Samsung ML-1915 Review

The Samsung ML-1915 (from £62.00) is an A4 monochrome printer that will do nearly all the stuff you'd count on from a product of its sort. Obtainable in either a black or white finish, it is made for individual users working from home or in a small office who don't need the scan or fax capabilities of a multifunction device. The features are limited compared to the slick inkjet products filling the shelves of your local computer shop, even so the ML-1915 is built for business.

The compact device (360×389x197mm, 7.25kg) is a fantastic looking piece of gear, having a mixture of matte and glossy black plastic in addition to a lovely rounded style. Attention to detail is obvious in the patterned top which puts a stop to finger marks as well as safeguards against scuff damage to the enclosed document holder that makes sure paper is preserved dust free and clean. A cover on the output tray at the rear of the printer contributes a little bit of bulk, nevertheless it does assist a bit to help keep the operating noise level down.

With print rates as high as 18ppm (pages-per-minute) together with a first page out time of only just above 10 seconds, the ML-1915 is more than fast enough for people together with small offices. The printer driver cuts straight to the chase and there's even a power economizing selection that puts the ML-1915 to sleep. It prints magnificently clean text at a native resolution of 1200×600dpi and business graphics/photos are definitely higher than average with hardly any evidence of banding.

The ML-1915 stands apart from the crowd on account of a very great feature which enables you to print any page shown on your computer display screen at the touch of a button, doing away with the need to delve into application and driver settings. To print what's on your screen, all one does is press the specific button on the ML-1915 and the page is printed in roughly 10 seconds (twice that time if the printer has to be woken up). This is a wonderful feature and the ML-1915 produces trouble-free printouts without page-aligning faults or missed graphics, irrespective of what resolution you are running the display.

An additional standout feature is Samsung's AnyWeb Print program. Although you must download the utility, exactly why Samsung did not include it on the CD-ROM is irritating, it enable you to drag and drop particular content from Webpages in to a new empty page on your pc display screen, which you're able to then save or print. AnyWeb Print allows you to print exactly the information you really require, rather than printing many whole Webpages when you just need a small area of each saving time, paper and toner.

For ease of use a 1500-page or 2500-page cartridge for the Samsung ML-1915 can be used. High-yield toner cartridges, which are much better suited for heavy users, last longer and supply a reduced cost-per-page. Optionally, low-yield toner cartridges have got the benefit of lesser initial outlay. The two variations give the exact same high standard of quality and dependability.

The ML-1915 only has 8MB memory under the cover, as a result those working on large files or printing sizeable volumes might hit bottlenecks, and there isn't any wireless feature for printing from your phone. There is not even an Ethernet port for sharing the printer over a network, the ML-1915 is indeed a personal printer.

Paper handling is an additional limitation and the ML-1915 provides only a solitary 250-sheet input cassette. The output tray is equally restrictive, housing 80 face-down sheets. Finishing alternatives are unthinkable, however it does take media in a number of sizes: A4, A5, A6, Letter, Legal, Executive, Folio, Oficio, ISO B5, JIS B5 and Custom. Finally, there's no LCD display screen for dealing with print jobs, nor are there any memory card slots for printing independently from a computer. Samsung delivers the ML-1915 along with a 700-page beginner toner cartridge, thus you'd better budget for an extra 1500-page or 2500-page toner cartridge.

With the expanding interest in Web-based applications and ever-increasing utilisation of the Web, it's no wonder that printing web-based content today represents the second most important supply of printed documents. In recognition of this tendency, the ML-1915's one-touch 'Print Screen' switch is the quickest and most simple technique we have encountered to print what's shown on a Computing screen, this includes a number of Browsers or the windows of various programs.

One-touch switch aside, the Samsung ML-1915 is a normal personal mono laser printer that happens to look far better and cost less than most, just make sure to factor in the price of the right toner cartridge. It sports a cool deign, is a snap to operate, and creates well above par image quality. Perfect for an individual, however small workgroups will require a more powerful printer that also includes an Ethernet port, extra memory and superior paper management.