Customer Reviews

Samsung SCX-4500W Personal Wireless Laser Multi-Function Printer

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'll try to save people a great deal of effort.

If you're using a mac and you want to use this printer as a network wireless printer, this is what you need to do:

1. Using an ethernet cord (not the included crossover cord), plug the printer into your router.
2. Turn on the printer, add paper, and hold down the Stop/Clear button for approx. 6 seconds until a diagnostic page prints
3. Type the printer's IP address into your browser.
4. Click the wireless tab on the left side, follow the instructions and hook your printer into your wireless network.
5. Go to System Preferences, Printers, Search and Add your new printer.

Thats it.

You can now unplug your printer from the network, and put it anywhere you want wirelessly. Adding it to other machines is just a System Preferences, Printer, Add printer.

After I was finally able to get the wireless up and running I like how the machine operates. Samsung does not include all the instructions for syncing the wireless (if there were instructions then I overlooked them). I'm not going to go through all of the steps, however I will offer three critical parts that should get you on your way if you have any knowledge about setting up a home network. 1. After you install the software, place your IP address in the address bar and press enter. 2. After you have done step one (and the configuration under the wireless section), you will need to go to your printers and right click on properties (for the samnsung scx-4500) and add a port using your IP address. 3. In order to use the wireless scanning feature, you must go back to the samsung website (download center) and download the Scan Driver/Scan Manager software. After you have installed, the Samsung Scan Manager will be located under control panel. I made a desktop shortcut. Note...the steps listed above are for PC users. Anywho, smooth printing, great color scanning but a bit of a headache to set up. The tech support at Samsung was nice and patient and English speaking! Good luck!

i don't know why everybody is complaining about setup. at least in snow leopard you don't need anything. the driver comes preinstalled on 10.6x. i never even opened the cd cover. connect x-over cable, add printer, go to option/supplies, click on Show Printer Webpage, network settings, wireless wizard, choose from ssid list, provide password, disconnect x-ver cable. that's it. oh yeah, that scans as well ..... over the (wireless) network. i am trilled with my unit. it's super quiet and got the best form factor possible. it also has a bit of a firewall and device whitelisting capabilities. keep in mind through that it's monochrome, has no fax, no duplexing, and a modest 100 sheet paper try. i knew all that and i sure as heck didn't want a fax and gladly trade the form factor for the occasional extra reload. so i'm perfectly happy. installation took under 10 minutes from mugging the fed ex guy to the first wireless test page. this little beauty is replacing a hp 3380 which is an awfully noisy beast with the buggiest 250MB+ driver bloat you could possibly imagine. on the downside, the on/off switch is at the back of the unit but given its' form factor, it's easy to get to. more annoyingly, though, you can access the printer only over telnet not ssh. i haven't been the excited about a printer since i got my first oki laser printer back in '94. and i can't tell you how happy i am to be able to give hp the middle finger not only without sacrificing one bit of functionality but also adding features .. did i mention how darn quiet that puppy is? you actually need to do a visual check convince yourself that it's actually printing.

Like some of the other reviews - this product soon turns from wireless to wired as it loses the connection intermittantly despite being 1 meter from my pc and router.
Recently, it stopped printing, returning instead an error - "LSU Hsync err. cycle power" - turns out its the Laser Scanning Unit!! - and it wont print even though im not scanning - cost of repair - £245 plus VAT!!! Is common fault according to Samsung cistomer services but as its out of its 1 yr warranty they dont care and neither does PC world where I brough the b*****d thing!! Dont buy it!!

Right out of the box, set up was a snap. Insert cd into computer, hit install, and the machine did the rest. In my home, we have about 6 computers printing on this workhorse. Replacement laser cartrig's are bought on line for a fraction of the samsung brand. Saving my family lots of dough! Quite, easy to use, pretty, functional.
UPDATE!!! ... Phone Service~ is the best ever!

Despite some negative remarks, Samsung SCX-4500W is one of the best printers, especially if you want to replace your old inc cartridge printer.
Pros:
- Works with all major operating systems: Windows ( 7, Vista, XP), Mac OSX and Linux ( Ubuntu, Fedora etc). Drivers with Windows 7 Enterprise install automatically.
- Very compact All-in-One printer, scanner, copier.
- Extremely economical: best for replacement your old expensive ink-cartridge printers.
- Very quiet: won't wake up your baby.
- USB or networking (wired or wireless).
- Excellent color scanning quality - digitize your whole home library.
- Legendary quality of Samsung brand.

