The Best of Both Phone, and TabletSamsung ML-2525W
Manufacturer: Samsung Part number: ML-2525W/XAA
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Samsung ML-2525W monochrome laser printer doesn't pack in extra features, but delivers worthwhile improvements over previous generations in output speed and quality. We highly recommend this wireless workhorse if you refuse to sacrifice quality for affordability.
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Where to buy
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 |  | In stock Free Shipping Over $45! | Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price | as of 05/23/2012 |
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CNET editors' review
Samsung ML-2525W price range: $189.00 - $215.80
- Reviewed by: Justin Yu
- Reviewed on: 04/16/2010
The good: Cheap; prints high-quality text and graphics-heavy documents; USB, wireless and Ethernet connectivity; small footprint.
The bad: Lacks autoduplexing; ships with starter toner cartridge.
The bottom line: The Samsung ML-2525W monochrome laser printer doesn't pack in extra features, but delivers worthwhile improvements over previous generations in output speed and quality. We highly recommend this wireless workhorse if you refuse to sacrifice quality for affordability.
The Samsung ML-2525W is simple by nature: it only prints black, but offers the advantages of manual double-sided printing, a single-sheet tray, and wireless networking. For all that, its biggest boon for home offices, students, and small businesses (especially in this post-recession economy) is its $150 price tag, making it one of the cheapest laser printers we've tested to date. We have no issue recommending the ML-2525W based on its capability to churn out near-flawless prints in record time for a great price.
Design and Features
Laser printers have earned themselves a scarred reputation for their yawn-inducing designs, and although the ML-2525W doesn't stray far from the herd, Samsung designed a few bits of flair to set it apart. The physical features haven't changed much since the Samsung ML-2851ND, with the exception of a flat black finish and a textured check pattern covering the paper tray on top. Somewhere along the way, Samsung also managed to cut the fat to 16.9 pounds, a full 9 pounds lighter than the ML-2851ND. It's also slightly smaller, measuring only 7.8 inches tall, 14.2 inches wide, and 15.3 inches deep.
The top of the unit has one big power button and two LCDs that indicate print activity and network status. There's also a button for demo print and another to cancel a print job. The input tray feeds into the bottom and can hold the standard 250 sheets of paper, but Samsung also gives you the option of purchasing a 250-sheet drawer accessory. Finally, a manual tray located just below the toner-access handle lets you feed single sheets of media into the printer.
Samsung offers a variety of ways to connect the ML-2525W to a computer. The back of the devices has a standard USB 2.0 port for wired access, but you also get an Ethernet port for wired networking and an 802.11b/g print server for wireless connectivity. All three methods require you to connect the printer to the USB 2.0 cord first before sniffing out networks, and we were able to establish a connection to our lab's wireless network in less than five minutes using the step-by-step instructions on the driver.
Once you get started, you can access paper size, function, toggling auto-duplexing (printing on both sides of a sheet of paper), and other general settings through the display screen, or you can alter the more intricate options through the driver menu, such as print resolution (up to 1200 dpi), security, network information, toner darkness, and more. The software automatically installs a small status monitor into the Windows taskbar, but it doesn't display job progress or notify the user when consumables are running low.
One of the most common complaints about laser printers is the price of consumables. Samsung offers an affordable $75 high-capacity cartridge that will last for 2,500 pages according to Samsung, but we should note that the ML-2525W ships with a 1,000 page "Starter Toner Cartridge," a sneaky cut that might have you dropping more cash on consumables before you know it, depending on your average print volume.
Performance
The ML-2525W isn't the flashiest printer on the shelf, but it certainly sets the pace for the rest of the monochrome laser market in terms of print speed and output quality. It's fairly rare to see a printer crank out text, graphics, and PowerPoint presentations at the same speed, but this Samsung maintains a solid 20 pages per minute across the board, roughly the same speed as the ML-2851ND.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Presentation | |
Black Graphics | |
Black Text |
Like most mono-lasers, the Samsung text quality results were superb, with dark lines and even thickness in bold fonts and large lettering. Navigating through the driver, you'll find options to "Print all text to black" and "Print all text to darken," which do exactly what they say: they allow the printer to make dark lines and text even darker, enhancing solid characters for extra emphasis throughout the page, most notably on large blocks of black color. This model also improves on previous iterations that struggled with our test graphics document. The sample page from the ML-2525W features subtle movement from black-to-white gradations and within varying percentages of shading. We don't expect many users to rely on their monochrome laser for photos, but our presentation samples with detailed images are acceptable for a professional environment.
