- Compact, Fast and Robust Black & White Laser Printer to fit in any environment
- Includes Built-in Network and double sided printing for saving on time and money.
- Versatile Functionalities with Print, Copy, Scan and Fax capabilities
I love black and white output. I spent a large fraction of my professional programming life writing a well known chemical drawing app, and that is all about clean, crisp text, smooth lines, and every pixel in its place. And for that kind of output, this laser printer is a bargain. There is just no contest between laser and ink jet when it comes to pure black and white output. Where an ink jet will give you blurs and sudden dislocations, this printer gives me sharp contrast and straight, mathematically pure lines. It''s really quite lovely.
I particularly like the clever design of having the output bin deeply embedded in the center of the device, as I''ve had problems with other printers dropping their output all over the floor. Much less likely here.
Startup time is quick for a laser. Printing a sample page from my MacBook Pro over the network took about 15 seconds from pressing the print button to the sheet popping out. For someone used to the office laser printer taking a couple minutes to warm up, that''s just fantastic. Be sure to use proper laser paper with this device, at first my wife and I had been using the flimsy ink jet paper from our old printer, but that had a tendency to bring along extra blank pages. Sturdier paper designed for laser not only eliminates this problem, but feels great in the hand and looks great.
The built in scanner does a serviceable job, either doing color scans for my computers over the network--I use my Mac''s built in Scanner Utility, or Picasa on my wife''s Windows 7 PC--or directly making greyscale copies at high resolution. I don''t have a chance to try out the FAX feature, as I don''t have a home phone line. A 300 DPI black and white scan took 14 seconds over my Gigabit network switch which is pretty good.
In general, I disagree with the need for the Wi-Fi model. Stationary, desk bound devices should be connected via Ethernet barring an unusual circumstance. Wi-Fi can be finicky, something rarely true of Ethernet. I have green gigabit Ethernet switches in several locations in my home, and they have been reliable and left Wi-Fi bandwidth for mobile devices.
As for the bad, I wasn''t able to automatically connect to the printer from my Linux (Ubuntu) server as it couldn''t find a proper driver. It doesn''t support AirPrint for use with iOS devices. Oh for the day when being a laser printer meant having a Postscript interpreter, but alas, this just supports PCL6 and Samsung''s own SPL, so much for hand coding my own EPS.
[Update: A commenter pointed out the availability of the Samsung Mobile Print App in the Apple App Store. This can print and scan from this printer easily. I was able to print a Google Docs document, and a web page, and their are a variety of of other document sources such as the photo library, camera, clipboard, etc. I did experience a low memory warning after a few minutes of trying it out, so there are bugs. Still seems a good added benefit, although AirPrint support would be better.]
In general, I''m happy to now have a laser printer in the house. My wife''s home business generates a lot of paper, and ink jet cartridge costs were adding up. At 2500 sheets per toner cartridge, our cost per page just plummeted. I''ve looked many times in the past at buying a laser printer, but either the user reviews were horrid or the price was out of my range, so I''m glad the low end is now so good.
[Update: Assuming I''m reading the status page printout correctly, the toner cartridge that shipped in the box lasted 430 pages. Some of the mileage was my kids doing mostly black copies of their hands and toys, so this might be a non-representitive number. I''ve replaced it with the high capacity cartridge you can get from an Amazon merchant in the $72 range. I hope I get the promised 2500 pages.
I was unable to print from my 10.8.2 running MacBook Pro, and the operating system couldn''t find an appropriate driver for this printer nor does installing the driver from Samsung''s website help. Printing from Windows still worked. Finally, I tried restarting the Mac and it started to work.
]
Buy Samsung SCX-4729FD/XAA Monochrome Printer Now
What do you get in the box?
Printer, Power cord, phone cord, software CD, keypad decal, instruction/setup guide.
What should have been in the box?
All that plus an ethernet cable. Why? Because they cost next to nothing.
The Samsung SCX-4729FD is a multi-function black and white laser printer that connects to your network via USB-computer, or Ethernet. There is a wireless model of this printer also available from Samsung.
