Samsung ML-2851ND Network-Ready Monochrome Laser Printer

Comment: I just got it yesterday and as a college student it's just what I needed for printing all the lecture material for my classes. I love the duplex feature because it'll save me paper. It's also pretty compact for a laser printer. The only downside is it only prints in black and white, but it's price evens that out. If I needed to print in color I guess I'd just use my old inkjet printer.

Comment: This is a very good printer. It's fast and the output looks great. The built-in duplexing is terrific and has saved me a great deal of paper. There's one problem - it goes to sleep after a period of idleness and I can't wake it up without turning it off and back on again, which is inconvenient. I posted a question to Samsung about this but haven't heard back. Other than that, I recommend it.

Comment: About me: I'm a college student, this printer sits in my bed room. I may not put it through the ringer like a small office would, but I do quite a bit of printing with it
Also, I used to test printers (and other electronics) as my job. I've seen many printers in my day that I thought were poorly designed, and only a small few that I thought were well designed. This one tops that second list.

I planned on reviewing this printer once the starter cartridge ran out, but it's been three reams of paper and almost a year since I've got it and It's still going strong. In all that paper and all that time I've had only one jam--which was easy to fix and probably a result of my sloppy paper-input methods.
After owning an inkjet for years--a $100 printer that was burning a hole in my wallet via cartridges--I am so glad I went for this printer. It's worth the initial investment for sure.
The duplexer works like a charm, a feature I don't expect at all on printers of this size.
The network capabilities are exactly what I needed. Keeps my USB ports empty, everyone in the house can use it, works for the Windows and Linux machines in the house, I love it.

It's no photo printer, but I don't need it to be
It's not quiet, but I don't need it to be.

Amazingly, the bundled CD included the necessary .ppd file for me to set this up in Ubuntu (worked automagically, by "set this up" I really mean "get the duplexor to work"). This NEVER happens, I was expecting a struggle--printer software is one area that machines shackled to Windows seem to have a particularly heavy advantage. I was so pleased to find that this was a 1 minute setup regardless of the operating system in question.

Comment: After using our work horse Apple Laserwriter 360, which never gave us a bit of trouble, for over 12 years, the Samsung ML-2851ND was a HUGE disappointment. We specifically bought it because it was advertised as being able to handle card stock. This printer can't even print envelopes well. If you use the manual feeder in the standard mode, the envelopes are completely crinkled. And when you "load the paper with the side to be printed on facing up, open the rear cover and pull the guide of both sides down" to avoid the crinkles, as instructed in the manual, the print smears. Card stock isn't even an option. We've had nothing but jams. After the latest jam, the printer won't even work and the trouble shooting information in the instruction manual is useless to solve the problem. Our IT guy had nothing good to say about this printer, which should have been our first clue. I guess you get what you pay for.

Comment: Six months and one tray of paper into use of this product and I am receiving the "Open Heat Error : Cycle Power" message. Unable to beat this problem and nothing is published about this problem. I think I have already lost this printer.