-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
Good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 4 reviews
- See all user reviews
Product summary
The good: Inexpensive; built-in two-sided printing; ample paper capacity; expandable; control panel includes LCD; very quiet.
The bad: Mediocre print quality; fairly slow print speeds; expensive toner price.
The bottom line: Good input capacity and a built-in duplexer would make this printer a great choice for a small office with plans to expand, but its disappointing color print quality could be a deal breaker for some.
Specifications: Printer Type: Workgroup printer - Laser - Color ; Max media size: A4 (8.25 in x 11.7 in) , Legal (8.5 in x 14 in) ; Connectivity technology: Wired ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 09/22/2004
- Released on: 04/28/2004
Budget color lasers often eschew LCDs, but not the CLP-550. The easy-to-navigate screen takes you through a full range of layout and paper-handling options, color calibration, and PostScript 3 and PCL 6 font lists so that you can print exactly what you see on your monitor. There's also a little diagram of the printer on the front panel with strategically placed LEDs that alert you to paper jams and empty trays. The Samsung CLP-550 printer includes a 250-sheet paper-input cassette. An additional 500-sheet cassette is available for $299 via Samsung's Web site.
Arguably, the Samsung CLP-550's best feature (given its bargain price) is its built-in duplexer. All you have to do is select top-edge or side-edge orientation in the driver, and the printer will save you reams of paper by printing on both sides of each page.The CLP-550 connects to your Mac's or PC's parallel or USB 2.0 port (cables not included). You can buy a network-ready version of the same printer (the CLP-550N) or add a wired or wireless network solution later for about $199. Although the CLP-550 is ostensibly a small-workgroup printer (assuming you put it on a network), it has no network management software. If you need a printer that sends e-mail error alerts and tracks such things as usage and firmware via a Web interface, check out the HP 2550L instead.
The Samsung CLP-550's drivers are feature filled but very easy to use. Aside from the usual adjustments you can make to paper size and layout, scale, resolution, and watermarks, there is also a range of color calibration features, from basics such as contrast and saturation to tone tuning, a sophisticated color calibration tool that lets you make fine adjustments to tone curve by tweaking gamma correction and the brightness and contrast of light and dark tones.
Toner prices for the Samsung CLP-550 run high for color printing. Replacement color cartridges cost $120 each. Using the vendor's estimated yield of 5,000 pages with 5 percent coverage, that works out to about 7 cents per page--a bit more than twice the average. A replacement black toner cartridge costs $100 and is rated by the vendor to yield 7,000 pages at 5 percent coverage, which works out to a more reasonable average of 2 cents per page.
On a more positive note, the CLP-550 is remarkably quiet. It helps that the drawer-style configuration of the toner cartridges makes for less movement, and therefore less noise, when printing.
Overall, the Samsung CLP-550's performance disappointed us, especially its color print quality. During our CNET Labs tests, the CLP-550 suffered from occasional paper jams, and its printouts sometimes were spotted with ink, as though one of the cartridges sprayed ink arbitrarily.For monochrome printing, however, the Samsung CLP-550 performed admirably. In our tests, the CLP-550 pumped out 13.8 pages per minute (ppm) for text. Most interestingly, it managed to improve its score with monochrome graphics: 14.7ppm. These scores put the CLP-550 among the top four in our color laser chart in terms of noncolor print speed. Unfortunately, the Samsung's color print scores did not live up to its monochrome performance, with just a little above-average score: 4.4ppm for both text and graphics.
The Samsung's print quality was also a mixed bag and rather disappointing. While its monochrome text looked crisp, the rest of the print quality registered below our expectations. The black-and-white graphics suffered from bad gradient and inconstant shading and were too high in contrast. The color text looked hairy, with many colors mismatched from the original. Finally, the color graphics also suffered from too much contrast, even though the color match was better than in text.
The printer was tested by CNET Labs at the factory default settings, which you can adjust to improve the output and performance. Learn more about how CNET Labs tests printers.
Performance analysis written by CNET Labs project leader Dong Van Ngo.
Samsung provides the CLP-550 with an industry-standard, limited, one-year parts-and-labor warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. Toll-free tech support is available 24/7 throughout the warranty period, which is a pretty good deal. The warranty does not, however, include any onsite repairs or next-day replacement.The CLP-550 doesn't include a helpful setup poster; instead, it comes with a cumbersome 28-page setup guide. The included CD-ROM contains a more detailed user guide as well. The Samsung Web site offers FAQs, manuals, driver downloads, e-mail tech support, and online chat with a tech-support representative.
- See more CNET content tagged:
- Samsung Electronics
User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 4 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 3 of 4 user reviewsSee all 4 user reviews
-
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
- See all 4 user reviews Write review
