Samsung ML2150 - any views?

[Jon Skeet]

My Brother HL-1250 has its drum light on now, so it's time to start
looking for a new printer. (When the drum costs 100 pounds and there
are equivalent printers at the same price, I'm not seriously
considering replacing the drum. If anyone in the UK wants the printer
and is willing to collect it from Reading, they're welcome.)

I do a fair amount of duplex printing - enough to make the 1250
somewhat annoying, as it's much worse at feeding paper which has
already been printed on than clean paper. I'm therefore considering the
Samsung ML2150, which is available for 199.99 UKP.

I'm only a home user, but I do a fair amount of printing, so per-sheet
cost is reasonably important to me, but equally I'm not doing thousands
of sheets a month or anything.

I'm using a Netgear wireless access pointer / router / print server to
connect the HL-1250 - I don't anticipate any problems on that front,
but any caveats would be welcome.

What's slightly more concerning is the lack of advertised Mac OS X
support on the Samsung website - while my laptop is a PC, my wife's is
an iBook. Other pages suggest that it should be fine, but any concrete
experience would be greatly appreciated. (I know the chances of finding
someone else using the same kind of print server and Mac OS X to talk
to the same printer are somewhat slim, but just knowing that it works
directly from Mac OS X would be better than nothing.)

So, am I out of my mind? Is the ML2150 a printer which should be
avoided at all costs? I understand the memory for it is incredibly
expensive, but I wouldn't expect to need the extra memory anyway. I
don't mind if it takes a long time to stream the occasional complicated
page from the computer to the printer. I haven't found many reviews of
the ML2150 around, but most of the ones I *have* found have been
positive.

Are there any other similarly-priced duplex printers I should consider?

All responses very much appreciated.

 

[Winey]

My Brother HL-1250 has its drum light on now, so it's time to start
looking for a new printer. (When the drum costs 100 pounds and there
are equivalent printers at the same price, I'm not seriously
considering replacing the drum. If anyone in the UK wants the printer
and is willing to collect it from Reading, they're welcome.)

I do a fair amount of duplex printing - enough to make the 1250
somewhat annoying, as it's much worse at feeding paper which has
already been printed on than clean paper. I'm therefore considering the
Samsung ML2150, which is available for 199.99 UKP.

I'm only a home user, but I do a fair amount of printing, so per-sheet
cost is reasonably important to me, but equally I'm not doing thousands
of sheets a month or anything.

I'm using a Netgear wireless access pointer / router / print server to
connect the HL-1250 - I don't anticipate any problems on that front,
but any caveats would be welcome.

What's slightly more concerning is the lack of advertised Mac OS X
support on the Samsung website - while my laptop is a PC, my wife's is
an iBook. Other pages suggest that it should be fine, but any concrete
experience would be greatly appreciated. (I know the chances of finding
someone else using the same kind of print server and Mac OS X to talk
to the same printer are somewhat slim, but just knowing that it works
directly from Mac OS X would be better than nothing.)

So, am I out of my mind? Is the ML2150 a printer which should be
avoided at all costs? I understand the memory for it is incredibly
expensive, but I wouldn't expect to need the extra memory anyway. I
don't mind if it takes a long time to stream the occasional complicated
page from the computer to the printer. I haven't found many reviews of
the ML2150 around, but most of the ones I *have* found have been
positive.

You and I probably read the same reviews that I did before I decided
too buy a 2152W (network attach plus wireless connection version) and
I have not been disappointed at all. Speedy, duplexing works
perfectly. I too am grappling with the issue of upgrade memory,
because in general more memory = better performance. Even if
documents are not complex, I believe that with more memory, I could
have a larger document queue. <- can anyone confirm/disput this idea?

Overall, I'm very satisfied.

Sooner or later, someone is going to bite bullet and order memory from
Kahlon (?) and see if it works. to speed things up, consider this?

