Samsung CLX-6210FX Color Laser Multifunction Printer Driver and Software

The Samsung CLX-6210FX is a color laser all-in-one printer that offers a great feature set at a very affordable price, but with slow duplex printing.

Multifunctional devices in the IT industry are nothing new – but the level of integration and connectivity varies greatly. Printers with direct USB printing are available, as are multifunction devices (MFDs) with faxing, copying and scanning capabilities. How about an MFD that supports scanning to a USB device (in a variety of formats) and printing from the same USB device? The Samsung CLX-6210FX offers all the features in a compact package.

Design and Functions

This stylish multifunction printer features a flatbed scanner with a duplex automatic document feeder as well as fax and copy functions. The connection to your computer is via USB or network. With a memory key, data can also be transferred directly to and from the machine. The device also supports automatic duplex printing/copying.

Samsung claims a monthly duty cycle of up to 65,000 pages per month (five to six reams of paper per day). The base unit has a 250-sheet tray capacity, but a second 500-sheet tray is available as an option. With a maximum paper size of A4/Letter, it’s a fairly compact unit for an MFD that would fit in a relatively small desk area.

The quick setup guide is extremely minimalistic. So if you haven’t set up a network printer yet, you may want to go straight to the User Guide CD. Still, setup was easy, aside from a few small hiccups – like: B. Messages that the printer could not be found and the IP addresses could not be reset.

These were not serious problems as the messages were incorrect – the installation software did everything that was required. Most annoying was the fact that the printer details found by the software had no obvious connection to the details printed on the machine itself.

When evaluating this device’s performance as a printer, our first reaction was the extremely vivid colors (probably too vivid). Our second reaction was to notice some pretty significant shaking patterns, particularly where dark colors and browns were present.

Grayscale and gradients are generally very smooth, but are subject to fine horizontal and vertical lines that can give the impression of very fine pixelation. The Samsung CLX-6210FX handled colors excellently at the boundaries of complex shapes with appropriate contrast treatment.

Print speeds were generally adequate, although duplex printing was slow because the device only had a single paper path. We can confirm Samsung’s claims of a peak print speed of 20 pages per minute and the fact that color printing doesn’t noticeably change copy speeds.

We measured an average print speed of 14.6 ppm (pages per minute) for black and white and 14.5 ppm for color prints. The peak print speed for double-sided documents was just 8.4 pages per minute. Some printers can print double-sided documents almost as quickly as single-sided documents.

Of course, this is more than just a printer, so we also looked at the scanning and copy functions. When copying an image, the output was a little grainy and the colors were cool, but the image was otherwise excellent and created quickly.

When the copier is set to “Photo” mode, the copy resolution increases from 600 dpi to 1,200 dpi, resulting in great colors and contrast. We can fully recommend this device as a color copier.

As a scanner, we were less impressed with its performance. We had little success scanning over a network, so we decided to try the Scan to USB feature. In terms of usability this was great, but the default settings didn’t give us brilliant output.

We scanned the same image we used to copy onto a USB storage device and then did a direct print from that saved file. Compared to the earlier copy, this print was far too warm and had much poorer contrast. The resolution was also worse, but this was mainly due to a lower standard resolution (300 dpi). A variety of setting options are available for scanning.

Verdict

We found the 6210FX comfortable to use. The device’s menu system is intuitive and basic functions are easily accessible via well-labeled and arranged buttons.

Related Printer: Samsung CLX-6260ND

Print speeds are generally adequate, although duplex printing is slow. Streaks and jitter patterns can affect otherwise very attractive print output. The device offers excellent print and copy resolutions (up to 1,200 dpi).