Service and Support
Samsung supports the ML-2525W with a one-year, limited warranty and toll-free tech support. Samsung's online Support Center also offers a how-to guide, a FAQ, and software downloads, including drivers, manuals, and firmware updates.
Find out more about how we test printers.
User reviews
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Poor Cost of ownership
by TexasHippy on May 26, 2010
Pros: Clean design, fairly easy setup, quiet, nice print quality
Cons: Very small toner capacity, printing software
Summary: Overall I was quite happy with this printer, it is a clean design without a lot of flip-out panels/guides or easily breakable moving parts. The setup was fairly simple ...
Summary: Overall I was quite happy with this printer, it is a clean design without a lot of flip-out panels/guides or easily breakable moving parts. The setup was fairly simple and the noise level on it is very reasonable. It did have two drawbacks though...
The only annoying thing about it was that when you print, the print software raises a grey box on the lower right of the screen that says "preparing print job" for several seconds, whatever happened to "background" printing? I don't care what is doing, just print and let me get back to work.
The other point of contention was the toner capacity. Being used to laser printers with 7,000 to 15,000 sheets per cartridge; I was totally shocked after I bought this to find the toner capacity is only about 1500 sheets (2500 for high capacity). I havent found any after market cartridges so you are looking at having to get a full price toner ever 6 packs of paper. My previous lasers have typically lasted the first year on just the included demo toners and this one lasted 400 pages. This may not be an issue for someone who very very rarely prints but I dont fall under that category.
Looking at the math, per print cost on the Samsung ended up running 2 cents per page for the high capacity and 3 cents for the standard capacity, where as my previous printers high capacity cartridges ran 1/3 cent, making the samsung 10X times the printing cost to operate.
Having glanced around since then, I have noticed several other models of personal lasers going to the low capactity cartridges so it is not just this model. It seems like they are trying to recreate the injet model where they give you a cheap printer in order to sell you the supplies. But, in the end, it is Buyer beware so look at cost of ownership and your expected usage before buying.11 out of 11 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Firmware update bricks 3rd party laser cartridges
by chrisbarlow79 on November 18, 2010
Pros: Cheap, fast and no problems setting this up (including for Mac)
Cons: Was very happy with this printer until around a week ago when I installed an automated firmware update. Immediately following the update the printer failed to recognize my 3rd party toner cartridge. Samsung tech support, was rude and unhelpful.
Summary: If your happy to be tied into purchasing cartridges from Samsung then this printer seems fine, but this kind of dishonest behavior really annoys me. If I was required to ...
Summary: If your happy to be tied into purchasing cartridges from Samsung then this printer seems fine, but this kind of dishonest behavior really annoys me. If I was required to purchase Samsung cartridges for the printer then this should have been settled upfront, it wasn't. There is a differences between not guaranteeing support for 3rd party products, which I can understand, and deliberately locking them out.
6 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
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WORST PRINTER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
by SNOW419 on August 10, 2010
Pros: NONE! DONT BUY A SAMSUNG
Cons: WORST printer ever! Customer service FORCES you to keep their product by having you waste your time, money and energy continuing to bring their useless crap to a service center 45 minutes away. WASTED MONEY!! BUY A HP printer!!!
Summary: I bought this printer April 2010 and it is Aug 2010.. 4 months later I SUPPOSEDLY went through 2 printer cartridges/toner. Had printer serviced at THERE service center, had ...
Summary: I bought this printer April 2010 and it is Aug 2010.. 4 months later I SUPPOSEDLY went through 2 printer cartridges/toner. Had printer serviced at THERE service center, had replacement toner sent and still blinking red light. I asked for a refund but they state it has to be serviced THREE times before they even CONSIDER a refund or replacement (LIKE WHO WANTS THE CRAPPY PRINTER)!!
SO your FORCED to continue to keep the useless printer and all customer service can say is "TO BAD"... This is the FIRST and LAST SAMSUNG product I will EVER buy!!! HEWLETT PACKER all the way!!!!
I ONLY bought the printer because of the price and it goes to show... YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!!!!!!!7 out of 9 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Not Mac Compatible!!!
by cundiffw on July 27, 2010
Pros: No positive comments...
Cons: NOT Mac compatible! 1) It's definitely not plug and play. 2) The setup instructions in the manual DO NOT match the actual software setup. 3) 3 hours into trying to make this things work on my wi-fi network and it still isn't working!
Summary: Yet another P.O.S. product brought to you by Samsung.
Summary: Yet another P.O.S. product brought to you by Samsung.
