Samsung introduces the smallest and lightest color laser printer in its class, the CLP-300. It features the same exclusive NO NOIS print engine that's in the professional series of... more
best quality, reliability and performance without sacrificing the useful life of your printer. Samsung is a leader in the printing industry with numerous patents ...
best quality, reliability and performance without sacrificing the useful life of your printer. Samsung is a leader in the printing industry with numerous patents ...
A review by grovej on Samsung CLP 300 December 12th, 2007
Author's product rating:
Picture quality
Good
Printing speed
Average
Colour sensitivity
Good
Ease of use
Satisfactory
Value For Money
Good
Advantages:
Good Price, Small Package
Disadvantages:
Small paper tray and no manual feed
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I have had a colour ink jet printer for years, and this has serviced me well, however I always used to get annoyed with the smudging that can occur whilst the ink is drying. Also when using a printed envelope the address would run if it was raining when the postman was delivering or on the way to the post box.
I had always wanted a colour laser printer but they had always been put off by the price of the printers and the ongoing cost of consumables. However I was in my local PC World one weekend and spotted the Samsung CLP-300 for what I considered a reasonable price £150, so I picked one up.
-----------The Specification-----------
The CLP-300 claims to be the world's smallest and lightest colour laser printer! I am not sure if this claim is correct but the printer does come in a small package measuring in at 390 x 344 x 265 mm, this is very useful if you want to put it on the end of a desk, compared to the HP Colour LaserJet 1600 which measures in at 407 x 453 x 370 mm it is smaller. The printer also weighs 13.6 kg so is pretty light for the class of printer it is.
In this day and age one of the key factors to consider when purchasing any products is the green credentials of the product. The main one is power consumption, the CLP-300 claims to use 350W when printing and 17W when in standby. Compared to the equivalent HP model the Colour LaserJet 1600 which uses 12 watts (powersave), 13 watts (standby), 190 watts (active) the CLP-300 uses slightly more when printing. Another important environmental factor is the noise the printer produces whist printing or in standby. The CLP-300 produces the following noise levels less than 48 dBA (Colour printing) less than 49 dBA (B/W printing) less than 35 dBA (Standby). When printing the noise is high mostly the paper handling but it is acceptable, on standby there is no appreciable noise from the printer.
The printer resolution is up to 2,400 x 600 dpi effective which is not bad for the class of machine, the HP printer is quoted at only 600 x 600dpi. This resolution is more than high enough for a colour laser printer, if you want to print photo quality prints then the best bet is still a colour inkjet printer. The CLP-300 can print up to 16 pages per minute of black and white on A4, for colour it will print up to 4 pages per minute, based on my printing experience I think these are reasonably accurate.
The Samsung uses four cartridges to provide the colours a dedicated black which will cover around 2,000 A4 pages at 5% coverage the Yellow/Magenta/Cyan cartridges are smaller and will cover 1,000 pages of A4 at 5% coverage. The waste toner is captured in separate container that has to be replaced when full and the image drum is also separate which leads to lower cost cartridges.
The printer has a paper tray with a capacity of 150 sheets which is not perfect it would be better for it to take a 500 sheet ream of paper, however I suspect this is a limitation due to the physical size of the device. Also the manual feed is carried out through the paper tray as well, this is a little annoying if you want to print one DL envelope as you have to take all the paper out of the tray then load in the envelope.
-----------Usability----------- The supplied Samsung driver has a number of options available you can choose the orientation of the page and the number of pages per sheet and how you want to duplex the sheets either on the long or short edge. Other features the driver offers is the ability to print multiple copies of the documents choose the paper type which I assume changes the amount of toner that is laid on to the page and the fuser temperature. A watermark can also be added to each print out, there are three you can choose from or you can create your own custom water mark.
If you use USB to connect to the printer you can get some status information from the printer. It will show you the mode the printer is in, standby or printing, it will also show you the amount of toner left in each cartridge. If a print server such as JetDirect then this information cannot be retrieved, the network version of the printer gives this information via a web site.