Cons: little tricky to setup wireless connection.
Solution: here is how to set it up right(different from manual description):
1) Connect the printer to your PC/laptop using the Ethernet cable provided. Do not connect via USB.
2) Insert the installation CD and if the setup program starts up by itself, come out of that and browse the CD files for an executable file called SetIP. Run that file and then MANUALLY set an IP for the printer. Ie. you will need to know the IP of your wireless router before you do this so that you can set the prinetr IP different to that of the wireless router. Eg. if your wireless router IP is 196.168.2.2, set the printer IP to 196.168.2.3. When you click APPLY, the SetIP program will ask you if you really want to update the printer's IP - click YES and it will show a confirmation window sayign that the printer's IP has been updated.
3) Now unplug the ethernet cable from the PC/laptop and plug it in to the wireless router with the other end of the cable still plugged in to the printer.
4) Run the SETUP.exe program from the CD and select the "Network Printer" installation. The program will search for the printer, if it is not found, click the manual installation and input the printer's IP that you have just set, eg.196.168.2.3, the printer will then be found by the program and installation will commence - this bit takes a while so don't worry if it looks like it isn't installing, it will, eventually.
5) Once setup is complete, you may unplug the Ethernet cable from the router.
6) Now your printer is ready to use wirelessly and you can go to your web browser and input the printer's IP in the address bar, eg. http://196.168.2.3, press enter and you will be taken to the printer's inbuilt software page where you can set wireless options, security etc.

I had been happy for a while with this printer. Although one needs to be somewhat tech savvy to set this printer up initially, it works as advertised. Like I said INITIALLY. I moved my apartment and took the printer with me. Now the little blue wireless icon never lights up when it is supposed to, thereby causing the printer to work only in the wired mode i.e. the printer needs to be wired to the router with an ethernet cable. I would have still given a 4 star. However, Samsung printer department customer support people are robots who know nothing about diagnosing a problem. They go by the books, and if something doesn't go according to the book, they are left clueless. Finally, a guy said he would do more research and call me back with a solution has never got back to me and it's been 2 weeks!! I have a better idea - based on my own experience working with tech gadgets and having a good understanding of computer technologies over 15 years, I can confidently say that the problem is with the printer's particular hardware that is responsible in rendering the printer wireless. That hardware is of subpar quality, and is bust! I have always used utmost care when transporting the printer so there's no chance of damaging it by moving it carelessly.

I concur with all the negative reviews. I will take it one step further than dismay with this product...I am disgusted with the corporate attitude toward consumers. I purchased my unit through the Apple store, for my Mac, an OSX 10.5.8.

I have spent a week now trying to get this thing to work. My workspace is wireless. As the other reviews stated, the button says scan to PC and that is what it means. I can pull it off by working through Image Capture, going to "browse for devices", and then selecting "use TWAIN UI".
a window appears, I press scan, and the next window allows me to preview and scan. Difficult many step procedure and so far, that is all I get. The printing function works, finally, after dealing with this for a week.

Here is my point. Apple sells a product that does not work on it's Mac, and then refuses to give any tech support until you pay. At Samsung, I initially talked to a tech supporter named "Hans", whose first language was not english, and who hung up on me when my system crashed. No one else at Samsung has knowledge of how to install this on a MAC, only PC's are evidently included in their technical knowledge there...though they sell it as Mac friendly product, and can browse through the same half formed up technical information that comes with the unit.

Point being, what are we all doing letting LARGE CORPORATIONS rip us like this? What can we do about it? Should I bill someone for my week's worth of installation work? I have spent most of my discretionary income over the last two years on failed hardware and software, while Apple, Adobe and Samsung laugh all the way to the bank. I see no end to that kind of treatment anywhere.

I have to admit setting up this printer from a Mac takes some skills. Unfortunately the Java interface us not perfect for setup fro
Mac so I defaulted to Explorer under Bootcamp. However I believe Firefox works okay after you get the Network interface going. The settings can be accessed by browser once the printer learns you want to use it in Network mode.

Another secret, in Snow Leopard do not bother with ScanManager. In Preview, change the Import from Scanner setting to Find Network Devices, then go back to Import from Scanner and you will see it there. Voilà, you're scanning wirlelessly.

Load the printer driver from Samsung website first, then add printer from Bonjour. You're set. Works better in Snow Leopard than 10.5.

Overall very happy with this printer. Fast, very quiet, sleek, and prints and scans wirelessly.

It says it is wireless but I was shipped a unit without a wireless connection.
The product is fine and I do not blame Samsung the seller either made a mistake or is misleading people.