Since there are enough of us in this group who have 2150s, I suggest
that we take up a collection. Everyone send me five bucks (or five
quid, if you will) and I will go out and buy several different brands
of third-party memory. And report back to the group. [only joking]

 

[Jon Skeet]

You and I probably read the same reviews that I did before I decided
too buy a 2152W (network attach plus wireless connection version) and
I have not been disappointed at all. Speedy, duplexing works
perfectly. I too am grappling with the issue of upgrade memory,
because in general more memory = better performance. Even if
documents are not complex, I believe that with more memory, I could
have a larger document queue. <- can anyone confirm/disput this idea?

Yes, I would imagine you could queue more on the printer. Is there much
of an issue with queuing it on the computer instead? (Of course, I've
got the router doing some queuing for me too, although I've no idea how
much.)

Overall, I'm very satisfied.

Great. I'm not bothered with the wireless stuff as I've effectively got
that already with the print server. The 2152W is *much* more expensive
here (or rather, this deal for the 2150 is surprisingly cheap) too.

Time to nip down to the shops...

Sooner or later, someone is going to bite bullet and order memory from
Kahlon (?) and see if it works. to speed things up, consider this?

Since there are enough of us in this group who have 2150s, I suggest
that we take up a collection. Everyone send me five bucks (or five
quid, if you will) and I will go out and buy several different brands
of third-party memory. And report back to the group. [only joking]

LOL I'll still keep an eye to see how you go if you *do* decide to
upgrade...

 

[at]

You and I probably read the same reviews that I did before I decided
too buy a 2152W (network attach plus wireless connection version) and
I have not been disappointed at all. Speedy, duplexing works
perfectly. I too am grappling with the issue of upgrade memory,
because in general more memory = better performance. Even if
documents are not complex, I believe that with more memory, I could
have a larger document queue. <- can anyone confirm/disput this idea?

Overall, I'm very satisfied.

I've got the 2151N, and I'm very satisfied as well. Duplexing works
very well, nice output, consumables are reasonable.

Sooner or later, someone is going to bite bullet and order memory from
Kahlon (?) and see if it works. to speed things up, consider this?

Since there are enough of us in this group who have 2150s, I suggest
that we take up a collection. Everyone send me five bucks (or five
quid, if you will) and I will go out and buy several different brands
of third-party memory. And report back to the group. [only joking]

Well, I've got the SimpleTech upgrade on order from Amazon, I expect
it should arrive by early next week. Once it's in, I'll report my
findings (particularly the once-reported incompatibility with 1200 dpi
Postscript printing).

Scott

 

[Winey]

You and I probably read the same reviews that I did before I decided
too buy a 2152W (network attach plus wireless connection version) and
I have not been disappointed at all. Speedy, duplexing works
perfectly. I too am grappling with the issue of upgrade memory,
because in general more memory = better performance. Even if
documents are not complex, I believe that with more memory, I could
have a larger document queue. <- can anyone confirm/disput this idea?

Overall, I'm very satisfied.

I've got the 2151N, and I'm very satisfied as well. Duplexing works
very well, nice output, consumables are reasonable.

Sooner or later, someone is going to bite bullet and order memory from
Kahlon (?) and see if it works. to speed things up, consider this?

Since there are enough of us in this group who have 2150s, I suggest
that we take up a collection. Everyone send me five bucks (or five
quid, if you will) and I will go out and buy several different brands
of third-party memory. And report back to the group. [only joking]

Well, I've got the SimpleTech upgrade on order from Amazon, I expect
it should arrive by early next week. Once it's in, I'll report my
findings (particularly the once-reported incompatibility with 1200 dpi
Postscript printing).

Scott

Scott,

Please do. There are actually two issues, according to various
posters:

1. Printer reports 272 MB of memory with the upgrade in place, instead
of 144 MB
2. 1200 dpi/Postscript problem - poorly formed fonts

Good luck. Also, what price are you paying? S&H?

 

[at]

Scott,

Please do. There are actually two issues, according to various
posters:

1. Printer reports 272 MB of memory with the upgrade in place, instead
of 144 MB

This one I'm not overly concerned about, I expect I'll see it but I'm
not very worried.

2. 1200 dpi/Postscript problem - poorly formed fonts

This is the one that mildly concerns me, since this is how I often
print.

Good luck. Also, what price are you paying? S&H?

I think it was $62 for the DIMM itself, plus a few dollars for ground
shipping. Under $70 all told, though, as I recall.

