Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

G4scott

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 9, 2002
2,225
5
USA_WA
I'm looking for a decent printer to take to college. Since I don't do much printing of pictures and graphics, I was looking for an inexpensive laser printer.

I found the Samsung ML-1710 for $100 at Best Buy, and have searched the web for reviews.

Overall, it's a good text printer, and that's what I'd use it for, but I've heard bad things about the Mac drivers.

Has anybody had any experience with this printer?

Or does anybody have any recommendations for sub $200 laser printers, or inkjet printers that can put out good quality text without using tons of ink (like, at around $0.03 to $0.07 a page of text).

I don't want a high quality graphics inkjet, if I get one. I just want something that can print out text quickly, with good quality.

After using an HP 1200 Laser Jet at home, most inkjet text looks fuzzy and blurry to me...
 

Kwyjibo

macrumors 68040
Nov 5, 2002
3,809
0
I bought this printer about two weeks ago at pcnation.com It was $130 after rebates but hey i'm happy. I've printed about fifty or so pages with it and the work is top notch. The jaguar driver doesn't come on the install disc but you can download it from samsung. The driver works well in jaguar (not in panther yet tho...) I've printed from Word, Preview, Excel, Elements 2.0...all work fine. The graphics are the same as any low-budget laser printer but I purchased mine as a text workhorse not to make fake ids or diplomas. After the printer warms up it is fast. If you want to cancel a job you'll probably have to start all over (you can't easily cancel one page in print center which is what it runs thru) you have to hit the cancel button. Toner Saver Mode is nice i think but i haven't burned thru a cartridge nor do i exepct to this soon. The printer is a little noisy when started up but relaitvely quiet once on. For a hundred bucks its a great document printer and from what I can tell its reliable design. The only thing I can't seem to do yet is print on note-cards...even thru the manual feeder it. I read the CNet review and it was a rave

http://view.atdmt.com/ACN/iview/cnt...ct;wi.728;hi.90/01/2003.08.01.05.18.55?click=



Things to notice
-Other low end laser printers don't have paper trays this one does so you can store like 250 sheets which is nice
-You need to buy a USB cable
-Cool Manual Feeder so you don't have to mess with the tray for those once in a while envelopes or legal sized paper
-"trial" toner is for 1000 pages real toner is about 70 bucks which is almost the cost of the printer and should make about 3000 pages...more with toner saver on.
- no parallel port , not that it matters to mac people but someone people may want it on their PC
-Majority of mac-related complaints seem to be with the jag. driver and having to download it but its not hard and even tho its probably not as nice as the PC driver it works for me.
-You get an extra three months on your warranty if you fill out their survey
-The body is lightweight and it can slide around when doing simple task like opening the tray, a flat surface and two hands make it easy to do tho

If i think of anything else i'll add it later. I plan to take this along with my 12" powerbook to college. Right now its sitting on top of my sub.... finding a good spot for it is important too...
 

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,362
5,795
I'm going to be buying this printer tomorrow I think... based on Kwyjibo's recs (we've talked about it before just this moment)

For the price, it's hard to beat. Sounds like it works, and works pretty well.

The only long term concern will be timely Panther drivers.

arn
 

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,362
5,795
Bought it today from Best Buy

$169 + $70 Mail in Rebate, and No Tax weekend in North Carolina.

So total price (assuming I actually send the rebate in) is $99.

Setup was easy. Printer looks good. Prints plenty fast. It is a little loud when it's printing. Text looked crisp. No complaints. 250 Sheet feeder is good. My previous printer (still have it) is an Epson Inkjet w/ limited paper feed tray size.

I did have to download the Samsung driver's off the samsung website. Drivers for Mac OS X 10.2. Hopefully they'll have 10.3 drivers soon.

arn
 

G4scott

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 9, 2002
2,225
5
USA_WA
Cool. If I get it, it'll be tomorrow, at Best Buy.

If I don't get it, I'll just use an epson inkjet for my first semester, or until I find this printer on sale again, although it's hard to beat $100 for a laser printer...
 

