Top deals on CNET here
- Average user rating: 1.5 stars out of 28 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
-
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Great deal for the price"
Pros: price, size, features
Cons: network scan is Windows-only, possible print quality issue
Summary: I've only owned this printer for a day, but I'll write a brief review anyway, seeing as how I was frustrated that I could find no user reviews before I purchased it.
My initial take is that this is a great deal for the price. As far as I can tell, there are no other color laser multifunction options at this price. At least one office supply retailer is currently offering a $100 mail-in rebate on this model, which makes it an exceptional deal.
Getting it set up was super-easy. The toner cartridges are really conveniently located behind the door on the front of the machine. Very easy to install/change -- maybe even easier than cartridges for some inkjets. The Mac OS X driver installed easily, and Printer Setup found it right away.
Copy, fax, scan all seem to work well. Print quality looks good. Not as good as a high end business-class color laser or a good inkjet. But more than good enough for my needs, and the speed and low cost of consumables certainly beat any inkjet. And it really is very quiet. Makes about as much noise as a mono laser -- none of the "ker-chunk" noises that most color lasers make as they rotate toner cartridges.
A few annoyances so far:
- "Network scan" is a Windows-only feature as far as I can tell. If you're using a non-Windows OS, you'll have to connect your machine directly to the printer with a USB cable if you want to scan. However, you can also scan to e-mail, or to a USB keychain drive connected directly to the printer.
- "Print to fax" isn't supported on any platform. My previous network laser printer could act as a remote fax machine, allowing me to print over the network to the printer, and have it send the document as a fax rather than printing it on paper.
- Some sections of black text look a bit oversaturated. Especially bold text. This gives kind of a "fuzzy edges" effect on the text. I didn't notice this on the test pages I printed on the demo model in the store, so I'm hoping this is just a "brand new printer problem" which will even out after I print a few more pages.
Where to buy
Samsung CLX-3160FN:
$419.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Amazon.com Marketplace
|
$419.99 | Yes |
|
