Customer Reviews

Samsung ML-1710 Laser Printer

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

Prior reviewer is dead on. This is a really cool little laser...

I've just set mine up. It took longer to unravel the old parallel cable than setting up the entire new printer. I'm retiring an NEC 860 laser 8ppm that has been good to me since 1996.

what you need to know:
rated at 17ppm. screams to me compared to what i had.
doesn't include usb cable. you must buy one.
doesn't support parallel. that's one reason it screams.
toner cartridge included is rated for 1000 pages
new toner cartridge rated for 3000 pages about $79 local retail.
cartridge includes drum which is good
it has a tiny footprint
everything load from the front which is great
holds 250 pages
also can front load envelopes, legal etc on manual basis
drivers were loaded in seconds (i'm on dell running win2000 pro)
print quality is exceptional for text and business graphics
toner save button (claimed 40% savings) produces great results
side by side against full toner, draft version is a hair lighter.

buy it, i bet you'll love it.

I was interested in ML-1430 first since there were many reviews I could find, and they were fairly good. Especially the price was attractive; sub $... after rebate.

This ML-1710 replaces ML01430. I was a bit hesitant to buy this one at first since I could not find any decent review due to the fact this one just came out to on the market. I looked at the demo page printed at the local store, and decided to give it a try.

First of all, it is lightening FAST. I haven't try to verify the advertised 17ppm, but I bet it would. The first few pages I printed out came out so fast, I thought it was just spitting out the pages without prints.

It takes about 25 seconds to get warmed up either from turning it on, or from power-save mode, which I think pretty fair even though it is little longer than most ink-jets.

The print quality is pretty good. The characters are a little thinner than ink-jets due to the fact that it is a laser, and the finer the letters, the bettwer it gets. I really don't see anything different from the big old laser printers at work which costs at least few thousand bucks.

Overall, I have to say this is really a great bargain even though I just had it for few days.

I have been using the Samsung ML-1710 for a few weeks now. I use it in an office, where I am often printing on blank paper, but also need to print on letterhead and envelopes pretty frequently. I've been impressed with the speed and print quality of the 1710, but it has some quirks you might want to consider before you buy it. As others have mentioned, it takes a long time to warm up (to receive the data from the computer) and it's noisy while doing so. To use the manual feed tray - which I do for envelopes and letterhead - you have to go in and tell it to use this feeder and then set the option back to use the regular paper tray. Other printers I've used seem to be able to figure this out on their own. You also have to wait for the printer to warm up before putting anything in the manual feed tray, otherwise it just cycles through and comes out with nothing printed on it. The most annoying thing is that envelopes come out with light printing on them, as if the "toner save" feature is on. I have contacted tech support about this. They sent me a "firmware upgrade," a software program that's supposed to fix the problem, but I couldn't get it to work on my computer or a co-workers. I contacted tech support again, but they didn't have any other solutions other than to send it back to them to have the upgrade installed. So I guess I would say, the printer is not bad for the money, and it has its good points, but you will have to tolerate a few annoyances (and, probably, light envelopes).

1. GOOD ORDER EXPERIENCE WITH AMAZON.COM

I shopped for printers for weeks and picked this after it got an 8/10 review from CNET Product Reviews. It was an "Editor's Choice". I decided to order from Amazon because of the [$$$] rebate offered by Samsung if you do so.

I received my order only 6 calendar days after putting in an online order at Amazon. This was much faster than the promised time; plus shipping was free.

2. YOU HAVE TO BUY A USB CABLE

The USB cable which you have to also order when you buy this printer was shipped separately by Amazon, but arrived on the same day as the printer which was nice. I selected the Belkin USB cable 6 ft for [$$$], but recommend a longer cable - 6 ft sounds like a lot but it isn't.

I have a Mac Powerbook G4 (12 inch) which I purchased recently, running on Mac OS x 10.2.

If you have a late model Mac, you should know that the CD-ROM that comes with this printer DOES NOT work. It only supports OS 9. The instruction manual also DOES NOT tell you what to do if you have OS X.

3. Here are the MISSING INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAC OS X USERS:

(This is to save you the 3.5 hrs it took me to configure my printer and find the right driver.)

