The Samsung ML-6040 is a monochrome laser printer designed for the home or small office user. It has solid speeds and good print quality for an affordable price, and seems more like a business printer than a personal laser.
The ML-6040 is generally designed to be a personal laser printer, for either a home office user or a single user in an office environment. Its construction, paper-handling, and overall design are more like a business printer which is even more impressive given its affordable price. Its paper tray has a capacity of 270 sheets, which more than the average personal laser. It has a single-sheet manual slot for alternate media types and sizes, but it lacks a multipurpose tray, which even some personal lasers have.
Toner capacity is a little on the small side. Standard Samsung ML-6040 toner cartridges have a capacity of 6,000 pages each, and even more disappointing, Samsung only includes a starter cartridge with a capacity of 3,000 pages. This means users will have to replace the initial Samsung ML-6040 toner cartridge much sooner, something to incorporate into the cost of ownership when comparing to other models, especially those that come with a full cartridge out of the box.
The printer’s control panel is sparse, with only three buttons placed a little awkwardly toward the back of the unit. You won’t need to use them much, though, as the software takes care of most functions. The printer’s Toner Save mode can be enabled directly from the control panel, and saves quite a bit of ink over the standard mode.
Print quality is generally very good. Text quality is very sharp, but it loses some detail on very small font sizes. Graphics quality is a little below average, so users planning to do graphics-heavy printing may want to look at other models.
Overall, the Samsung ML-6040 is a very solid personal laser printer with some of the specs and design of a business printer. There is a lot to like for its affordable price.
