- Monochrome laser printer produces up to 21 ppm for efficient office use
- Prints single sheets in 8.5 seconds and 100 pages in under four minutes
- TonerSave mode that extends cartridge life up to 40 percent
- Durable monthly cycle of 30,000 pages for small office use
- Measures 14.3-by-14.5-by-8.3-inches
So far this laser has been great. i was looking for a laser that printed on both sides and network ready. The samsung filled the bill at a very attractive price (can be has for $160 with instant rebate). It was a breeze to setup on Mac OS 10.5 as a network printer. Bonjour found it and just use the Samsung driver. Also since it has native postscript support you can use the Generic Postscript Driver with it as well. Works fine under 10.5 that way as well. Printing speed is awesome, and printing on both sides is great. the smaller form factor is great too.
Buy Samsung ML-2851ND Network-Ready Monochrome Laser Printer Now
I''ve been using the printer for over 6 months. I print 1,000 2,000 pages every month. The Samsung ML-2851ND Network-Ready Monochrome Laser Printer works very well for my purposes.
I am running MAC OS 10.5.6 on a computer that is hooked to the printer via USB cable and MAC OS 10.4 on a computer that is hooked to the printer via network. Setup was intuitive. I have not experienced the print smear issues that other reviewers mentioned.
The availability of a 250 Sheet Second Paper Tray (ML-S2850A) was influential in my decision to pick this printer. Thus the printer cost quite a bit more, but it was worth it for me so I didn''t have to keep switching paper types in the tray. As a writer I print out a lot of drafts to hand edit. I recycle paper that already has print on one side. I keep one tray with new paper for printing on one side or two sides using the automatic duplex feature and the second tray full of paper to reuse, printing on only one side. I don''t print a lot of envelopes, but when I do I just feed them one at a time by hand in the manual feeder, which does not accept more than one page.
Paper jams occur occasionally, more often from the tray with the recycle paper, usually due to paper folding or other defect. On-screen instructions have been very helpful, providing detailed instructions on clearing the jam.
Print cartridge replacement is intuitive. The printer ships with the ML-D2850A Black Toner Cartridge, which prints about 2,000 copies. I''ve replaced it with the Samsung ML-D2850B Black Toner Cartridge , which prints about 5,000 copies. I don''t print a lot of images, mostly just text. I''ve not kept close records on how many copies I''ve actually printed, but I use the toner save mode for the majority of the printing and my impression was that I was getting a good return on the investment with the larger cartridge, until I ran into a few faulty ones. The company did NOT satisfy me with their response. I eventually just gave up trying to get them to refund my money.
I see that a cheaper high-yield print cartridge REFILL option is available . From the reviews it looks like the instructions are poor, but once you get the refill system figured out it works pretty well. I''m going to try the refill option next time due to expense and the fact that the company does a crummy job regarding satisfaction guarantee if the product is faulty.
Read Best Reviews of Samsung ML-2851ND Network-Ready Monochrome Laser Printer Here
The ML2851ND is capable of some nice clean copies, good grayscale and quiet, fast operation. It is easy to set up, especially with Macintosh. It''s footprint is fairly small for use in tight spaces. The only problem is that right out of the box about 95% of my copies printed with a smeary toner streak about a half an inch wide all the way down the left margin. This prints with varying densities most of the time but seems the darkest when the printer is first used. After about 10 to 15 copies it starts to fade, but the defect returns as the printer cools. I don''t know if this is universal with this model, but it reflects very poor quality control on Samsung''s part. Samsung''s customer service was responsive but offered no workaround. I assume they are aware of the problem since they directed me to a repair center immediately. So, I''ve owned it for less than a week, and either must pack it all back up, insure it and ship it back to the online seller (not Amazon), or leave it with a repair shop. It''s a no win situation.
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First, I had the same experience with the toner cartridge that came with the printer. The copies were smeared and awful. I spent hours trying to clean the cartridge and ran all the utilities over and over very frustrating. I thought I was going to have to return the printer. After speaking at length with support and against my better judgment I purchased a new cartridge and the smearing problem was solved. But if it hadn''t been, I would have been out $65.00. Samsung, "Get with it and pack a decent cartridge with your printers. You''ll save everyone a lot of headaches and $ yourself included." The second problem is with paper handling. I regularly get 2 pages slipping through together when only one should and each has a partial print. This is a problem for me because, in my business, I am constantly changing between forms and only put in the number of forms needed in any given circumstance. I have wasted a lot of expensive form stock.