Aydeeman

macrumors newbie
Aug 1, 2003
3
0
I've been using Samsung's ML-1430 with OS 9.2 for over six months. Being used to Epson and HP inkjets, I was stunned by the speed and quality for that price and how economical the toner works out to be. (The toner save button hardly affects print quality)

I've had the odd quirk when trying to cancel printing and hot plugging it USB, but nothing bothersome. This printer has started to think very positively about other Samsung products as a whole.
 

NavyIntel007

macrumors 65816
Nov 24, 2002
1,081
0
Tampa, FL
Originally posted by G4scott
Cool. If I get it, it'll be tomorrow, at Best Buy.

If I don't get it, I'll just use an epson inkjet for my first semester, or until I find this printer on sale again, although it's hard to beat $100 for a laser printer...

$100 is great, no doubt. But did you check how much the ink costs?

You might be robbing Peter to pay Paul.
 

scem0

macrumors 604
Jul 16, 2002
7,028
1
back in NYC!
I have the ML1210 and I only have good things to say about it.

If you aren't going to be priting pictures you will be happy. It is fast, easy, affordable, and prints very sharp text.

I've been very happy with Samsung.

scem0
 

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,362
5,795
Originally posted by NavyIntel007
$100 is great, no doubt. But did you check how much the ink costs?

You might be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

$70 for a toner which is supposed to print 3000 pages. $0.02 per page.

The Epson I was replacing had black carts which cost $28.45. Which means, it would have to print 1236 pages to come out at $0.02 per page. Which it did not. :)

I think other low-end lasers are comparable... but I didn't do extensive research on it.

arn
 

Kwyjibo

macrumors 68040
Nov 5, 2002
3,809
0
i always print in toner saver mode so I am hopig to get even more out of that. Also Samsung is your only real option for personal laser printer on the Mac ( minolta tries and HP's line is like 300+ but only supports XP). I also like how I put the toner cost in the "things to think about" but no one noticed :)
 

G4scott

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 9, 2002
2,225
5
USA_WA
My family currently has an HP1200 that is networked, and it works just fine. We're just at the end of our first toner cartridge, past the starter one they give you.

After using a laser printer, it's hard to go back to inkjet.

But at $0.02 a page, this laser printer is definitely cheaper than inkjets.
 

Funkatation

macrumors regular
Dec 29, 2001
138
0
I bought a ML-1210 (older model, pretty much the same as the newer ones though) last year, and it's been a work horse. I think the driver needs a little work as it takes a while to print (whereas from my PC it doesn't take as long) but overall its a great printer. I have it hooked up to an HP Jetdirect on my network, and its now a great network printer :)


I would recommend this series of printer to anyone who wants to spend less than 200 on a laser printer. cnet has actual reviews on the 1210, and it got editors choice.
 

andrewlandry

macrumors member
Jul 3, 2002
95
0
NYC
i've had the ml-1430 since November or so. It's a solid little printer - quick and looks fine for school work etc.

I haven't come close to running out of the toner that came with it.
 

ThomasJefferson

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2002
428
25
Virginia
I have had this printer (Samsing ML-1710) a month now and would buy it again with no reservation. Replacement ink is much cheaper than the competing HP models.

"nuff said" - Stan Lee
 

WannabeSQ

macrumors 6502
Oct 24, 2002
361
0
I am going to buy this printer from Office Depot, as it comes to under $80 after rebates and instant off coupons. I am wondering if it would have any problems being run off a print server? I want to be able to print from my mixed network of 2 PCs and a Mac and I don't wanna mess with USB printer sharing. Are there any print servers I should look for? I'd like it to be around $50.
 

speedmike

macrumors newbie
Feb 1, 2004
2
0
tex
Driver download not working!!!!

I have been trying to download the driver for the 1710 from the samsung website....but its not working. Can someone email me the drivers? Is that possible?
 

speedmike

macrumors newbie
Feb 1, 2004
2
0
tex
Drivers

I contacted Samsung via the telephone and they now have the drivers for 10.3, but its not on the website you have to contact them and then they can email it to you. Hope this helps someone.
 

jeremy.king

macrumors 603
Jul 23, 2002
5,479
1
Holly Springs, NC
I rather enjoy my Brother HL-1440 and have yet to replace the toner after almost a year of pretty solid use. When I get around to having to, seems to be in the $50-60 price range. Very fast, different quality settings and seemingly solid drivers on both my XP box and my Dual 867.

