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Samsung SCX-4720F Multifunction Printer Review

As the number of individuals working from home offices increases, so does the need for reliable yet affordable office equipment such as a laser printers, copiers, faxes, and scanners. Purchasing all of these items individually can spell financial trouble for a small business and the amount of space that they will each take up can make any office feel crowded. Fortunately, Samsung has solved all of these needs with the SCX-4720F 4-1 Flatbed Laser Multifunction Printer that combines all of these functions and more into one excellent package.

Company:

Samsung, www.samsung.com

Price:

$470.00 US at NewEgg.com

Ratings

Price:
Install/Setup:
Usability:
Cost to Operate:
Average Rating:

Getting Started

Having shipped half way across the country without a scratch in the same retail packaging that you would receive the SCX-4720F in from a store shows the tremendous care that Samsung has when packaging this multifunction unit and should rest any fears if ordering one from an online merchant. Having no required assembly other than installing a toner cartridge, setting up the SCX-4720F took a matter of minutes. Supporting both USB and parallel connection, of which neither cables are included, allows this system to be connect to a wide range of systems. Although this multifunction is also network compatible, choosing to do so will require a proprietary network card from Samsung that will set you back $179.99.

On the included CD are drivers for all Windows 95, 98, Me, XP, NT 4.0 and various Linux O/S such as Red Hat, Mandrake, Suse. With the included Driver CD in hand, installing the multifunction in Windows XP was over with a few clicks of the mouse. After a quick reboot, we finalized the installation process with installing SmarThru 4, Samsung's scanning software.

Usability

Having only a footprint of 18” x 17” x 16” (W/D/H) and weighing in at only 29 lbs., the SCX-4720F is a perfect choice for any small office. The well-placed, angled control panel features a two-line LCD screen that allows for one touch faxing and printing, while the front access USB port allows the SCX-4720F to function independently from a PC.

Standard with 32MB of memory, the SCX-4720F can be upgraded to a total of 160MB using a 128MB 125MHz SDRAM DIMM. Included with the unit is a 3000 page toner cartridge that retails for $79.99, equaling $.027 cents per page. Also available is a high yield 5,000 page toner cartridge for $105.99, which computes to $.021 per page. A monthly duty cycle of 15,000 pages shows the quality of this multifunction when matched up to a comparable HP Multifunction.

Paper handling for the SCX-4720F is primarily handled by a 250-sheet paper tray located at the bottom of the unit and can be expanded up to 500-sheets with an optional 250-sheet tray from Samsung, both of which accept letter or legal sized paper. Located in the front of the SCX-4720F is the multipurpose tray that can be used for envelopes, transparencies, labels, and other media. The Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) is located on top of the multifunction and can hold 50 sheets, legal or letter size, for copying and scanning purposes.

Printing on the SCX-4720F is relatively quick as the first page is out with in 10 seconds and continues to print at 22 pages per minute. With a maximum resolution of 1200x1200, printed images do not have the grainy look that can be associated with other multifunction units, but are sharp and clear. Along with print features such as page thumbnails, overlays, and watermarks, the SCX-4720F has the ability, called Direct Printing from USB, which allows you to directly print from a USB flash drive. Although limited to .txt, .prn, .bmp, and tiff. file types, this feature saves time for those who need to print a file quickly without turning on a computer.

Although the 600 x 600 dpi resolution of the copier is not geared towards copying high-resolution images, it does produce copies that are as crisp as the original when a photograph was used. With that in mind and the zoom ability of 25% - 400%, making large duplicates of checks and other small documents can be easily accomplished with the SCX-4720F.

Along with the ability to store 200 telephone numbers on speed dial and up to 40 telephone numbers with one-touch dialing, the SCX-4720F offers a secure mode that will store sensitive documents for later retrieval. For those who are always on the go, the SCX-4720F has the capacity of Fax Forwarding, where it will forward received faxes to a pre-determined fax number. Faxes transmitted from the SCX-4720F stay true to the original when they are ultimately received by another fax machine and will not cause any confusion by unreadable text.

With an optical resolution of 600 x 1200 and enhanced resolution of 4800 x 4800, whether it is photos or documents, the SCX-4720F is an excellent choice for any scanning needs. Similar to its Direct Printing from USB function, Direct Scan-to-USB allows you to scan any document straight to any USB Flash device, saving yourself the time from using a computer. Bundled with SmarThru, Samsung's scanning software is OCR (optical character recognition) software which allows you to scan a document, such as a magazine article, and edit it with a word processor.

Specifications

Pros:

• Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) can hold up to 50 pages for scanning/coping purposes.
• Direct Scan-to-USB
• Low Printing Cost ($.021 - $.027 per page)

Cons:

• Limited file support for Direct Print-from-USB
• Network functionality not included (Requires proprietary card

Adding It All Up

Having reliable office equipment is essential to any business in today's world, yet should not cost a fortune to purchase. When a few dollars can determine whether a small business's doors stay open, Samsung has created not only an affordable product, but one that does not come with a hefty price tag to operate over time. Whether you are looking at office equipment for a new business or in the market for replacing existing equipment, Samsung's SCX-4720F is an excellent choice to fulfill your needs.

With all the extra features that Samsung has bundled with an already superb product, we are awarding the Samsung SCX-4720F Multifunction Printer the UpgradeAdvisor.com Recommended Upgrade Award.

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