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Buyer's Guide: The Best Monitors 
Samsung CLX-3175FW
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Resolution | 600x 2400 ppp | ||
| Speed B&W / color | 16 ppm / 4 ppm | ||
| Ink drop size | picolitres | ||
| Number of cartridges | 4 | ||
| Number of base colors | 4 | ||
 Show all specifications
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| Scanner | yes |
| Copier | yes |
| Fax | yes |
| WiFi | yes |
 Hide specifications | |
Nilofar Hadjanadjiboudine
Test date: July 22, 2009
Test date: July 22, 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.
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 QualityThe 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 SpeedThe 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 QualityThis 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.
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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 pageOf 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.
Pluses
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Text quality (in draft mode and normal mode)
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Windows, Mac and Linux compatibility
Minuses
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Ships with smaller toner cartridges
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Lacks sharpness
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No PCL6 or PS3 support
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Graphics quality
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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.
