CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 10/03/2003
- Released on: 05/01/2003
Measuring 18.6 by 17.1 by 13.9 inches (W, D, H), the SCX-4016 is just a bit larger and, at 25 pounds, a bit heavier, than an average-size laser printer. Multifunctions that stack a flatbed scanner atop a printer often look ungainly, but the SCX-4016 actually looks elegant. The scanner's lid, which comprises the entire top of the unit, opens effortlessly on spring-loaded hinges that can hover 2 inches over the scanner's glass or be removed completely for scanning books or magazines. The two sturdy carrying handles built into the SCX-4016's sides are a small but noteworthy design feature.
Located on the front panel is a thin, 16-character by 2-line LCD for displaying the SCX-4016's menu options. Five round buttons underneath the LCD let you scroll through the menu to choose items, such as the paper size, the paper type, and the copy-quality settings. To the right of the LCD are two large, elliptical buttons that start and stop copy jobs; to the left, two more buttons select the image type and the contrast levels.
On the far right side of the control panel, additional buttons select functions such as AutoFit, to reduce or enlarge a document to fit a specific paper size, or Clone, to print multiple images of a document on a single page (a more intuitive moniker than the industry-standard "N-up").
A brick-size opening under the control-panel area serves as the unit's 150-sheet output tray. Right underneath that is the printer's front cover, which opens easily for toner installation and for clearing paper jams. The input tray rests on the very bottom and holds 250 sheets.The SCX-4016's features are basic. The 600-dot-per-inch (dpi), monochrome laser printer comes with 8MB of memory. The printer's drivers offer the typical range of options for a low-end or midrange printer, including paper types and sizes, along with various layouts. The extras here include Watermarks, for printing messages such as urgent or confidential across a document, and Overlays, which can be preprinted letterhead or often-used forms. Mac users get only watermarks, and they cannot enjoy Toner Save, Poster printing, or Fit To Page printing.
The SCX-4016's color flatbed scanner has an adequate, 600-dpi optical-scanning resolution. The included SmarThru scanner drivers provide a typical range of options, including Scan To Web, Scan To Email and Scan To OCR (optical character recognition). Because the SCX-4016 lacks an ADF, copies can be made from only one original at a time, making multipage copying jobs extremely tedious.Set for normal-quality, 600-dpi printing, the Samsung SCX-4016 posted good print times, though they were well short of the 17 pages per minute (ppm) boasted by the vendor: 11.5ppm for text and 11.7ppm for graphics. The Brother MFC-8420, which is also rated at 17ppm by its vendor, was even faster in both tests, scoring 13.2ppm for text and 12.5ppm for graphics.
The quality of the text and graphics produced by the SCX-4016 was good. The text was clear and crisp, with the exception of italics, which were a little faint, and tinier point types, such as 2 point, which appeared blotchy; these are minuscule flaws. Graphics had nice shading and clean lines.
The SCX-4016 can scan a color photograph in a little more than 36 seconds and a grayscale image in 21.7 seconds. The Brother MFC-8420 performed these same tasks faster--22.6 seconds and 13.7 seconds, respectively--but the SCX-4016's speeds are acceptable.
Color and grayscale scans produced by the SCX-4016 were of fair quality. The colors were bold and bright, but too many scanner-induced flaws, such as blotchiness, noise, and unwanted colors in the black-and-white areas marred the test images. Grayscale scans showed off the SCX-4016's knack for revealing sharp details in the dark areas of the test document, but unfortunately, lighter parts of the same document vanished entirely.
Laser printer speed (personal and workgroup) (Pages per minute)
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Inkjet printer quality
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Toll-free technical support was the best resort in our experience. A courteous, well-informed staffer answered our call within five minutes and handled our questions with ease. The support line is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT. Phone support is free for the life of the warranty.
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