-----------Consumables----------- There are a number of consumables for the CLP-300, they are as follows the prices are from Saverstore.
Samsung use separate image units and waste toner collectors, this is different to HP's strategy whereby the all the function is contained in the toner cartridge. This allows Samsung to reduce the price of the actual toner cartridges, however you need to factor in the cost of the image unit and waste toner box when these need replacement.
-----------Price and Availability-----------
I purchased my Samsung CLP-300 from PC World for £142, since I purchased it there has been a small price drop and you can now pick one up for £119 if you use the online reservation service of PC World. There is also a network version of the same printer the CLP-300N this is slightly more expensive but does allow the software on your PC to be able to monitor the cartridge levels and other consumables life, this cannot be done using the USB interface over the network using a print server like a HP JetDirect.
-----------Conclusion-----------
I have been very impressed with the Samsung CLP-300 printer it produces really good quality prints for black and white, for photo printing the quality is reasonable and good enough just to show people a quick picture but not good enough to print photos for your album.
I would recommend this printer for anybody that wants low end colour laser printing capabilities. For the price it is very good value, the consumables are also very reasonable.
Advantages: Speed, cost and quality Disadvantages: Nothing I can think off at the moment
This is a great printer. Beware that there are two types: The CLP 300 and the CLP 300N. The 300N is for networking. This means you can print to this printer from more than one PC if you have more than one PC in your house or office. For home use it is a waste of money because I do not print that often to justify networking.
The quality is great and really amazing and the speed is mind blowing. If you need REAL photo quality printing, this is not ... ...- Especially if you are a photo printing connoisseur. There is only one button - The on-off button, nothing else! Easy to use for the "not so computer literate", but could be disappointing for those who likes to tinker a bit.
I also own an inkjet photo printer which is great when it comes to quality. The advantage of the laser printer above the inkjet type is that it can print close to a thousand colour documents before you have to do anything to ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Small laser printer Disadvantages: Unreliable
...months ago I saw the Samsung CLP-300 on a website and it looked brilliant. Well, everything looks brilliant if someone wants to sell it. Anyhow, for me it looked good enough. But I did not want to pay £150 for a new printer. So, I had a look in ebay. And there it was my Samsung CLP-300 for £100. Well, I bid on and got it for £112 in the end.
The CLP-300 claims to be the world's smallest and lightest colour laser printer. Well, at least at that time. ... ...is pretty small for a laser printer. It’s weight is 13.6 kg, which I found pretty heavy. But that’s simply because I am so used to inkjet printer. Looking at the box, it says the CLP-300 uses 350W when printing and 17W at standby. I cannot measure it, so I am not sure, if that’s true. But it does seem to be a lot. It’s pretty loud when printing. But it was ok for me. It does get pretty hot , though after just 3 pages printing. The speed is quite ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
After dealing with 2 of these printers, I would have to say AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
Both have been very unreliable requiring complete re-installs of driver everytime the PC restarts. (Printers go Offline, & never print again until re-installed, Even after telling them to go online NOTHING prints). This apparantly is a very common problem with this model. Numerous drivers did not solve its problems. Print quality is ok - when you get it to work.
Even though both printers are under 1 year with about 500 prints between them -both have had to be repaired.
Absolutely awful printers - Get an HP & save yourself some stress.
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful
04.02.2009
Quick review of Samsung CLP-300 Review ofSamsung CLP 300by
AnniM
The colour print is poor. The black is OK but a bit heavy. It is also very slow to initialise. The printer has broken down 3 times in the first 10 months, needing an new imaging unit and drum and Samsung customer services have been difficult to deal with. I would not recommend this printer.
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Speed of printing Disadvantages: Not beast for pcitures
This printer is great for the price, and the speed at which it prints is ace.
