Still settling for inkjet-quality text because your budget isn't big enough for a bona-fide laser printer? Then you haven't shopped for laser printers in a while--you can get one for just a fraction of an inkjet's long-term costs. We found two such printers worth a gander: the HP LaserJet 1000 and the Samsung M-1250, both of which are well suited for personal use. Granted, you won't get color capabilities in a budget laser printer, but for basic business documents and memos, what you need is high-quality, low-cost, quick text printing and the capability for handling occasional simple graphics. HP and Samsung's printers are designed for just these tasks.
Samsung ML-1250 Review
Look closely at the Samsung ML-1250, and you'll be hard-pressed to find many differences between it and its sibling, the ML-1210. The main difference lies beneath the hood: The ML-1210 offers a maximum resolution of 600dpi (dots per inch), while the ML-1250 ups the ante with 1200dpi. Just a little more expensive than the ML-1210, the ML-1250 offers slightly faster text speeds but little else.
Nearly identical twins
We encountered some difficulty setting up the ML-1250. The printer is more flexible than the HP LaserJet 1000; it supports both USB and parallel printing (cables not included), and it works with Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, NT 4.0, Linux Red Hat Version 6.0 or later, and Mac OS 8.0 and above. But unlike the HP LaserJet 1000, USB installation for the ML-1250 is definitely not user friendly. The included quick-start guide is helpful only if you plan to connect to your PC via the parallel port; the guide's instructions for USB installation don't match what actually happens onscreen. You can set up the printer through much trial and error, as we did, or refer to the appendix of the user guide for more instructions. For example, in the appendix, it tells you to make sure you set the PC's printer port to USB, a detail missing from the quick-start guide.
Full-featured functionality
The ML-1250 has the same petite design as the ML-1210. The front panel sports three lights (Error, Paper, and Data) and three buttons (Demo, Cancel, and Toner Save). Like the HP LaserJet 1000, the paper tray is not removable, but the ML-1250 goes one worse by supporting an anemic 150 sheets of paper compared to the HP's 250. The output bin (located on top) holds 100 sheets, compared with 125 for the LaserJet 1000. The Samsung ML-1250 supports a variety of paper types, including envelopes, A4, legal, and executive. There's also an alternate face-up paper slot (with no output tray) for printing on thicker media. The ML-1250 comes with 4MB of memory that can be expanded to 68MB.
Samsung's software is definitely busier-looking than the HP LaserJet 1000's, but both cover all of the basic features. For example, you can make adjustments to the resolution (300dpi, 600dpi, or 1,200dpi) and half-toning, which lets you control the lightness or darkness of shading and influence the amount of detail you see in the image. You'll also find features for watermarks, overlays, and printing multiple pages per sheet.
Inconsistent performance
Once we got the ML-1250 running, we were impressed with its text-printing speeds. In CNET Labs' tests, the printer delivered 9.9ppm for text documents. This is slightly faster than the 9.5ppm clocked by the ML-1210 and quite a bit faster than the 8.2ppm turned in by the HP LaserJet 1000. However, when we added graphics to the mix, the result was entirely different. For our combined text-and-graphics documents, the ML-1250 chugged along at 5.8ppm--ouch! Even the LaserJet 1000, with its slower engine (10ppm compared to the 1250's 12ppm), came in at 8ppm.
We might have forgiven the ML-1250's sluggish performance if the output quality had been top-notch. However, graphics appeared overly dark, causing some loss of detail in photographic images. In addition, shaded areas appeared rough and showed a definite banding pattern that was quite distracting. Text looked good, and the overall dark printing contributed to bold and easy-to-read letters, but letters looked fuzzy at smaller point sizes.
The ML-1250's cost per page is on the high side. According to Samsung, a 2,500-page toner cartridge costs slightly higher per page than the LaserJet 1000's cost. You can try to squeeze more out of your cartridge using the ML-1250's toner-save feature, which you can enable from the front panel or via the driver.
The ML-1250 comes with a one-year warranty. After that, Samsung refers customers to one of its authorized service centers for repair of the unit. The company Web site offers drivers, FAQs, manuals, and e-mail support.
Priced to sell
The Samsung ML-1250 has quite a bit to offer for the price, including quick text speeds and high-quality text output. However, for similar money, the HP LaserJet 1000 offers nearly the same features in a package that is much more user friendly. Neither printer can compete with the outstanding Brother HL-1440, however, even if the Brother does cost more.
