Sleek & Quiet B&W Laser

Never thought I'd see a laser printer design that compliments my HDTV but Samsung has done it with the introduction of the ML-1630.

Inside the hi-gloss piano black slim machine is the quietest laser printer I've ever seen. At only 4.8" high, it's also the world's slimmest B&W laser printer. Width & depth are 13"W and 14.7" respectively and weight is 12.6 pounds with the cartridge inside.

Until January 2008, this printer appears to be only available for sale at apple.com or checksnet.com websites.
I phoned the Apple store and was told that "third party" items (items not branded by Apple) are only sold from their website.

Unlike most printers under $200, this one completely hides your paper supply, although you are limited to 100 sheets.

First page prints in less than 10 seconds and is rated at 17 pages per minute. I can vouch for the fast first page but didn't time the ppm. Text and images are razor sharp, which i expected at the advertised 1200x600dpi.

Since the starter cartridges that come with new printers rarely have enough toner to print more than 1,000 pages and I also use my printer to make checks, I couldn't wait to see if a ChecksNet MICR toner cartridge would provide a much better cost per page and ability to print magnetically encoded checks. Happy to report that you can purchase a cartridge capable of printing 7,000 pages or 21,000 checks from checksnet.com website. Printers settings allow for Normal, Light (toner saver) or Dark plus the other expected settings for multiple pages per sheet and creating posters (images spread over multiple sheets of 8.5"x11" paper). Installing cartridge couldn't be easier. Pop the top latch, drop it in, close the top.

Unlike many laser printers that tend to curl paper, the ML-1630 creates only a slight curl so you can do 2-sided printing without paper jams, which I did test several times. Just push the button on the front and the paper tray pops open. Sheets print face down with top away from you.

For people who like blue glowing indicator lights and hi-tech red LEDs, you won't be disappointed by what Samsung has built into the glossy top. Samsung threw in some R2D2 type sounds to go along with the lights. They're just loud enough to get your attention to an open latch, empty paper tray or that it's ready to print.

CD includes drivers for Windows, MAC & Linux. I'm running Win Xp Pro but CD says it includes drivers for Vista 32 & 64. Installed on my system in about a minute, no glitches or conflicts.

Haven't fallen in love with a laser printer in a long time but I've already asked this one to move in.