Samsung SCX-4100

The good: Good-quality printing; standalone copying; decent scanning; cheap ink; efficient and timely tech support; Windows and Linux compatible.

The bad: Runs hot and noisy; poor scanning documentation; lacks automatic document feeder; no fax; not for Macs.

The bottom line: The Samsung SCX-4100 is an economic choice for small-job printing, copying, and scanning, but Mac users or those who need to fax must look elsewhere.

he Samsung SCX-4100 Digital Productivity Center black-and-white laser printer, copier, and scanner resembles its predecessor, the Samsung SCX-4016, but it costs $100 less. Is it a better deal? Vendor rated to print up to 15 pages per minute (ppm), it's 2ppm slower than the SCX-4016, which also handles larger jobs. The SCX-4100 is compatible with Linux but not with Macs. It offers good-quality printing, scanning, and standalone copying. True, the older printer is better, but not by an extra $100. That makes the SCX-4100 the bargain choice.

Design of Samsung SCX-4100

At 16.6 by 15.8 by 9.4 inches and 19.5 pounds, the Samsung SCX-4100 is slighter and lighter than its predecessor, the SCX-4016; however, this machine won't wedge into a tight corner. Since it runs hot and has a paper-output option in the back and a flatbed-scanner lid on top, it needs 360-degree clearance and top access. The power button also hides near the back of the machine. Luckily, the case's rounded edges and unobtrusive control panel make it a visually pleasing addition to a home, a dorm room, or a small office.

Setting up the SCX-4100 is quick and painless with the enclosed quick-install guide and CD-ROM, although installing Samsung's SmarThru scanning software forces you to awkwardly remove and reinsert the CD. The multifunction is compatible with Windows 95 and up via USB or parallel ports in the back of the machine (cables not included). While the older SCX-4016 is Mac compatible, the SCX-4100 favors Linux operating systems at and above Red Hat 7.1, Mandrake 8.0, SuSE 7.1, Caldera OpenLinux 3.1, Turbo Linux 7.0, and Slackware 8.1. Linux connectivity is available only via USB. Sorry, Macsters--no SCX-4100 for you.

A basic, text-oriented machine, the SCX-4100 offers no digital-media reader slots. It features a combined drum and toner cartridge. The printer might wake a baby as it whirs up to speed and pulls paper through to output.

Features of Samsung SCX-4100

The Samsung SCX-4100 is designed for small jobs, with a main paper tray in front holding 250 sheets up to legal size. But the front output tray holds only 50 pages--half the capacity of the SCX-4016. The manual feeder, above the front paper tray, takes one sheet at a time, with the rear output slot holding a single sheet as well. Like the earlier model, the SCX-4100 lacks an automatic document feeder, which makes for slow large copying and scanning jobs. The multifunction is fixed at 8MB of memory without upgrade capacity. Ink costs are reasonable, however, with replacement toner cartridges priced at $79.99 for 3,000 pages, or just 2.7 cents per page.

The SCX-4100's two-line LCD, which would be easier to read with backlighting, displays menu choices and error messages. Below the LCD, seven easy-to-use control-panel buttons include a menu button flanked by scroll buttons to control features such as shrinking or enlarging copies and making paper settings. Two small buttons adjust printout darkness and number of copies; big, color-coded buttons control the stop/clear and start/enter functions.

The multifunction's 600dpi printing includes useful features. Flip down the rear output tray to create a straight, jam-free paper path for temperamental manually fed paper types such as transparencies and envelopes. You can also share within a network, create and customize watermarks, overlay text and images on a document to create letterhead, print posters, and do n-up printing to shrink-fit several pages on one sheet. The SCX-4100, however, excludes Linux users from watermarks, overlays, and poster printing.

The Samsung SCX-4100 excels at copying as a standalone device or via your PC. You can make up to 99 custom-size copies, adjust quality for photos or text, and force an oddly sized original to fit the paper in the tray with the Auto Fit feature. You can also copy two documents onto both sides of one sheet--handy for copying ID cards for human-resource files, for example.

Scanning, unfortunately, is less than intuitive, and the user guide and the scanning software provide only vague guidance. The multifunction scans black-and-white or color text and images at up to 4,800dpi, although it drags at the highest resolution. The scanning lid lifts up 90 degrees to a right angle, and cantilevers up an inch to allow you to lay flat a thin paperback book. But you can't fit the lid over a thick object to improve the scan quality, nor can you flop half of a book over the back of the machine. The SCX-4100 comes with Image Editor and ReadIris Pro 7.0 optical character-recognition software, which lets you edit scanned text documents. You can also use your own TWAIN-compliantBrother MFC-8440 laser. software, such as Adobe Photoshop, to manipulate images. If you need to fax, you should consider a different multifunction, such as the HP OfficeJet 4215 All-in-One inkjet or the pricier

Performance of Samsung SCX-4100

The Samsung SCX-4100 performed well in CNET Labs' tests. It averaged 11ppm for both text and graphics, similar to most multifunction laser printers we've tested, although most print text faster than graphics. The SCX-4100's scanning speeds, however, were less consistent, at 3ppm for color and 4ppm for grayscale. The SCX-4100 also copied pages at a decent 6ppm.

The Samsung SCX-4100's output quality was very good overall, with sharp text; however, the graphics were light with an inconsistent gradient--a minor flaw. Great details and color matching graced the scans, which were smooth, consistent, and near perfect.

The Samsung SCX-4100 performed solidly for a small- or home-office multifunction. We tested the printer at its default settings, which can be adjusted to improve the print speed and the output quality.

Laser multifunction performance (pages/min) (Longer bars indicate better performance)

Copy speed

Grayscale speed

Color scan speed

Black graphics speed

Black text speed

Dell 1600n

6.26

6.23

3.14

15.69

14.70

Brother MFC-8440

5.88

4.43

3.43

15.25

15.65

Samsung SCX-4100 Laser MFP

5.85

3.57

1.66

11.37

11.16

Print and scan quality performance (Longer bars indicate better performance)

Grayscale quality

Color scan quality

Graphics quality

Text quality

Samsung SCX-4100 Laser MFP

Good

Good

Good

Excellent

Dell 1600n

Good

Excellent

Good

Good

Brother MFC-8440

Fair

Poor

Fair

Good

Click here to learn more about how CNET Labs tests printers.

Performance analysis written by CNET Labs project leader Dong Van Ngo.

Service and support of Samsung SCX-4100

The Samsung SCX-4100 user guide is available as a PDF file on an included CD-ROM. It does a good job covering the basics and troubleshooting, including a section for Linux users; however, it's light on scanning information.

The SCX-4100 comes with a standard one-year warranty. Support is available online via e-mail and chat, and Samsung promises an e-mail response to your questions within 48 hours, although we received a response to our query in less than a day. Quick and helpful toll-free telephone tech support is available 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday. Weekend support would be useful, however, particularly for home users.