Also had some old 72pin SIMMS from older macs and threw those in the machine to upgrade the memory to 34MB, and it worked like a charm.


Just my $.02
 

pongbat

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2004
4
0
I bought the ML-1710 refurbished several months ago and it has been sitting around unused until recently when I got my iMac G5, currently running 10.3.7. I have tried both the 10.2 and 10.3 drivers from the Samsung website, and the gdi driver (Linuxprinting.org). The printer is yet to print a page besides the test page. Whenever I try to print it starts whirring, but then it gives up after a couple minutes. The print queue is empty, and I get no error message on the mac (just a couple blinking green lights on the printer).

Does ANYBODY have an ML-1710 working correctly with 10.3? If so what driver are you using? Any hints? Thanks in advance.
 

After G

macrumors 68000
Aug 27, 2003
1,583
1
California
I have a Samsung ML-1740. I was thinking about getting an ML-1710, but on the Samsung website, it mentioned that the 1710 was a discontinued model. The 1740 had the same specs, and I liked the look more. If you are considering a Samsung printer, I would recommend this one. The price was nice too ($130 after rebate at Best Buy, but I'm sure you could find it for cheaper online).

The 10.3 drivers worked without a hitch as well. Though it looks to me as if the driver for 10.3 is similar for all the printers ...
 

shane-o-mac

macrumors regular
Jan 24, 2005
130
0
I read a review on Cnet that the Samsung 1740 does not work with mac? Also I was curous about HP 1012, the reviews state it only works with OSX 10.2 and below.......what is the best printer that will work with Mac OSX and Airport Extreme Base for wi fi printing?
 

pongbat

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2004
4
0
pongbat said:
I bought the ML-1710 refurbished several months ago and it has been sitting around unused until recently when I got my iMac G5, currently running 10.3.7. I have tried both the 10.2 and 10.3 drivers from the Samsung website, and the gdi driver (Linuxprinting.org). The printer is yet to print a page besides the test page. Whenever I try to print it starts whirring, but then it gives up after a couple minutes. The print queue is empty, and I get no error message on the mac (just a couple blinking green lights on the printer).

Does ANYBODY have an ML-1710 working correctly with 10.3? If so what driver are you using? Any hints? Thanks in advance.

Sorry to bump--- I am desperate. Anyone having luck with this nightmare of a printer on 10.3.8?
 

Jigglelicious

macrumors 6502
Apr 25, 2004
421
0
NYC
pongbat said:
Sorry to bump--- I am desperate. Anyone having luck with this nightmare of a printer on 10.3.8?

Works just fine for me under Panther. Been using it for over a year now. The drivers aren't the best (the collate pages option doesn't seem to work) but printing from OSX does work.
 

proverbs

macrumors 6502
Mar 15, 2005
287
0
Sorry to bring back this old post - but I just bought the Samsung ML-1740 printer a few days ago and couldn't find out how to use the Toner Saver mode. I was also wondering if there is a specific way to turn off the printer - or can I just switch it off at anytime?
The CD that came with the printer has the manual, but you can't view it on a mac for some reason.
 

matticus008

macrumors 68040
Jan 16, 2005
3,330
1
Bay Area, CA
proverbs said:
Sorry to bring back this old post - but I just bought the Samsung ML-1740 printer a few days ago and couldn't find out how to use the Toner Saver mode. I was also wondering if there is a specific way to turn off the printer - or can I just switch it off at anytime?
The CD that came with the printer has the manual, but you can't view it on a mac for some reason.

I believe you activate toner save by holding down the "cancel" button as you turn on the printer. It should then turn the LED on and will remember it from that point onward. Download the PDF manual from Samsung's web site if that doesn't work. If you're looking for OS X drivers, be sure to download the plain DMG one (the .SIT ones would not install properly as I recall, even though the installer would report a success).

If the printer is idle, you can just switch it off from the main at the rear of the printer, but you might as well just leave it on all the time. It doesn't consume any real amount of power while idling, and it will just spin up and print whenever you need it and then reenter power save mode a few minutes after you're done.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.