6 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
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fire hazard
by trucksisentinc on June 21, 2010
Pros: can print color quality and black prints in high volume in a timely manner
Cons: after 1.5 years of use, it became very noisy. then it began to heat up more frequently.
then ultimately it started on FIRE! We bought two and they both did it.Summary: Customer service is everything when it comes to product inquiries and service. SAMSUNG makes great sturdy phones; but their printers are NOT workhorses. AND when you have questions or need ...
Summary: Customer service is everything when it comes to product inquiries and service. SAMSUNG makes great sturdy phones; but their printers are NOT workhorses. AND when you have questions or need service, you cannot reach Samsung. We have written & emailed and received no response.
4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Cheap, looks good, quiet and fast
by ceruleansin on September 1, 2010
Pros: Good looking, wireless, fast, quiet printer. Excellent for school.
Cons: None. An reasy Fix for wireless Mac printing though:
Do not use the install disc! Instead:
- Go to System Preferences
- Go to Print & Fax
- Click the + sign
- Choose the Samsung ML-2525W printer
Wireless Printing will work perfect then.Summary: Despite the first hour spent trying to get wireless printing to work on my MacBook Pro, I love this little printer. Couldn't ask for more. :)
Summary: Despite the first hour spent trying to get wireless printing to work on my MacBook Pro, I love this little printer. Couldn't ask for more. :)
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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This Printer ROCKS!
by richknapp on February 21, 2011
Pros: I'ts black, compact, fairly easy to setup, and INEXPENSIVE
Cons: Haven't found any yet! Maybe it's a little difficult to get hooked up to your wireless network, but as usual...just follow the directions.
Summary: Ok, folks. This is the printer upgrade most home users have been waiting for. For all those people, like me, who suffered with inkjets and all their problems for years, ...
Summary: Ok, folks. This is the printer upgrade most home users have been waiting for. For all those people, like me, who suffered with inkjets and all their problems for years, this is your answer. If you're willing to give up color printing, you will be rewarded with a super-fast high end monochrome printing that will FAR exceed your expectations. Tired of buying ink cartridges with paltry capacities for high prices? Not this one. This one comes with a 1,000 page cartridge with a cost per page less than half of an inkjet. Tired of your inkjet not printing worth a damn after it sits idle for a week or two? Not this one; it sat in a storage box for 3 months and then printed like a champ on page one. Tired of your inkjet burning up your precious ink on worthless cleaning cycles? Not this one; every bit goes toward printing. Tired of waiting for an eternity to print out long documents like copies of your tax returns? Not this one?it printed out a 30 page document in less than two minutes! Take that inkjets!
Frankly, I'm tired of reading other reviewers slam this printer for not giving them the world simply because they didn't pay for it! Like the other guy who says this printer won't print 7-15,000 pages like his other one did (obviously not a home user) and that pages cost 3 times more. Well, maybe he should go spend 5X as much up front and buy a printer that is rated for that kind of throughput and quit complaining that this $150 printer isn't up to the task. Everyone has wanted the quality of a laser printer for years, but most have been unable or unwilling to pay the high prices that came with it. Not anymore! I got mine on sale at New Egg for $100 and I couldn't be happier with the performance even if I had paid double the price.
Take the plunge. As long as you're not a business that plans on running thousands of pages of documents through it, there's no reason why you won't be happy with this printer. I've had mine for a year now, and haven't regretted it one single day and have yet had to buy another cartridge. It's attractive, compact, inexpensive, and prints high quality text/graphics that inkjets can't even begin to touch. It's PERFECT for printing school papers, home documents, and making copies.2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Printer has trouble interfacing with apple's computers.
by aobc on October 10, 2010
Pros: Prints high quality text ; small footprint; inexpensive;
Cons: Will not print at the second try giving out a message that "printer is offline".
Summary: Willing to work with the printer's flaws, I would unplug and replug the usb in order to get the printer to work. However, I was worried that I would ...
Summary: Willing to work with the printer's flaws, I would unplug and replug the usb in order to get the printer to work. However, I was worried that I would damage my usb outlet so I called Samsung technical support to see if they had a solution for the problem. The tech person walked me through re-installing the printer drive and I still got the "printer is offline". I was placed on hold so that the tech support person could consult with the engineers. After being on hold for 30 minutes, I was told that there was a problem with the software and the firmware so that the printer could not interface with the apple computers and that it would take months before the engineers could develop a patch to resolve the problem. I was also told that this was a known problem since August 2010. Thankfully, Samsung was willing to give me a refund after another 30 minutes of being passed from one Samsung Executive Customer Relation person to the printer sales and back to the Samsung Executive Customer Relation. Should'nt CNET have known this?
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good printer for the price
by oioailksdjflakjdfljadslkj on July 8, 2010
Pros: Got a refurbished printer for $65.00
Quick printing, really no start up time.Cons: Starter print cartridge.