Installation is easy. Remove about 8 pieces of tape, two pieces of styro, foam on the scanner plate, a plastic clip on the toner cartridge, plus a long plastic strip also on the toner cartridge. After that it''s a snap to insert paper (it handles a4/a5/lgl/letter/etc.), plug it in and get going. Windows 7 found the printer immediately and installed basic drivers, but if you want to do more then install the Samsung software. This was actually the slowest part of the whole process software installation.
You can optionally have a toolbar for the printer that offers one click access to the major functions of printing/scanning/faxing/copying. I chose to remove that because if I want to use the printer I''ll open the software myself.
The device goes into, and nicely stays in a standby mode. It powers up when you need it, otherwise it has a soft blue light on the power button to let you know it''s ready when you are.
Printing is fast and very high quality in black and white. Reproduction of shades of grey is as expected, with crisp lines and borders. Scanning is good. Optically you can scan 1200dpi or move up to 4800 enhanced mode. Everything I need to scan is usually 300dpi or less which it does very quickly with a nice preview and auto-cropping software. It can immediately save the file as an image or load it into your default app.
Scanning/faxing/copying can be done by placing paper on the glass, or by folding out the paper feeder on top. This is pretty typical in most office devices.
Finally, double sided printing is a nice feature. My last printer could do it but you had to flip the paper around yourself. This printer takes care of that for you by sending the paper into the exit tray then pulling it back in to print on the second side.
Overall I''m giving this 4 of 5 stars. Here''s what influenced the stars for me.
Quiet printer and great eco/power-savings functions. Fast printing at high quality. Small paper tray does not hold a full package of paper (convenience). Lack of included ethernet cable (also convenience). Too much software that all does similar functions (there are two programs that both do scanning).
UPDATE: I decided to go ahead and put it on the network and with the included software I can now scan and print across the network. Very easy to do just plug and play, or if you want to customize (like giving it a static IP address on your home network) you can easily do that within the management software. Now the only thing I haven''t done with it is fax and for that I''ve got to find a phone jack somewhere close ;-).
Read Best Reviews of Samsung SCX-4729FD/XAA Monochrome Printer Here
This machine is light-years ahead of what could have been purchased for this price even a few years ago.
While it may be a little too bulky for desktop use, Samsung has packed functionality into every cubic inch. It does what it claims to do, and does it pretty well. The monochromatic print quality, and double sided print feature are just as good, although not nearly as fast, as some of the much costlier industrial machines. The scanner quality is, even at the highest resolution, about on par with a lower end, middle-of-the-road scanner. The same is true of the copier quality (I would recommend reducing the factory default darkness to -3 or -4). Unfortunately, I have not utilized the fax feature.
I did not connect this device to a network, just my personal computer. In attempting to set up the machine, I was disappointed to discover that the necessary USB cable was not included. Luckily I was able to find a spare lying around the office. Now that I am all set up, I would have to recommend to others that the wireless version (Samsung SCX-4729FW/XAA Wireless Monochrome Printer with Scanner, Copier & Fax) would probably be much more convenient. I also wish that the power cord were about a foot longer, but that is probably a preference unique to the setup of my office.
Without the Eco function enabled, which is helpful for fairly consistent use, the machine does take a little while to warm up; which can be a little frustrating in a hurry. However, that can be more or less solved by choosing the Eco feature. The scanner is also a little sluggish; particularly at its highest resolution (which is only marginally better than the intermediate resolution), but still not terrible.
This might not seem like a glowing review, but it is in a way. Yes, the machine is not the highest quality, and is certainly not suitable for industrial or multi-person, all day utilization. For the price, however, this machine is a great answer to many small office needs. Again, if your needs outweigh the relative functionality of the machine, the value is meaningless, but for intermittent need to get done tasks, this machine is a cost efficient little workhorse.
It is better than just okay. If I could give it 3.5 stars, I would. It would probably have garnered 4 stars if not for the USB frustration.
Want Samsung SCX-4729FD/XAA Monochrome Printer Discount?