1. Ignore the CD-ROM and Instruction Manual that came in the printer's box. (If you attempt to install the CD-ROM's driver, your Mac will not recognize the driver as having been installed even though the installer will say installation is complete).

2. The driver for OS 10.2 is on the Web. Go to [the Samsung site] and click on the "Printer" link on the left menu.

3. Nothing will appear on the web page (it will be blank), but a sub-menu will appear on the left, click "Laser".

4. Select ML 1710. It will show 3 types of Mac drivers to download, according to the version of OS you have.

5. Only download one of the 3 types - the one for Mac OS X 10.2 (if that is your version). Do not download the other types for other Mac versions.

6. If your download doesn't work using Apple Safari browser, switch to Internet Explorer browser and try again. It should not take more than ONE minute to download. If the page freezes, log out and log back in.

Seems simple enough, but a lot of time could have been saved if these above steps were actually LISTED somewhere in the instructions in the box. I had to figure it out rather painfully by piecing together scattered clues.

Once the above was done, my Mac recognized the printer pretty easily and I had no problems.

Other finicky things:

(a) the printer is very light so it tends to skid if you are opening trays, installing catridges, etc. It feels like it is made of light, cheap plastic, but I guess that is forgivable given the price. (You can correct the skid by sticking plastic anti-skid stickers from the hardware store on the base).

(b) the printer makes a rather loud hum starting up - much louder than expected. It sounds like a small hand-held vacuum, and looks generally like a humidifier.

I have used HP 1000 for almost one year. But the quality I get from Samsung 1710 make obvious difference!

With 8M build-in memory, it print very fast compared to HP 1000. Handling of paper is excellent, with both tray for 250 papers and manual if you want page by page print. I also survey Brother 1440 at the same time, but get this one because it's cheaper at the local store I buy. It's advantage over Brother 1440 is it's size! The most compact laser printer in the market!!! Samsung also provide a monitor software that you can used to monitor your printer on your computer monitor, check if it's ready, busy, out of paper, etc. It's handy that you don't need to check that on the printer. Although it's a little noisy, and sound likes it's going wrong but actually won't. Just print the finished paper very fast and smooth. Very satisfied with this great product.

When I bought this printer, I thought I had found a gold mine---laser quality printing at a very affordable price. For 18 months, I was extremely satisfied; it worked like a dream and the quality was excellent. Just as good as the more expensive laser printers at my research lab (except no duplex). No more replacing ink cartridges every other month! The initial toner lasted 6 months. The second toner is still working well.

Too good to be true? Yes. Eighteen months after I bought the printer, it stopped working... six months after the warranty expired. I called up Samsung. They said the fuser needed replacing and I had to take it to a repair shop. How much would that cost? As much as I paid for the printer! I'd would have expected the printer to last much longer... but I guess you get what you pay for...

A few months ago I noticed this small laser printer for sale at Best Buy (...). Needing a printer and liking the price, I purchased the printer. I have not regretted that decision since.

The original "starter cartridge" printed envelopes very faintly and ran out of toner at 500 pages instead of the estimated 1,000. No big deal, a simple change of the toner cartridge (a 5 second task), and voila! -- the envelopes print fine.

Toner distribution has been even, with only an occasional shaking of the cartridge needed. It prints text and online bar-coded postage crisp and cleanly even on cheap paper.

Using the Samsung drivers for Mac OS X it prints quickly and efficiently. The printer auto-detects that one is feeding paper through the envelope slot and feeds only from there.

I've only detected a few minor issues:

1) Occasionally (and this hasn't happened recently) the printer will feed paper at a slight angle causing the text to appear slightly canted. This hasn't been an issue for several months.

2) If one attempts to insert an envelope into the envelope feeder when the printer is "hot", there's no problem. However, if one attempts to feed the envelope when the printer's "cold", it feeds the envelope entirely through the mechanism while the corona wires heat up. One then needs to wait the 20-30 seconds while it heats to feed envelopes. This can be avoided by opening and closing the toner cartridge door or tapping the "Toner Save/Cancel" button twice (hitting it once will cause the printer to heat up but enable/disable Toner Save -- hitting it twice causes it to return to whatever setting it was on before).