Summary: Look online for cheaper print cartridges, I found one for $38.00 with $9.00 shipping.
Got this for a great price to replace a HP 1020. This is much ...Summary: Look online for cheaper print cartridges, I found one for $38.00 with $9.00 shipping.
After using this for the last six weeks, I like it much better than my old HP Lasjet 1020. The print on the Samung ML-2525W it much darker and clear than the HP.
Got this for a great price to replace a HP 1020. This is much quicker and has wireless too.
Updated on Jul 24, 20102 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great Network Printer For The Money
by GlennMS on June 30, 2010
Pros: Excellent print quality. Easy, no brainer network setup on both Macs and PC's. Great for occasional use.
Cons: I hate that Samsung and others (HP) include a starter toner cartridge. List price for replacement toner cartridge is a complete rip off. Draws lots of current when starting a print job, normal for laser printers.
Summary: I love this printer. Works great with both PC's and Macs. I was able to get a replacement OEM toner cartridge for $24.95 plus $11.95 shipping on ...
Summary: I love this printer. Works great with both PC's and Macs. I was able to get a replacement OEM toner cartridge for $24.95 plus $11.95 shipping on ebay. I'm not using the wireless function, so I can't comment on it's performance. All in all I'm extremely happy.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Samsung
- Part number: ML-2525W/XAA
- Description: Geared to give more print flexibility, the ML-2525 offers a range of features to make you more productive. These include a print screen function, so you can print what you see on your screen at the touch of a button.
General
- Printer Type Workgroup printer - Laser - Monochrome
- Width 14.2 in
- Depth 15.3 in
- Height 7.8 in
- Weight 16.1 lbs
Printer
- Print Speed up to 24 ppm - B/W - A4 (8.25 in x 11.7 in),
up to 24 ppm - B/W - Letter A Size (8.5 in x 11 in) - Connectivity Technology Wireless ,
Wired - Interface 802.11g,
USB,
802.11b,
Ethernet 10/100Base-TX - Max Resolution ( B&W ) 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi
- First Print Out Time B/W 9 sec
- Language Simulation SPL (Samsung Printer Language)
- Media Handling 1-sheet manual tray,
250-sheet paper cassette Processor
- Processor Samsung 360 MHz
RAM
- RAM Installed ( Max ) 64 MB
Media Handling
- Media Type Thick paper ,
Postal card paper ,
Bond paper ,
Recycled paper ,
Cotton paper ,
Transparencies ,
Envelopes ,
Labels ,
Plain paper - Max Media Size (Custom) 8.5 in x 14 in
- Media Sizes A6 (4.13 in x 5.83 in),
B5 (6.93 in x 9.83 in),
Executive (7.25 in x 10.5 in),
Legal (8.5 in x 14 in),
A5 (5.83 in x 8.25 in),
A4 (8.25 in x 11.7 in),
Folio (8.5 in x 13 in),
Letter A Size (8.5 in x 11 in),
Oficio (8.5 in x 13.5 in),
JIS B5 (7.17 in x 10.12 in) - Total Media Capacity 250 sheets
- Media Feeder(s) Autoload - 250 sheets - Legal (8.5 in x 14 in)
- Output Trays Capacity 80 sheets
Duty Cycle
- Monthly Duty Cycle 12000 pages
Telecom
- Modem None
Networking
- Networking Print server
- Connectivity Technology Wireless,
Wired - Data Link Protocol Fast Ethernet,
Ethernet,
IEEE 802.11b,
IEEE 802.11g Scanner
- Type None
Copier
- Copier Type None
Expansion / Connectivity
- Expansion Bays None
- Expansion Slot(s) Memory
- Connections 1 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type B,
1 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45 Miscellaneous
- Consumables Included 1 x Toner cartridge ( Black ) - up to 1500 pages
- Microsoft Certifications Compatible with Windows 7
Power
- Power Device Power supply - Internal
Battery
- Type None
Software / System Requirements
- Software Included Drivers & Utilities
- OS Required Microsoft Windows 2000 ,
Microsoft Windows XP ,
Microsoft Windows 2003 ,
Apple MacOS X 10.3 - 10.6 ,
Microsoft Windows Vista ,
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 ,
Linux Environmental Standards
- ENERGY STAR Qualified Yes
Environmental Parameters
- Sound Emission (Idle) 26 dB
- Sound Emission (Operating) 50 dB
Accessories
Manufacturer info
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Samsung products on Shopper.com
-
- Manufacturer:Samsung
- Address:
105 Challenger Road, Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660 - Phone: 1-800-726-7864
- Fax: 1-973-601-6001
