| Sub-£100 laser printers are nothing new, but | | | | As this cartridge can cost almost as much as the |
| for that money you'd expect a fairly basic | | | | printer it is essential to shop around for the best |
| personal laser. Samsung's ML-3050 certainly | | | | value, try comparing prices from Samsung with |
| covers the basics, but also offers a couple of | | | | local retailers and an online discounter like Cartcon. |
| extras you might not expect. | | | | The ML-3050 is a quick machine for the money |
| At first sight the ML-3050 is nothing special: a | | | | and we saw 16ppm for text and just over 4ppm |
| squashed cube in two tones of grey with a | | | | for photographic prints. While neither of these |
| 250-sheet paper tray sliding out from the bottom | | | | speeds comes close to Samsung's rating of |
| and a multi-purpose tray folding down from the | | | | 28ppm, real-world measurements rarely do. The |
| front panel. This isn't a single-sheet tray, though, | | | | text print speed in particular is very reasonable |
| and can take up to 100 sheets of special media, | | | | for a printer in this price range. |
| such as letterheads or envelopes. Pages end up in | | | | The printer has a resolution of 1,200dpi, but this is |
| an output tray set into the top of the machine. | | | | an enhanced figure and the native resolution is half |
| Also at the top is the control panel, though there's | | | | this. Even so, it gave better reproduction of our |
| no LCD display here, just three buttons: one | | | | test photo at 600dpi than with the 1,200dpi |
| stops a print job, the second switches on toner | | | | enhancement turned on. In both modes it did well |
| saving and the last, a bit of a sales indulgence, | | | | for a mono laser and text print was particularly |
| prints a demo page. At the back are both USB 2 | | | | crisp and precise. |
| and parallel ports, again unusual in an entry-level | | | | In conclusion the ML-3050 is a great little laser |
| printer but useful if all your USB ports are in use. | | | | printer, giving quality print at low price. It's easy to |
| The printer is supplied with a low capacity toner | | | | set up and use and is quick enough for most |
| cartridge which is capable of producing 4,000 | | | | personal print applications. Samsung needs to look |
| pages at 5% coverage, to reduce print costs to | | | | at the pricing of its print cartridges, though, if its |
| around 1.7p per page it would be necessary to | | | | customers aren't to buy new printers each time |
| replace this cartridge when empty with the high | | | | they need more toner. |
| capacity 8,000 page ML-D3050b cartridge. | | | | |