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Colour laser printers are big, heavy, expensive pieces of kit that really need to be shared by a workgroup to make them viable… aren’t they? Apparently not. Samsung’s CLP-315 is a small, light, inexpensive colour laser printer, almost ideally suited for single use by a sole trader or the manager in a larger organisation.

The CLP-315 is smaller than many mono lasers we’ve tested over the years and really isn’t much bigger than a typical personal printer you’d use in the home or in a small office. Decked out in frosted and high-gloss black, the only thing that increases its very modest footprint is the paper tray, projecting from the front by around 80mm. With a translucent tray cover, it does mean you can see when you're low on paper, but, there’s no multi-purpose tray, so printing letterheads and envelopes is fiddly.

The top surface of the machine has an unusual high-gloss black panel over the paper exit slot, but this isn’t cosmetic, as it forms part of the feed mechanism. The control panel, such as it is, consists of six LEDs and a single button, which can be used to cancel a print job or to complete a manual duplex one.

At the back is a single USB socket, though there is a second version of the printer, the CLP-315W, which comes with Ethernet and Wi-Fi, too. The only other option is a second, 150-sheet paper tray, which fits under either printer.

One of the reasons for the small size of the machine is the neatly designed vertical array of print cartridges. Fold down the front cover and you can see all four of them lined up with toggle handles ready pull them out by. Replacing cartridges could hardly be simpler.

You'll also need to replace the imaging unit and a waste toner bottle, periodically. The imaging unit slides out after you’re removed all the cartridges and the waste bottle slides in down the side of them.

Software support comprises SmartPanel, which shows current toner levels, Dr. Printer, which offers diagnostics, and the print driver itself. The driver offers a good range of options including watermarks, overlays and multiple pages per sheet. There are instructions for manual duplexing, too, though no automatic duplexer is available for this machine.

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