sensor panels under the top panel for power and job canceling, plus a control display with blue LED indicators. Soft audio sounds denote when paper or toner is low. The 100-sheet paper tray is a semi-automatic cassette. Just about the only thing missing is the Star Trek “whoosh” door sound.

The ML-1630W’s simplified paper feed path means clearing jams are easier and effortless. Replacing the toner cartridge is also straightforward and easy to get to. To reduce jams, Samsung recommends keeping to paper weights that are between 16 to 28 lbs.

This printer is quiet. How quiet? At under 38dB in standby and 45dB in operation it’s almost as quiet as a whisper. To go from power up to print only takes the ML-1630W 15 seconds.

Did I mention that the “W” in 1630W means Wireless? What good is having a beautifully designed printer only to have a bunch of ungainly cables coming out of it? And with more homes replacing their old desktop computers with wireless laptops, a wireless printer makes harmonious sense. Just a word of caution: configuring a wireless printer is not as simple as connecting the printer with a USB cable. If you did not set up the wireless router or Wi-Fi switch on your current system, you may want to bribe your local geek to help you with the ML-1630W’s wireless settings. To have something for everyone, the ML-1630W also has built-in Ethernet LAN and USB connectivity.

Having a maximum resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi, the ML-1630W is great for printing monochrome text and graphics. Photographs will have a more grainy quality, and if you are a stickler for details the ML-1630W’s resolution may not have the sharpness you desire. The Toner Save feature, still produces printouts that are clear and readable.

As expected for a printer of this type, Samsung only installed a fixed 8MB RAM for the ML-1630W. 8MB is fine for text printing, but large Adobe files and graphics will fill up the ML-1630W’s memory and will slow printing. There is no PostScript or even the standard HP Printer Control Language (PCL) emulator. Instead Samsung uses a proprietary printer emulator. Most users won’t notice any changes in the way things print, unless they use a lot of advanced features of professional graphic or photo-editing software.

CONS:
The ML-1630W has a small 100-sheet tray capacity that holds letter-size paper or smaller. But then again, the ML-1630W is designed for the casual printer user--for a home, a dorm, or an executive office, the tray is fine. There is no separate manual sheet feeder slot; transparencies, card stock, and labels must be placed in the cassette one sheet at a time.  The printer’s unique design doesn’t allow for printing on envelopes. If you do a lot of printing during a day, need legal-size prints or envelopes, you might want to upgrade to one of Samsung’s 250-page capacity ML printers.

At 17 pages per minute, this personal laser printer is a little on the slow side of printing speeds for its age. With current inkjets pushing B&W print speeds of 20 ppm, inkjets are now giving lasers a run for their money in performance.

This issue is not so much a problem with the printer, just with the people who use it. One disadvantage to the ML-1630W’s size and appearance is many people think it can be wedged anywhere without regard to its ventilation needs. To keep from cooking its internal parts and to reduce paper jams, Samsung recommends leaving at least a 4” clearance around the printer. The printer must be placed on a level, upright surface not tilting more than 2 mm (that’s less than 1/10 of an inch). While it’s tempting, don’t use the ML-1630W’s nice flat surface as a place to support your monitor, lamp, or laptop. (Lightweight items, like family pictures and teddy bears are okay.)

INK / TONER NEEDS:
1000-page starter toner cartridge used in the ML-1630W is only 50% of standard capacity toner. Unless you plan on going through 2 reams of paper in a week, the starter cartridge should last long enough while you order a regular yield toner.

SOFTWARE:
The CD that comes with the ML-1630W provides basic software support for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. The Samsung web site offers new drivers you can download for Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard and Windows 7 & Server 2008 systems.

To make network printer configurations and notifications easy, Samsung’s SyncThru Web Service allows printer changes to be made using your IE, Safari, or Firefox browser. The software is not part of the CD and has to be downloaded from Samsung’s web site.                                                                                                                                              

The stylish designs of the ML-1630W will add class to any room, while quietly producing sharp, smudgeless printouts across a wireless or wired network. --  Mel Myers, HGIC

OVERVIEW:  Samsung offers a laser printer that is big enough to handle the demands of over 20 networked computers, but still be reasonably compact and priced. At the top of Samsung’s mid-range ML-3050 Series, the ML-3051N is a monochrome laser with a built-in Ethernet network.