Scott

 

[Gerald Sullivan]

I have the SimpleTach upgrade, and reported the problem with 1200dpi.
The problem is that the printer fails to print the PS3 font list test
page at 1200dpi with a postscript error (memory full I think). It prints
fine at 600dpi. It works without the SimpleTech memory at sll
resolutions.

I am not convinced that the SimpleTech memory helps in any way. I cannot
tell any difference with it installed other that the misreported memory
size, and test page failure.

 

[Winey]

I have the SimpleTach upgrade, and reported the problem with 1200dpi.
The problem is that the printer fails to print the PS3 font list test
page at 1200dpi with a postscript error (memory full I think). It prints
fine at 600dpi. It works without the SimpleTech memory at sll
resolutions.

Aside from the test page, if you tried to print "normal work" at
Postscript/1200 dpi, do you see good output or the same problems that
you encountered with the font list test page?

"memory full" error at the same time the printer "thinks" it has 256
MB added, while in fact it has only 128 MB added. Perhaps the printer
controller is trying to use "all" the memory it has, and runs into a
problem when it can't access the "last 128 MB" of "installed memory.

I am not convinced that the SimpleTech memory helps in any way. I cannot
tell any difference with it installed other that the misreported memory
size, and test page failure.

How about printing some very graphics-intense documents at 1200 dpi.
If you can figure out how many of these documents can fit into 16 MB,
let's call that X. Now try to print say X+2. You might expect to
find the last two documents still spooled on your PC.

Then add in the additional memory. Repeat the test. Try again with
2X,, then 4X. And so forth. At some point, you would fill up 16 MB +
128 MB. Only the printer thinks it has 16 MB + 256 MB. I think that
when you try to go beyond 16 MB +128 MB, that should be interesting to
observe.

If you do get a chance to try out these tests, can you report back to
the group.

--W--

 

[Winey]

Scott,

Have you received the memory upgrade yet for your printer? Have you
installed it?

How about the problems that other users have reported? (below)

--W--

 

[at]

Scott,

Have you received the memory upgrade yet for your printer? Have you
installed it?

Yes, and yes.

How about the problems that other users have reported? (below)

It does report more memory (272 MB) than it has from the menu. I
haven't tried to print a test page at 1200 dpi under Postscript, but it
DOES print real pages at 1200 dpi Postscript just fine. Could be I got
lucky with the fonts I was printing, the problem is in the test itself, or
something else. I'm tweaking some print settings on my Linux machine at
the moment, though, since I'm not seeing the speed-up in printing that I
think I should be seeing (it acts like the computer is sending pages over
only two at a time, rather than dumping the 55 meg PS file over at once).

Scott

 

[at]

Yes, and yes.


It does report more memory (272 MB) than it has from the menu. I
haven't tried to print a test page at 1200 dpi under Postscript, but it
DOES print real pages at 1200 dpi Postscript just fine. Could be I got
lucky with the fonts I was printing, the problem is in the test itself, or
something else. I'm tweaking some print settings on my Linux machine at
the moment, though, since I'm not seeing the speed-up in printing that I
think I should be seeing (it acts like the computer is sending pages over
only two at a time, rather than dumping the 55 meg PS file over at once).

Tweaking some print spool settings cleaned that up, now only the
first page of 1200 dpi Postscript print is slow (while it wakes up and
warms up). Printing various Linux printer test pages worked fine as
well. So far the upgrade is a success.

Scott

 

[Gerald Sullivan]

Tweaking some print spool settings cleaned that up, now only the
first page of 1200 dpi Postscript print is slow (while it wakes up and
warms up). Printing various Linux printer test pages worked fine as
well. So far the upgrade is a success.

Scott

As I stated before, the problem is not with 1200DPI printing in general,
it is that the "print PS3 font list" on the print test page/print PS3
font list web page which will not print with the Simpltech memory. When
I attempt to print this test page, the printer prints an "out of
memory" error. Other that that the printer appears to work, however, I
cannot discern any difference in print speed with and without the
expanded memory.

In summary, the only effect I can descern after installing the
Simpletech memory is that the test page does not print at 1200dpi, and
the printer does not seem any faster.