Toshiba e Studio 162 Monochromatic 3 in 1

OVERVIEW: For light office or personal use, the Toshiba e-Studio 162 is a compact desktop 3-in-1 that can provide monochrome printing, copying, and color scanning right out the box. Options like a 30-page automatic document feeder, Ethernet card and facsimile functions allows the e-Studio 162 to grow into a full-function network all-in-1.

PROS:
The e-Studio 162 uses a stationary 8½” x 14” platen for scanning instead of a sliding platform to keep its footprint no bigger than its physical size. The 37-pound e-Studio’s recessed output tray reduces the overall footprint of the multi-function down to only 20½” x 20”.

The control panel on the e-Studio 162 is straightforward, with indicators and keys for intuitive control and conditions of the copier. To isolate an error, locate an empty tray, or paper jam, the panel includes a diagram of the copier with LED indicators to indicate the area that requires attention. The Mode Select toggle allows for the e-Studio to be just as functional as a walk-up standalone machine, with copy, print, scan, and fax capability right on the control panel.

Copying is as easy as placing the original in the feeder and pressing the “Copy” button. Resolutions of 600 x 600 dpi with settings to adjust exposure and contrast will print up to 99 monochrome copies at 16 pages per minute. Copies can be adjusted from 25% to 400% of the original in 1% increments or in 8 jumps. Copy quality can be set either manually, automatic adjustment of contrast, text or photo priority. The Toner Save feature is best used for draft copies and not for anything you want to distribute.

The scanning feature has support for TWAIN, STI, and Microsoft’s WIA protocols. While printing and copying is in monochrome, the e-Studio can scan in straight black-and-white, 128 grayscale or in color. With the optional automatic document feeder, the e-Studio 162 can scan multiple single-sides pages automatically.

The e-Studio 162 can hold up to 250 sheets of letter-sized or legal-size paper. For even more printing/copying capacity, a second 250-sheet tray can be attached for supporting a ream of paper. The 50-sheet multi-purpose bypass tray on the side allows for of transparencies, envelopes, and labels.

As a printer, the e-Studio 162 connects to your Wintel machine through either parallel or USB cable. Having a maximum resolution of 600 x 600 dpi, the e-Studio prints decent monochrome text and graphics. The resolution isn’t the best for printing from detailed color originals. 10MB of memory enables the multifunction to handle all but the largest PDF text files and graphics and is more than sufficient for personal use. If you want to use the e-Studio162 as a networked multifunction, it has to be shared via somebody’s computer or by buying the optional network card which comes with 64MB of additional memory.

CONS:
Compared to today’s copiers and printers, the 2002 e-Studio 162 shows its age with a 16 ppm copy and print speed, and a maximum resolution of only 600 x 600 dpi. As a printer, its monochrome print speed is slower than some of today’s single-pass color lasers, which offer faster speeds and higher resolutions.

The 250-sheet paper tray while fine for personal use is woefully undersized for business use. It’s typical for even a small office to go through a ream of paper in a single day in copying, faxing, and printing. The second 250-sheet add-on tray would be a good investment for offices that go through a lot of paper in a typical day and are looking to buy this Toshiba

Toshiba uses for its printing emulator the Samsung SPLC for the e-Studio 162. There are no HP PCL or Adobe PostScript emulators available for this model unless you buy the network option and the PS3 kits.

Software, printing, and computer scanning support are for Windows operating systems only. Basic printing functions are possible for Apple and Linux by using their own printing services and built-in printer drivers.

INK / TONER NEEDS:
Having the drum as a separate component reduces the overall consumables costs. The Toshiba toner cartridge will last for about 6,500 B&W pages (less if printing or copying graphics), and can be easily accessed by opening the front panel of the e-Studio. The side panel provides access to the fuser, corona, and the drum. The drum has a life of 18,000 pages, or after every 3rd toner change. The Toshiba e-Studio 162 replacement drum is the same type used for the Xerox’s WorkCentre XD 130 and Sharp’s AR 150.