Samsung ML1250 Laser Printer
Company: Samsung
Price: AU$629
Distributor: Selected distributors
Phone: (02) 9763 9700
Now, read our impressions of the parallel competitor's product:
HP LaserJet 1000 Review
Hewlett-Packard so dominates the printer market that it has long been able to sell its products for a premium, while its competitors have had to snatch what market share they could by selling their products for lower prices. The introduction of the LaserJet 1000 changes all that, pitting an HP product squarely against other low-cost lasers such as the Samsung ML-1250. Did HP cut any corners to hit this price point? Sure it did, especially in speed and connectivity. But the LaserJet 1000 retains enough good HP breeding--especially in terms of ease of use--to stand up against similarly priced competition.
Brainless beginnings
Unpack the LaserJet 1000 and you're nearly good to go; the printer does most of the work for you. Just install the integrated toner and drum cartridge, plug in the cables (HP includes all of them), insert the CD-ROM, and you're all set--that is, if you're a PC user with a USB port. The LaserJet 1000's first limitations lie in compatibility and connectivity. The printer supports Windows 98, 2000, Me, and XP, but not Mac or Linux. Plus, it connects only via USB, not the parallel port. At least the documentation is up to HP's typically high standards; in addition to the illustrated Getting Started guide, the online user guide is complete and detailed and provides step-by-step instructions for handling various tasks. The CD-ROM also contains video help for printer error messages.
Simple yet sophisticated
The design of the LaserJet 1000 is sleek, even though it's actually a little bigger than the Samsung ML-1250. Its design is adequate, but it's also indicative of more ways that HP cut costs. For instance, the front paper tray is not removable as it is on the HP LaserJet 1200; instead, a faux-green-glass cover lifts up easily to insert paper into an integrated tray. Unfortunately, the cover has a tendency to pop off just as easily. The input tray holds a generous 250 sheets of paper, and the output tray (located on top) holds 125 sheets. The printer supports basic media types, including envelopes, transparencies, labels, A4, legal, and executive. For thicker media, a door folds down in the back to give you a straight paper path. And like most low-cost printers, the LaserJet 1000 is host based--it uses the processing power and memory of your PC to manage print jobs, so the speed of your printer depends in part on the speed of your computer.
The driver software for the LaserJet 1000 looks simple, but it actually offers lots of useful features. The four tabs include Finishing, Effects, Paper, and Basics. Each tab has a Quick Sets drop-down list, which lets you assign a name to any set of configurations you've customized for easy access in the future. You can make the usual adjustments to output quality, setting the resolution to 300dpi (dots per inch), the default 600dpi, or EconoMode, which uses slightly less toner. You can also apply watermarks and print one, two, four, six, or nine reduced-size pages per sheet.
The outcome on output
The LaserJet 1000's text-printing speeds were a little on the slow side compared to those of other printers in this price range. While the 8.2 pages per minute (ppm) it managed in our labs' tests came commendably close to the 10ppm speed HP claimed for the printer, it was still quite a bit slower than the similarly priced Samsung ML-1250, which produced 9.9ppm (its rated speed is 12ppm). The LaserJet 1000's more expensive sibling, the LaserJet 1200, cranked out a whopping 11.4ppm. The LaserJet 1000 fought back in graphics printing, turning in a blistering 8ppm speed that left the Samsung ML-1250 lagging behind at 5.8ppm. Throughout these tests we noticed another plus for the LaserJet 1000: its whisper-quiet operation. You'll find yourself wondering if it's really printing.
The print quality from the LaserJet 1000 was acceptable, at least for text, which looked good but somewhat light. This resulted in some loss of detail for letters at seven points and below. Light doesn't always mean worse, however; the Brother HL-1440, for example, also printed text on the lighter side, but letters always looked smooth and legible. Graphics printed from the HP LaserJet 1000 looked a bit blotchy, and we'd prefer to see smoother photographic images.
People buying printers in this price range also tend to care about the cost of consumables, and here the LaserJet 1000 once again does an adequate job. An environmental plus: You can recycle your used toner cartridge by sending it back to HP using the included, postage-paid shipping label.
The LaserJet 1000 comes with the usual one-year warranty. The HP Web site offers the latest drivers, manuals, FAQs, and e-mail support.
The HP LaserJet 1000 is a decent little printer for the money. Users seeking a less-expensive version of the LaserJet 1200 should look carefully at this printer's speed and connectivity limitations. And if you're willing to shell out extra, you can get a faster printer with better output quality in the Brother HL-1440. At least this printer retains other important qualities, like ease of use and output quality, which could make it a reasonable choice for budget-strapped, yet value-conscious, buyers.
HP LaserJet 1000 Laser Printer
Company: Hewlett Packard
Price: AU$599
Distributor: HP Australia
Phone: 1300 309 955
4%
1%
These printers may be cheap to purchase but for schools considering them for student or teacher network printing, some of these cannot be monitored by the industry standard Cost Recovery programs.
I suggest you ask your printer reseller to allow you to test it on your cost recovery program before writing the purchase order.