Samsung CLX-3160FN Toner Cartridges

The Samsung CLX-3160FN color laser printer is designed for small or medium office use. As a multifunction it includes print, fax, scan, and copy capabilities. It is somewhat larger than a non-multifunction laser, at 18.3 inches wide and 19.1 inches tall, but is not as large as a typical copy machine, so offices replacing a copy machine with this unit will likely find a fit for it. If you need faster printing and copying, the Samsung CLX-6200 toner printer should be evaluated.

While all of the features of the Samsung CLX-3160FN color laser printer are well-implemented, the scanner in particular is a highlight. With a 50-page document feeder and a flatbed scanner both included, it will be a welcome addition to offices in the process of "digitizing" their paperwork. The unit comes with Optical Character Recognition software, which can convert scans into editable and searchable text documents. This allows an office to create a large digital archive of documents that can later be searched for keywords, much more useful than a box full of papers to be sifted through.

Print speeds are adequate, but not particularly fast. Black text prints at about 13 pages per second, while graphics and color prints all hover around 3 pages per minute. While the average office prints mainly black text, this is a consideration if color or graphics printing is common. Print quality is very sharp, especially with text, and graphics printing is good.

Samsung CLX-3160FN toner cartridges only come in a standard size. At 1,000 pages per color laser toner cartridge and 2,000 pages per black printer toner cartridge, the user might find that they will have to replace cartridges often, depending on their printing needs. To reduce costs per page even further, the user can choose to purchase compatible toner cartridges.

The front control panel is fairly easy to use, but only includes a two-line LCD screen for information. For a multifunction machine with multiple options and features, this seems somewhat inadequate. As many features can be accessed from the included software, this does balance out the issues, but many multifunction printers include a larger screen with clear options and information on display.

Overall, the Samsung CLX-3160FN is an affordable multifunction laser solution. Offices who print mainly text and need faxing and scanning capabilities will be pleased. Those who need great color printing quality or faster speeds may need to look at other alternatives.