This printer replaced a workhorse Lexmark that had been in daily use for 12 years. It is smaller and quieter and was easy to install but, I have to say not as trustworthy.
****UPDATE**** 03-21-2010
The fuser has blown out. This is the worst B&W laser printer I have ever used. Save yourself time and headaches; get a Lexmark or Brother. Sorry Samsung love your monitors and TVs but this printer -> PU.
I had to buy a laser printer in a hurry to replace a previous laser printer that finally quit working. Because I am a student again, I had to really narrow my search criteria for the replacement printer out of cost consideration. The printer had to be a laser printer, fast, network-ready and, of course, low-cost. After searching various review sites including Amazon.com, I finally concluded that the Samsung ML-2851 ND printer most closely fit what I was seeking.
In no particular order, these are my likes and dislikes about this printer:
Likes: It''s fast! Of course, I am used to a 12 ppm laser, so just about anything in the market today would seem speedy compared to it. The warmup time required after the printer wakes from sleep mode is very short compared to other printers I have used over the years.
The duplexer is a great feature for a printer at this price level. In order to bring the cost of production in line with the street price of the printer, I wonder if Samsung might not have used a cheaper, less reliable transfer roller in their duplexer? Time will tell...
It is quiet. I can barely hear this printer in operation and often find myself going to check it just to make sure the print job was processed. I guess that could be seen as a drawback, but I like the quiet of my house when it''s just me and the dog working on my school homework.
Built-in Ethernet spared me from having to get another print server for my home network.
The Mac setup is easy if you are familiar with configuring a network printer. But, in the course of setting up this printer for a mixed Windows and Mac LAN, I did find a few little issues I didn''t like.
Dislikes: The printer network settings allow for DHCP, but the driver looks for the printer by IP address only. This is a major issue if you want to let IP resources be managed by a DHCP server because of the number of network appliances on a LAN segment. Leaving the printer on in order to keep the IP address leased to the printer is not an option. It appears that when the printer goes into sleep mode for power saving, it doesn''t request the re-leasing of its assigned address. If you are intending to use this printer on a network using the TCP/IP protocol, the only way you are going to get reliable network operation is to assign this printer a static IP address.
The Mac driver is already built into Mac OS X 10.6.x (Snow Leopard). Nothing in the User''s Guide indicates this, nor were there any notes on the Samsung support web site about this. Using the install CD that is provided with the printer is not recommended except to install the Samsung Smart Panel. On the Mac, this utility isn''t that useful.
Speaking of Smart Panel, I don''t like that it automatically loads for the Windows driver when the computer is booted. I have not found a way to disable this feature. Fortunately, you can tell Smart Panel not to load on computer boot in the Mac version.
The printer preferences in the Windows driver are not as well implemented as I believe they could be. For example, enabling duplex printing does not necessarily enable duplex printing. The user also has to select if the duplex print should follow the long side or short side of the paper. In the Mac driver, duplex printing is a simple check box option.
Even though this printer has multiple feed paths (Paper Tray 1, Paper Tray 2 [optional], Manual Feed), the driver will only allow envelopes to be fed through the manual feed slot -one at a time. For someone who is used to printing envelopes from my address book without having to go to the printer every time a single envelope needs to be printed, this is a big disappointment.
Print output seems a little light unless the printer is set to 1200 dpi with the toner save option disabled. I have been playing with these settings to see if there is a way to tweak my documents without giving up maximizing toner cartridge life.
Most of the dislikes are minor for me. I do wish Samsung hadn''t put a DHCP setting in the printer when their own driver won''t recognize the printer if the printer IP address changes. It would have been far better for me if they had simply instructed the user to set a static IP address and forget it. That would have saved me a few days of network issues.
Overall, I like this printer. It has met my most critical needs with a couple wants tossed in for good measure. It is a lot of SOHO printer for the price. Time will tell if the toner cartridges have enough print life to justify a higher rating for this printer.
