Samsung CLX-3175FW - DigitalVersus

Samsung CLX-3175FW


Amazon.co.uk	293.58
Amazon Marketplace UK	310.27
PrinterBase	332.35
Printerland	345.25


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Resolution	600 x 2400 ppp
Speed B&W / color	16 / 4 ppm
Ink drop size	picolitres
Number of cartridges	4
Number of base colors	4
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Scanner / Copier / Fax	Yes / Yes / Yes
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Nilofar Hadjanadjiboudine
Test date: July 20, 2009

Scanner and copier

The scanner is reasonably fast, scanning a photo at 300 dpi in 13 seconds. A preview of a full document is, however, a little slower, at 18 seconds.

The quality is decent, with contrast mostly respected. Once again, scanned images lack sharpness.

The copier is also decent, producing colour copies in 24 seconds and 15 seconds for black and white.

Build Quality

The CLX-3175FW is a multifunction colour laser printer with a fax machine, which includes both WiFi and an Ethernet port. Unfortunately, the double-sided mode is manual, not automatic. You'll have to make to do with using Samsung's own SPL-C printing language. It includes Windows, Mac and Linux drivers.

The main paper drawer can include 150 pages, but the sheet feeder can only hold 15 sheets.

The CLX-3175 is an improved version of the CLP-315 (a colour laser printer without copying or scanning) that we tested recently. Both print at the same speed and quality.

Printing Speed

The CLX-3175W is fast in black and white, slow in colour and even slower when it starts from standby.

In monochrome mode, it reaches 15.9 pages per minute on our test documents, but just 4 ppm, in colour. That's not a lot, and even inkjet printers easily reach 7 ppm.

What we found more alarming, though, was the time it took to produce the first page of a document. If the printer is already warmed up, then this takes 11 seconds. If, however, it starts from standby, then you need to wait 32 seconds. And that figure climbs to 50 seconds when you first switch the printer on at the start of the day.

Printing Quality

This is a 600 dpi printer, and that's visible in the precision of characters and lines, which could easily be improved. Characters suffer from pixellation, and black text on a coloured background doesn't look very sharp. Despite this, draft mode is good enough for everyday use.

In graphics, shaded areas are even, with blocks of bright colour. However, some detail is lost, including some gradients. In the image below, the red bar should contain a gradient but that has completely disappeared.

Photos lack sharpness with blurry details. Contrast isn't really well maintained, and the colours are noticeably different from the original, with a red/orange tinge and shades that are much brighter than they should be.

Enerrgy Use and Noise

When on standby, this printer requires 9.4 W, but can reach 660 W white printing, which is rather high. Noise levels, too, are quite high and the printer quickly heats up. There's also a rather unpleasant smell while printing.

Cost per page

Of course, most manufacturers don't supply a full cartridge with their printers, and Samsung is no exception. It ships its printers with enough toner to print 1000 pages in black and white and just 700 colour pages. Regular cartridges come with enough for 1500 and 1000 pages, respectively.

Cartridge	Amazon.co.uk price	ISO Lifespan	Cost per page
CLT-K4092S (black)	£37.77	1500	2.52 p
CLT-C4092S (cyan)	£33.73	1000	2.25 p
CLT-M4092S (magenta)	£33.73	1000	2.25 p
CLT-Y4092S (yellow)	£33.73	1000	2.25 p

This gives a combined cost of 9.27 p per colour page.

Text quality (in draft mode and normal mode)

Windows, Mac and Linux compatibility

Ships with smaller toner cartridges

Lacks sharpness

No PCL6 or PS3 support

Graphics quality

Slow at colour printing for a laser printer

This Samsung printer is a colour laser printer for the price of a black and white laser. If colour printing is what's important to you--and that's entirely reasonable--then it could be the printer for you. But remember that it uses more energy than some others, and that it's loud and slow too.