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The Samsung SCX 4300 3 in 1 Multifunction Printer

OVERVIEW:  Once in a while you might need to scan an official document to be e-mailed or you may need to print copies of the neighborhood newsletter for distribution. Rather than drive to the local print store, a personal B&W multifunction printer like the Samsung SCX-4300 can save you time and gasoline while providing monochrome laser printing.

PROS:
A black case and a footprint of only 16” x 15” allow the SCX-4300 to fit unobtrusively in home or office.

The SCX-4300 has a 250-sheet main paper tray. This is almost more than double the capacity many other personal-use laser printers have. The tray has an adjustable rear lever to allow the SCX-4300 to hold 11” x 14” legal-size paper, while maintaining the same footprint on your desk. For heavier paper weights, types, and sizes, the SCX-4300 has a 1-sheet manual feed slot. So if you want to print 30 invitations from a Word mailing list you will have to stay by the printer feeding the envelopes one at a time.

It takes less than 11 for the SCX-4300 to go from Standby to print. Having a print and copy speed of 19 pages per minute, this personal printer has a decent speed for laser printers a few year ago.  However, nowadays current inkjets are pushing B&W print speeds of 20 ppm, and are giving lasers a run for their money.

While in standby or Sleep mode you won’t even know that the multi-function is even on at 28dB. And when it fires up the 53dB, the SCX is no noisier than low conversations. While 53 decibels may not be loud, it is annoying if the printer is sitting next to you printing 99 copies.

The color scanner portion of the SCX-4300 is compatible with TWAIN & and XP/Vista’s WIA standards.  The 600 x 2,400 dpi optical resolution can be digitally enhanced to 4,800 x 4,800 dpi.

The control panel on the SCX-4300 has a 2x16 character LCD display and controls for manual copying.  Copy options include changing image magnification from 0.5 to 2 times the original size, and up to 99 multi-page copying.

CONS:
The 600 x 600 dpi resolution is the lowest printing resolution since the entry-level ML-1430 personal laser printer. At 600 x 600, I would expect print speeds to be a lot faster than the 19 ppm the SCX produces.

It’s funny for a printer to offer the pre-XP TWAIN scanner support (a pre-XP standard) and not have the ability to connect to older computers with parallel ports. While PC’s with a parallel interface have become few and far between, it’s nice to free up a USB port if your computer still has one.

For a multi-function printer, 8MB of non-expandable memory seems a little skimpy.  It’s true that 8MB is large enough to print all but very large scanned images or Acrobat files. However problems may occur if the printer is shared across a workgroup as print jobs fill up the queue. For one office or cubicle, the SCX-4300 can handle most single-user print needs.

There are no PostScript or even the standard HP Printer Control Language (PCL) emulators. Instead Samsung uses a proprietary printer emulator. Most users won’t notice any changes in the way things print, unless they use a lot of advanced features in any high-end graphic or photo editing software.

INK/TONER NEEDS:
The monochrome toner that is included is only 50% full, which is something to remember before you decide on copying several hundred pages a shot. Available standard cartridges give an average yield of 2,000 pages.

SOFTWARE:
Being a multi-purpose printer, one would expect the software to provide full functions for all the computer platforms Samsung claims it supports.  The software in the CD-ROM is primarily for Windows compatible machines. For Windows users, the SmartThru4 software provides the most features, supporting not only scanning and printing, but offering an advanced printing section that allows for booklet printing, creating a large poster mosaics, and watermarks.

The Linux software package is not included with the CD and has to be downloaded from Samsung’s website to support printer and scanning functions. The Linux Unified Driver Configurator software allows for scanned images to manipulated and edited.  For Macintosh users, the CD-ROM has a couple of basic drivers for printing and a TWAIN driver for scanning. There is no additional software support: you either must have a 3rd party application that manages scanners or use the Mac’s own Image Capture (only available on Mac OS 10.4.7 and higher).