PROS:
The ML-3051N’s compact design & footprint takes up only a 1.9 square foot area on a table, while able to still hold legal-size paper within its tray.

Prints come out at an impressive 30 pages per minute. It does take 44 seconds for the ML-3051N to warm up from a cold boot, but once it’s up this laser will start chugging away.

At 1200 x 1200 dpi B&W resolution, the ML-3051N keeps text sharp--even at 6-point font sizes--and does a decent job with graphics. To keep from consuming too much toner, the printer has a 600 dpi resolution with a text-enhance or image-enhance switch.  The Toner Save feature allows for a 40% toner life increase while keeping images clear and readable.

The ML-3051N comes standard with a 250-sheet cassette tray, with an optional second 250-sheet stacking cassette. The flip-door reveals a 50-sheet multi-purpose tray that can handle transparencies, labels, post cards, envelopes, 3” x 5” postcards up to 8½” x 14” legal paper of various bond weights.

The control panel on the ML-3051N has a multi-line LCD Display, plus several buttons that make manual control of the printer relatively intuitive. Through the control panel, printer information, configuration, emulation, and network settings can be done. Administrators can also perform these changes remotely with Samsung’s SyncThru web application.

The “N” in ML-3051N is for “network is built in”.  The Ethernet 10/100 Base TX interface makes it ready to support networked computers in an office, department, or a classroom. You can choose between Parallel, USB, or Ethernet connectivity. So, no matter how old or new your computer is, the ML-3051N can handle it.

This laser printer comes stock with 64MB of memory, allowing the ML-3051N to easily handle workloads from multiple computer requests. An additional DIMM RAM slot is available to expand printer memory up to a whopping 320MB.

Understanding the printing needs of today’s businesses in providing support for the major software applications, Samsung has installed a full set for print emulators that should satisfy the most diverse office. Emulators include PostScript3, HP PCL6, IBM ProPrinter, and EPSON.

CONS:
If you’re used to the smaller ML laser printers, get ready to flex your biceps. At 33 pounds, the densely-packed ML-3051N will need a study place to stay.

The printer produces 54dB of sound printing, idling at 39 dB. To give you an idea of what that means, 60 decibels is the level of typical conversations and 40 decibels is the level of whispering. You probably don’t want to have this network printer stationed in a conference room printing when a meeting is in progress. But when it’s placed in the copy room or in the middle of a busy office floor, the noise is barely noticeable.

With more bells and whistles than other ML printers, warming up takes the ML-3051N about 35 seconds -- 44 seconds if in Sleep mode. From Standby it takes 8.5 seconds between print jobs. Delays like this are unacceptable if the printer was for a single user, but in a network environment where it usually takes the user about 3 to 5 minutes to pick up their printout, the delay is hardly noticeable.

INK/TONER NEEDS:
The ML-3051N’s toner and drum are integrated in a single cartridge, making it easy to maintain. Right out the box, the printer comes with the standard size toner, able to print up to 4,000 pages.  An 8,000 double-capacity toner option is also available to double the time between toner replacements.

SOFTWARE:
The ML-3051N has one of the better software packages. Not only does it have the basic printing properties for Mac and Linux, but for Windows users there’s an advanced printing section that allows for booklet printing, creating a large poster mosaics, and watermarks.

The drivers also enable 64-bit and Microsoft Server operating systems to be able to use the ML-3051N. This may be considered a no-brainer, but there are printers with software that absolutely will not install on Server 2003 & 2008.

To make network printer configurations and notifications easy, Samsung’s SyncThru Web Service allows printer changes to be made using your IE, Safari, or Firefox browser. The software is not part of the CD and has to be downloaded from Samsung’s web site.