3) I wish there was some way to have the printer remain "hot" for longer periods of time. I frequently will write a letter, print it, and then start a second letter. During the period I'm writing the second letter the printer cools down, needing another heating cycle to get ready.

All in all, the ML-1710 is a most excellent low-end laser printer. It's significantly less expensive to operate than inkjet printers, prints crisply and clearly, is easy to maintain (i.e. by changing toner), and prints on both regular paper and envelopes just fine.

The only features I'd request would be a deeper output tray (I sometime print several hundred pages at once), the ability to print straight-through (even with the back panel open, the printer slightly bends the paper leading to crinkling in some envelopes), and the ability to adjust the timer for cooling down. Otherwise, I'm extremely satisfied with the printer.

ML-1710 is an excellent printer for use with a single PC at home or office.

Pro's,
1. Excellent print quality, much better than any inkjet would ever reach.
2. Drum and toner are a single unit. So there are no drum replacement costs like in Minolta 1250W or Brother HL-1440.
3. Toner/drum costs are very low, can be refilled at home easily atleast 2-3 times (just pull out the small round cap & pour in the powder).
4. Very fast print speeds, again much more than inkjets.
5. Small, good looking and light weight.
6. Has an internal paper tray (250 pages) like a real laser.
7. Low printer price after rebate and deals at local stores.

Con's,
1. It makes a lot of noise, more than an inkjet.
2. The included toner is a starter one. (1000 pages instead of 3000 on a standard one)
3. Paper curls more than one would like.
4. Takes 30 secs to come out of sleep mode.
5. Seems to consume a lot of power, house lights flicker when printer turns on (but I read this happens even with other lasers).

Overall this a great printer with excellent print quality. Dump your inkjet and get this laser now. Thanks Samsung!

This is the cheapest laser printer I have ever come across (after 40% off mail-in rebate...always shop around and check for rebates). Anyway, I needed a laser printer for my house, so I did some research. 600 x 600 dpi (dots per inch) is good enough for my needs. Type and vector (drawings) comes out clean and sharp. Photos are so-so but that's what you get for that dpi.

I have it set to print on my Mac G3 (OSX). I tried it out on our PC (Windows XP) too and it's fine. Everything works just fine. I did read reviews on Amazon about having to download the OSX driver... I did and had no problems whatsoever. (No matter what you always should check for drivers from the company's website because they are most current).

The best thing about this printer is the paper tray. The last printer I had was a Brother and it did not have a paper tray. Boy, did that get really annoying. Paper never feed right and always got stuck! The tray is so great! Just stick a whole stack of paper in the tray and never have to think about it!

This printer is small and has little rubber feet. I have had no problems with it sliding around. You do have to get a usb cord for it. But I just take the usb cord off my scanner and stick it in the printer.

I have have only had this printer for 2 weeks or so, but I think it's great.

I've had this printer for over a year. Under OS 9 it was indeed fast, but with different versions of OS X the Samsung's performance is disappointing at best.
In terms of speed, I have not experienced 17 ppm. Often I get a performance of about 2 ppm. They had an older driver that worked better, but I have not been able to find it anymore. A visit to Samsung's website reveals they have no Mac drivers listed at all. Based on my experience with this product, my next printer will not be a Samsung. As a matter of fact, I'm not likely to purchase anything with Samsung's name now.
I'm giving it 2 stars because it was very cheap, and even though it's painfully slow it does work 90% of the time, so it is not a total waste.

UPDATE (03/25/2008):
First, it's interesting that people have not find this useful. The fact remains that support for OS X is awful.
After doing a clean installation of Leopard I did not like the printer's performance once again.
As mentioned, Samsung does not have the OS X drivers in their US website. Fortunately they do have them in their Australian site. I found their old driver there, and I'm currently using version 1.1 instead of 1.5. They are also identified as "ML-1710" and "Samsung SPL 2.5" respectively, under the Print & Fax System Preferences.

So far the older driver has improved printing speed significantly. Hopefully this will be useful to one or two more people :-)