Every since I left my last office, I have struggled along on inkjet printers. They are nice, but more expensive for the ink per page, and 95% of my printing is Black. I print letters, I print sermons, I print words! This 1200 DPI printer, which whips out copies at 29 per minute, is an awesome addition to my office.
The paper feeder holds 250 pages, so is a very nice size if you print a great deal. The drawer can be adjusted for varying sizes of paper.
The only thing I would change is to make it wifi, but even that is available for hardcore wifi users at Samsung SCX-4729FW/XAA Wireless Monochrome Printer with Scanner, Copier & Fax.
This particular model can be set up as a part of your Ethernet system or hooked directly to your computer using a USB cord. For simplicity, since I do a majority of my printing from my laptop, I have it set up in my office and hooked in using the USB cord.
I have been impressed by the copying, both the quality and speed, as well as by the printing. Scanning, using their software is incredible and fast, and can be saved as either PDF or JPG as well as bitmap. The software for the scanning is very easy to use and automatically crops as well as allowing optional cropping. The feeder works very well, and the double sided printing is intuitive and easy.
There is an eco mode which saves toner and forces double sided printing, however I am not currently using it. I wasn''t as happy with the copies and I prefer to decide whether to print single or double sided. I will also not be using the fax feature, since I can simply scan and e-mail the documents (or put them in a drop box) that I need to send. This seems to be the trend today, fewer faxes are being used. Still, if you need one, this one will fill the bill.
If you have multiple computers, it might be worthwhile to purchase the wifi enabled version, but for normal single computer use, this is sleek, with a smaller sized footprint, was light enough for me to easily move around, and really does the job quickly and easily.
Obviously, I can only speak for short-term on this model, but I come back and post later if I encounter difficulties.
Save 32% off
I print a lot of copies for my writing and research work. I was using a basic laser printer, very cheap toner and so very user friendly to me. But it didn''t have a lot of flexibility. I had to use another printer for scanning and copying, and have been looking for something to do double sided printing, so as to save paper.
This printer fit the bill perfectly. It was easy to set up and easy to use. This model doesn''t have the wireless access of other models, but I didn''t need that. It can be networked, however, so that is enough for me.
It has a pretty small footprint for its capabilities. Everything is tightly packaged and engineered so that there''s no wasted space. It is very functional and works great in all of its capacities that I used it for. It was my go to printer, the one that I used the most (I have about 4 other printers each with their own speciality). This is an all around workhorse--not the best at any particular job, but competent at a lot. I even was able--in this day and age--to use the fax feature. Had to fax a form to our insurance company. Plugged it into the phone line, dialed the number, everything worked quickly, smoothly with absolutely no bumps. This printer really is just plain easy to use.
My one complaint about the printer itself is that it''s really surgey. Meaning that when it turns on, it really draws in a lot of power. I couldn''t plug it into my UPS because of that. It kept tripping the power circuit. We have an old house and my office is an old add-on room off the side. So the wiring isn''t the best. When I turn this printer on, it has a tendency to trip the circuit breaker at times, and otherwise affect other things that are plugged in. I''ve not had that problem with other printers or devices.
Still, the bother was worth it to me. I liked this printer a lot. Note my use of the past tense.
The trouble I am now running into is not really one connected to the printer itself. But it radically affects my use of the printer. I am a PhD student and adjunct professor. My home office budget, thus, is pretty bare bones. While I need functional equipment, I can''t pay the frankly outrageous prices charged for the manufacturer''s stock toner. I''ve long relied on other manufacturers who make generic brand toners and cartridges for my printeres. So, when after printing about 1200+ pages the toner that this printer came with needed to be replaced and I looked on Amazon for generic substitutes. Found one, got it, installed it. The printer didn''t recognize it. Called the company (Inkers). They were great, said I had the right model of cartridge, so they sent me another one. That one didn''t work either (got refund quick by the company). Tried another brand. Also didn''t work. Cartridge fit, but the chip wasn''t right. Tried a refill company. The replacement chip they sent also didn''t work.
Meaning I can''t find a cheaper generic toner for this printer and I can''t quite get to paying the full toner price. So, for now, this printer sits unplugged and unused.
