Samsung CLP-550 Color Laser Printer

by Samsung

Product Details

• Item Weight: 70.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 85 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00027BWN0
• Item model number: CLP-550/XAA
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 7, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer Samsung CLP-550 series color laser printers are the best in the business because they're the most complete. They're fast, powerful, durable, and efficient, delivering sharp laser text and beautiful photograph-quality images, even on plain paper, in a way that makes your documents more powerful than ever. The CLP-550 includes 64 MB RAM (expandable to 320 MB) plus High-Speed USB 2.0 and IEEE-1284 parallel interfaces. 10/100Base-TX is supported as an option. Another optional card is supported that includes both 10/100Base-TX and 802.11b Wireless LAN functionality. This model also supports PS 3, PCL 5Ce, and SPL-C printer languages.

• Superior Productivity. Samsung color laser printers are the most productive in the category--with fast print speeds, high paper capacity, the easiest toner changes, and so much more, including the largest toner capacity in their class and a low cost per page.
• Higher Quality. In a recent reliability survey, Samsung was the only color printer manufacturer rated Outstanding by PC World magazine (12/03). Samsung printers are also constantly recognized for their superior print quality, technical innovation, and more.
• Better Solutions. Always leading with technology, Samsung color laser printers are the first with built-in automatic duplexing. They also offer network and wireless solutions, professional-level color matching software, and the support of a solutions team dedicated to meeting unique customer needs.
• Easier, More Reliable. This Samsung color laser printer features an innovative new static engine architecture that requires fewer moving parts. With this exclusive NO NOIS (Non-Orbiting Noiseless Optic Imaging System) technology, you'll enjoy easier toner changes, higher reliability, and quieter operation.
• Bult-in Duplexing. Manual duplexing, or printing both sides of a sheet of paper, is often an aggravating scenario of endless guesswork trying to figure out exactly how to feed the paper. It's a huge waste of time and paper and toner that Samsung thought you'd be better off without. That's why Samsung designed this series with built-in duplexing. The whole process is as simple as pushing a button. On competitors' machines, automatic duplexing is about $399 extra, or not even an option.
• Superior Paper Handling. This Samsung printer has one of the highest paper capacities in the category. It also includes a standard paper cassette for sleeker, more secure paper storage. You can print 350 pages without ever having to reload.
• Speed. This Samsung printer delivers documents fast. Whether you're printing in color or black-and-white, you won't waste so much time waiting.

What in the Box
CLP-550, power cable, one black toner cartridge, one cyan toner cartridge, one magenta toner cartridge, one yellow toner cartridge, CD-ROM with drivers and utilities, setup guide, user's manual, warranty and registration card

Product Description

CLP-550 Color Laser Printer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Samsun CLP-550 Color Laser Printer, October 21, 2004

By 

Bill Bussey "Bill B." (NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung CLP-550 Color Laser Printer (Office Product)

I purchased this printer almost on a whim on Ebay because I was looking for a duplexing printer to print brochures for our nonprofit trails advocacy & maintenance organization (www.triangletrails.org)

In the past I've had to go to the copy store to make the two sided B&W brochures, which I then folded and distributed to those interested at street and river festivals and the like.

In considering this purchase I thought the color capability of this printer would be nice. Ink jet printing, or quick copy color printing of hundreds of 2-sided brochures, at almost a dollar a pop, was totally impractical for these brochures we give away like candy.

When I read another Amazon.com or Epinions review of the CLP-500 printer which listed a detailed consumables expenses of about a dime a page, I made the plunge.

So far, the printer has been top notch, and I would recommend it. I'm still waiting to see how fast I go through the toner cartridges though.

The auto duplexing feature on this printer is pretty much worth the price of the printer. It works very well, and has allowed me to print the brochures in house. This is the only color printer in this price range I've seen with auto duplexing. I recommend it highly. Once you use it, you'll wonder how you've lived without it.

Auto duplexing works great for regular printing as well. Now I don't have as many scrap pieces of paper with print on one side waiting to be inserted back in the printer to print on the blank side for those printing out of directions, reports, etc.

The color is very good, even on cheap, regular copy paper. I'm basically printing three or four photos with spot color for headlines, with the rest black print, in the brochure. It has worked well for this. You can get acceptable results with cheap paper.

We've noticed that these color brochures even on cheap paper, are picked up more than our old B&W brochures. The color photo on the front with color title is really eye catching. Now I hope those more brochures getting picked up brings in more members and donations. ;-)

I just purchased some more expensive glossy paper that I'm hoping to use soon. I'm sure the color printing quality will improve dramatically.

The printer is much faster than my old HP LJ4P on B&W printing. On color, it is fairly slow, but still very much acceptable for a printer in this price range. It would probably print faster with more memory, which I've been considering. However, it is much, much faster than my old ink jet!

For the downside, the printer came out of the box with right top front door latch (push to open, push then click to close) inoperative. This means that the right top front of the main or front door doesn't close all the way. It is slightly ajar, so to speak.

I called the Samsung customer support, and after explaining it, they said they would raid a new one and send me the latch. This arrived in a few days. However, it promptly fell apart upon taking it out of the envelope. I tried to put it back together, and inserted it in the hole in the printer. Parts immediately fell into the recesses of the printer, with the shell of the latch still in place. The printer worked fine. However, the parts fell somewhere totally unreachable in the printer.

I called customer support again, and they promptly sent me another, this time wrapped in tape. I've yet to install it because I'm going to have to break the latch housing - still in its hole in the printer - with pliers or something. Since the printer is working fine, with only this cosmetic issue, I'm still working up the nerve to break the housing.

There seems to be no need to bother sending back the printer or calling the year's worth of on-site support for this very minor issue. We'll see what happens and I'll include an update.

But I was very impressed with their customer service. I like the "can do" attitude. They did what they said they would do and helped me out again when the situation wasn't resolved the first time. They too were impressed that Samsung came out with the auto duplexing feature in a color laser printer at this price point.

My other issue is that this printer appears to have no way of displaying how much toner remaining in each cartridge, or conversely, how much of the cartridge has been used.

There is no report that displays this info. The only printout it offers is the number of pages or cycles printed with each color and B&W cartridge. Many HP color printers offer a percentage of toner used report or a thermometer graphic showing how much toner is left or has been used.

This may be too much to expect in a color laser of this price point. But it would sure be nice to have so I'm not left "high and dry" on a weekend when an important job is due.

Also, printer cartridges are not yet available locally at local or chain office supply stores. I'm sure this will change as more CLP-500's and CLP-550's get out there.

Again, I think this is a great printer so far. The auto duplexing feature is fabulous! This is really a great buy for all the features that come with it. It could be a boon to very small nonprofits or businesses. I hope this series of printers sells well for Samsung. While I've always been a solid HP laser printer man in the past, I'll indeed consider Samsung when purchasing printers in the future.

I like the printer so much that I created a Yahoo group for users of the Samsung CLP-500 series of printers to get advice and share experiences. Please join it at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/samsungclp/

Bill B.