The quality of the prints, differs from the different settings, from draft, which is quickest setting, to best.. which although takes a few seconds longer to process (only for lots of colour) is still speedy.
Quality of output is no where near comparable to that of an ink jet, no spills. no smears, no waiting for the ink to dry on heavily coloured printouts.
One thing ... ...steam comes off the paper as it is printed. this is nothing to worry about, jus part of the process, due to the sealing technology used to get the toner onto the paper.
Another thing is a wierd smell, but this is explained in the user manual, and as stated after a few prints, this goes away. ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: Quiet, Fast, Great Colour, Great Value Disadvantages: Ink costs
...I recently purchased a SamsungCLP300N for my office, so far I've had no problems what so ever regarding the use of the printer. It was very easy to set up and the in-box instructions were easy to follow with pictures showing step by step instructions.
The speed aspect of the printer is superb and you find the computers linked to it can't keep up with the Samaung so there shouldn't be too much of a list waiting print. Reliability so far has been good and it has been in use every day for a couple of months now.
I have the Samsung linked to five computers in my network and it deals with extra work very well and it took no time at all to link up. It does take a few seconds to warm up when first used after a short break, but not long enough to be anoying.
Colour quality is great but its best to use the setup to get the best out...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
...Normally I am not the greatest Samsung fan after my little episode with its <a href="http://www.ciao.co.uk/SamsungP10XTD1600FingerprintReview5680459">P10 laptop</a>, but here is my story for this.
Being a graphic design student, I needed a printer that would print out designs on just about any sort of paper quickly and beautifully. I'm glad that CLP-300 didn't disappoint me...not yet anyway.
Being the world's smallest colour laser printer, and winning the reddot design award in 2006, I really had hoped for something not to disappoint.
Initially, it was definitely the price that caught my attention to this printer; as cheap as around £130 or so and you can already get CLP-300, this machine looks very simple and built from ground to make this printer so low-cost. Not to mention other attractions such as OSX-compatibility (woohoo...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Media Type: Envelopes, transparencies, labels, cards
Min Media Size (Custom): 76 mm x 127 mm
Max Media Size (Custom): 216 mm x 356 mm
Media Sizes: ANSI A (Letter) (216 x 279 mm), Legal (216 x 356 mm), A4 (210 x 297 mm)
Total Media Capacity: 150 sheets
Media Feeder(s): 1 x autoload - 150 sheets
Output Trays Capacity: 100 sheets
Manufacturer's product description
Samsung introduces the smallest and lightest color laser printer in its class, the CLP-300. It features the same exclusive NO NOIS print engine that's in the professional series of color laser printers, for quiet operation and simple toner changes.
Duty cycle
Monthly Duty Cycle: 24200 pages
Expansion / connectivity
Connections: 1 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 PIN USB Type B
Miscellaneous
Consumables Included:
1 x toner cartridge ( black ) - up to 2000 pages - Samsung CLP-K300A
1 x toner cartridge ( cyan ) - up to 1000 pages - Samsung CLP-C300A
1 x toner cartridge ( magenta ) - up to 1000 pages - Samsung CLP-M300A
1 x toner cartridge ( yellow ) - up to 1000 pages - Samsung CLP-Y300A
1 x imaging unit - up to 20000 pages - Samsung CLP-R300A
1 x waste toner collector - up to 5000 pages - Samsung CLP-W300A
Certified for Windows Vista: Certified for Windows Vista software and devices have undergone compatibility tests for ease-of-use, better performance and enhanced security.
Power
Power Device: Power supply - internal
Software / system requirements
OS Required: SuSE Linux 8.2, Red Hat Linux 9, Red Hat Linux 8.0, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Apple MacOS X 10.3, Mandrake Linux 9.2, Red Hat Fedora Core 1, Mandrake Linux 10.1 Discovery, Apple MacOS X 10.4, SuSE Linux 9.2, Red Hat Fedora Core 3
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
11.05.2007
16.07.2007
