Samsung ML-1510 Washington DC

Rating: 7/10

Laser printing is cheap, especially when you compare it to the running costs of an inkjet. It's also fast and water resistant, so why don't more people use it? Usually the answer is cost, but I can't see that as much of an argument with the Samsung ML-1510. At £50 this is actually cheaper than most of the toner replacements for other printers, and a few suppliers are offering it at a fiver cheaper than the price I paid. At such a low cost there had to be some cost cutting, so where is in the Samsung? It's got a 66MHz processor and just 2MB of RAM, but then it's printing so that's acceptable, and it manages 14 pages per minute with that. It comes with a USB connection, but no cable, not a big problem but a point worth noting. The input bin holds 250 sheets, and you can feed envelopes and labels through a slot in the front. The pages emerge on top, where there is room for 50 sheets of legal or A4 paper. A standard toner cartridge can print 3,000 sheets at 5% coverage, though the 'starter' only comes with enough for 1,000.

A replacement costs, incredibly, about £45. Which works out at about 1.5p a print, or if you use one of the many third party toner refill kits available for around £10 instead then that is three prints for a penny. At 600 dpi the print isn't amazing, but it is crisper than 600dpi inkjet printing and you can reduce toner usage by 40% if you are willing to use economy mode. So what don't I like? Very little really. The power on switch is on the side near the back, which is a pain. It takes about 40 seconds to warm up if it's not been in use, but that's true of most Laser printers. It's built to a price, but it will survive general use and Samsung quote a 15,000 sheet duty cycle over a month. Other than that there isn't much to say, it does what Samsung suggests on the box. If you need a personal office printer for a low duty cycle or you are just sick of using an inkjet for black printing then this could be perfect for you. I'd have liked more toner in there to begin with, and maybe more realistically priced official toner replacements, but I still think the ML-1510 is exceptional value without those things.

For more information, visit Micromart.co.uk