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The Samsung Multifunction Xpress M2885FW ($428.99), offers better output quality overall than most monochrome laser multifunction printers (MFPs). This model, suitable for heavy-duty personal use or up to medium-duty use as a shared printer in a micro office, also delivers more-than-acceptable speed and most, if not all, of the MFP features you probably want. It costs a little more than comparable MFPs, but if you need the M2885FW’s level of output quality, that can be enough to justify the expense.
The printer’s size, weight, and paper handling put it in the same class as both the Dell Multifunction Printer – E515dw ($124.99 at Dell Technologies)(Opens in a new window) and the Canon imageClass MF227dw ($1,249.99 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , our Editors’ Choice monochrome laser MFP for heavy-duty personal use or up to medium-duty use in a micro office.
All three printers are small enough to easily find room for, even in a small office, and light enough for one person to move into place easily. The M2885FW measures 14.4 by 15.8 by 14.3 inches (HWD) and weighs just 24 pounds 14 ounces. Along with their small sizes and low weights, all three also offer identical paper handling for printing, with a 250-sheet main tray plus a one-sheet manual feed, and a built-in duplexer for two-sided printing.
For scanning, they all have both letter-size flatbeds and automatic document feeders (ADFs) that can handle up to legal-size paper. The M2885FW’s ADF offers a slightly higher capacity, at 40 sheets rather than the 35-sheet capacity for the Dell and Canon models, but that isn’t enough to make any real difference in your day-to-day use.
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The Basics
Core MFP features for the M2885FW include the ability to print and fax from, as well as scan to, a PC, plus standalone copying and faxing. In addition, it supports mobile printing, although it doesn’t offer mobile scanning.
Connection choices include USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct. Connect the printer to your network by either Ethernet or Wi-Fi, and you can print from iOS, Android, and Windows phones and tablets, as well as print through the cloud. If you connect to a single PC via USB cable, you won’t be able to print through the cloud, but you’ll still be able to print from your mobile device by taking advantage of Wi-Fi Direct to connect directly from your device to the printer.
Also worth mention is the printer’s NFC support, which makes it particularly easy to connect to the M2885FW from an NFC-enabled device. To establish the connection, you only have to touch your phone or tablet to the NFC logo on the top-front of the printer.
Setup and Speed
Setting up the M2885FW is standard for a monochrome laser MFP. For my tests, I connected it to a network using its Ethernet port and installed the drivers and other software on a system running Windows Vista.
The printer’s rating is 29 pages per minute (ppm), which is the speed you should see when printing text documents or other files that don’t need much processing. I timed it on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic’s(Opens in a new window) hardware and software for timing) at 9.9ppm. That makes it faster than the Dell E515dw, at 9.1ppm. However, it’s essentially tied with the Canon MF227dw printing in its default duplex mode, at 9.7ppm, and notably slower than the Canon printer’s 13ppm for simplex (one-sided) printing.
Output Quality and Running Cost
The M2885FW’s output quality is one of its strongest points. Text, graphics, and photos are all within the range that includes the vast majority of monochrome laser MFPs, but at the high end of the range in each case.
See How We Test Printers
For text, that translates to being suitable for virtually any business document, even if you have an unusual need for small fonts. However, it’s a step below what I’d want for serious desktop publishing applications. For graphics, the output is good enough for any business use up to and including PowerPoint handouts and the like, unless you insist on color. Photos are similarly good enough to use for virtually any business application where a black-and-white photo will do.
Conclusion
If you’re considering the Samsung Multifunction Xpress M2885FW, but don’t need its level of output quality, be sure to take a look at the Dell E515dw, as well as the Canon MF227dw, which costs a little more than the Dell model but delivers faster speed. If you absolutely must have better output quality than either the Dell or Canon printer offers, the M2885FW is the obvious alternative, and its high-quality output makes it a tempting choice in any case.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/samsung-multifunction-xpress-m2885fw
