Samsung Xpress M2835DW – Print Speeds

Samsung rates the Xpress M2835DW at 28ppm, but we couldn’t get more than 20.3ppm out of it, under our 20-page text test. Even that is a fair speed for a small laser printer, though. The slower than rated speed is mainly down to manufacturers like Samsung not including preparation time in their print speed figures. Here it can be up to 20s before the first pages starts to print.

On the smaller, 5-page tests, the speed dropped to 10.3ppm in normal mode, just a bit over a third of the specified speed, and 11.1ppm in toner save mode. A bit disappointing, as the majority of small office print jobs are still under five pages.

Interestingly, the five page text and graphics test produced 12.0ppm, the fastest of the short-run tests, which again points to rasterising time slowing the overall speed – this test rasterises a single page and prints it five times.

The 20-page text test printed duplex produced 10.8 sides per minute, so you lose very little performance on short jobs by printing double sided. A 15 x 10cm photo from a PC took 22s in high quality mode, while one from a Samsung Galaxy S3 took 12s in normal mode, both good results.

Samsung Xpress M2835DW – Print Quality and Costs

Print quality is very good, crisp and dark and toner save mode, though lighter, is still very readable and more than adequate for everyday prints. Greyscale graphics are fair, though there’s some micro-banding and some shades blend together. Apart from the same slight banding, photos print well for a mono laser, with good levels of detail.

Using the higher capacity toner cartridge, the page cost comes out at 2.7p, which is lower than most competitors, though some, like the no search results available Xerox Phaser 3320 manage to undercut it.

Should I buy a Samsung Xpress M2835DW?

Going by the spec alone, this printer appears to be a cut above the competition on speed and running costs, but under test, the speed isn’t all it’s made out to be. While it’s a quick machine, it could be quicker getting the first page out, which is particularly important when printing shorter jobs.

Again, comparing with the Xerox Phaser 3320, which admittedly costs around £30 more, we measured it’s top speed at 25ppm, 25 percent faster than from the Xpress M2835DW.

Verdict

The Samsung Xpress M2835DW is a good mono laser printer, which prints energetically, though not quite as fast as the numbers suggest and produces high quality text and graphics, including photos. NFC connection for wireless printing makes it very versatile and running costs are very competitive.