Samsung ML-2851ND

I bought this printer five months ago after looking at quite a lot of alternatives, and have found it excellent for my needs as a student. Home users should not be put off by the "smaller office"… categorization; the speed, double-sided printing and high print quality are great for any user that prints at least moderately. The network setup was quite easy with the SmartPanel software from the Samsung web site (I usually don't bother with installation CD:s or manuals), but some knowledge of how your home network works is probably useful. The Mac version of the software also seems to work well on my girlfriends computer. The printer properties dialog has had some thought put into it, with all the most important settings, including double-side printing and multiple pages per side (that actually works well), on the first tab. The only real drawback with this printer from my point of view is that it isn't wireless. This put some limitations on where we could place it in our apartment, but once we found a place for it near our wireless router, we can print with it over wireless anyway. Wireless is mostly useful for the things you will be moving around, and a printer isn't one of those things. Finally, if you are considering buying a cheaper alternative without double-sided printing (as I was), I'd advise against it. Double-sided printing is just so convenient (even if you're printing only two pages, having them on one sheet of paper is nice), and it also saves trees. So to conclude, I highly recommend this printer to students and others with similar printing needs. Pros: - Fast - Printer software works great - Print quality is excellent for black-and-white text and graphics - Two sided printing is very convenient - Extra ink seems to be relatively cheap compared to some other printers Cons: - Network setup takes some patience - Quite large, and not very stylish - Not wireless

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I bought this printer about a month ago after doing some internet research for the best home laser printer for the money. Most of the other reviews I've seen were accurate; easy to setup, easy to… use. Paper curls after printing and I haven't quite figured out how to put align envelopes but overall a wise buy. And I guess it was reasonably cheap at $169 from an Amazon retailer.

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Update - When I initially got this printer I had a problem loading the software but I worked it out. I got an error message that ended up being an HP system diagnostic error instead. The main problem I had… was that the toner cartridge it comes with only prints a few hundred pages and then starts alerting you with a red light on the unit and a software alert that you are low on toner and need to order one ASAP. I did not expect to run out of toner so quickly and thought it was a mechanical problem. When I called customer service they thought it was as well. When I replaced the toner cartridge with a new one it started working fine. I had trouble on duplex printing with it jamming a few times initially. I bought a little better quality paper Hammermill multipurpose 96 brightness and 20 lb and it started working fine again. When it jammed initially it had a burning order that concerned me. But with the new paper and new toner cartridge it now seems to be working fine. It is fast and has excellent print quality. When I contacted customer service they were very helpful but did not do the best job of troubleshooting these issues. They were willing to repair or replace the unit if need be but I seem to have solved the problems in the mean-time. Initially I gave it 1-Star due to these problems, but now that it has been working fine for a few weeks I'm raising it to 4-Stars.

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This is a fast little printer. Unfortunately, it has the deplorable tendency to produce paper jams - which wouldn't be so bad if it were easier to get to the jammed paper. So far, I've always had to remove… the toner cartridge, and even then it was difficult. The slit of the manual paper feed is barely wide enough for a letter-sized piece of paper, and if you need to print labels, you have to wiggle the page in just right (it prints them fine from the paper tray, though). It does a pretty lousy job printing envelopes; they come out wrinkled every time. I recommend this printer for simple, straightforward printing. Any print jobs that involve, for example, different kinds of paper or forms cause a lot of wear on the paper tray because you have to move it in and out constantly to load. - How I miss my HP 1200!!!

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