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The Samsung SCX 4500 3 in 1 Multi function laser printer

OVERVIEW:  Now that computers are as common in homes as televisions, more people are now looking at ways to get them to blend in with the furnishings. Sleek laptops and wall-mounted displays have replaced nerdy desktops and monitors. So why have a multi-function printer that screams “Geek”? The Samsung SCX-4500 3-in-1 multi-function printer replaces geek with chic.


PROS:
Like the ML-1630, the SCX-4500 has a sleek & slim design with a low profile of only 6½“ and a footprint of 13” x 15½“.

This printer is quiet. How quiet? At under 38dB in standby and 45dB in operation it’s almost as quiet as a whisper. To go from power up to print only takes the SCX-4500 15 seconds.

There’s nothing like class with a touch of sci-fi. The first thing you notice is there are no apparent buttons on this printer. The 19-pound SCX-4500 uses soft-touch sensor panels under the top panel for print and copy controls, plus a display with blue LED indicators. The 100-sheet paper tray is a semi-automatic sliding cassette.

The SCX-4500’s simplified paper feed path means clearing jams are easier and effortless. Replacing the toner cartridge is also straightforward and easy to get to. To reduce jams, Samsung recommends keeping to paper weights that are at least 20 lbs.

The USB 2.0 interface allows the printer to easily connect to a Mac, a PC, or a visiting laptop.

The color scanner portion of the SCX-4300 is compatible with TWAIN & and XP/Vista’s WIA standards.  The 600 x 600 dpi optical resolution can be digitally enhanced to 4,800 x 4,800 dpi.

Copy options include changing image magnification from 0.5 to 2 times the original size, and up to 99 multi-page copying.

As expected for a printer of this type, Samsung only installed a fixed 8MB RAM for the SCX-4500. 8MB is fine for text printing, but large Adobe files and graphics will fill up the SCX-4500’s memory and will slow printing. There is no PostScript or even the standard HP Printer Control Language (PCL) emulator. Instead Samsung uses a proprietary printer emulator. Most users won’t notice any changes in the way things print, unless they use a lot of advanced features of professional graphic or photo-editing software.

CONS:
The SCX-4500 has a small 100-sheet tray capacity that holds letter-size paper or smaller. But then again, the SCX-4500 is designed for the casual printer user--for a home, a dorm, or an executive office, the tray is fine. There is no separate manual sheet feeder slot; transparencies, card stock, and labels must be placed in the cassette one sheet at a time.  The printer’s unique design also doesn’t allow for printing on envelopes.

At 17 pages per minute, this personal laser printer is a little on the slow side of printing speeds for its age. With current inkjets pushing B&W print speeds of 20 ppm, inkjets are now giving lasers a run for their money in performance.

This issue is not so much a problem with the printer, just with the people who use it. One disadvantage to the SCX-4500’s size and appearance is many people think it can be wedged anywhere without regard to its ventilation needs. To keep from cooking its internal parts and to reduce paper jams, Samsung recommends leaving at least a 4” clearance around the printer. The printer must be placed on a level, upright surface not tilting more than 2 mm (that’s less than 1/10 of an inch).

INK/TONER NEEDS:
1000-page starter toner cartridge used in the SCX-4500 is only 50% of standard capacity toner. Unless you plan on going through 2 reams of paper in a week, the starter cartridge should last long enough while you order a regular yield toner.

SOFTWARE:
Being a multi-purpose printer, one would expect the software to provide full functions for all the computer platforms Samsung claims it supports.  The software in the CD-ROM is primarily for Windows compatible machines. For Windows users, the SmartThru4 software provides the most features, supporting not only scanning and printing, but offering an advanced printing section that allows for booklet printing, creating a large poster mosaics, and watermarks.

The Linux software package is not included with the CD and has to be downloaded from Samsung’s website to support printer and scanning functions. The Linux Unified Driver Configurator software allows for scanned images to manipulated and edited.  For Macintosh users, the CD-ROM has a couple of basic drivers for printing and a TWAIN driver for scanning. There is no additional software support: you either must have a 3rd party application that manages scanners or use the Mac’s own Image Capture (only available on Mac OS 10.4.7 and higher).

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