Samsung ML-3050 Printer Review
The Samsung ML-3050 is a monochrome laser printer designed for the small office environment. If you need a color printer, we recommend the Samsung CLP-660 toner printer. Its print speed and quality are excellent, and it features a generous amount paper capacity for the price.
Despite its classification as a personal or small office printer, the ML-3050 has some features and specifications that would make it fit quite well into a larger office as well. Its paper capacity includes a 250 sheet standard paper tray, and a 100 sheet multipurpose tray. This is especially surprising given the unit's price, and is much more than the average printer in its class. Many printers of this class and price include as small as a 150 sheet standard tray and a single sheet multipurpose tray. An additional 250-sheet paper tray can be added at any time for more capacity, allowing the printer to grow with changing needs.
The design of the ML-3050 is basic, but elegant. It is generally boxy, but its rounded corners give it a stylish appeal. The standard paper tray sits at the very bottom. Right above it a pull-out multipurpose tray. The output tray is in a depression at the top of the unit. The printer includes USB 2.0 and parallel connections. The front panel has no screen, and only includes three buttons. Most of the ML-3050's features are designed to be accessed by software. Personal users may find this quite acceptable, but many office users may wish for more functionality while standing at the machine. One of the buttons is a "Toner Save" button, which allows users to enable the toner saving feature directly from the front panel.
Print speed is quite good, at around 28 pages per minute, and print quality is quite impressive. Text is particularly sharp, and graphics and photo quality is about as good as monochrome laser printers can produce.
Overall, the Samsung ML-3050 is a very affordable and impressive laser printer. Its quality and speed are particularly stellar given its price, though some users may wish for more from its control panel.
