Samsung ML-2525W Laser Printer Drivers and Software

The Samsung ML-2525W is simple by nature: It only prints black, but offers the benefits of manual two-sided printing, a cut-sheet tray, and wireless networking. The biggest boon for home offices, students, and small businesses (especially in this post-recession economy) is the $150 price tag.

This makes it one of the cheapest laser printers we have tested so far. We have no problem recommending the ML-2525W as it can produce near-flawless prints in record time at a reasonable price.

Design and Functions

Laser printers have earned a reputation for their yawn-inducing designs, and while the ML-2525W isn’t far from the herd, Samsung has developed a few flairs to set it apart.

The top of the device features a large power button and two LCDs that display printing activity and network status. There is also a button for demo printing and another for canceling a print job. The input tray retracts into the base and can hold the standard 250 sheets of paper. However, Samsung also gives you the option to purchase a 250-sheet drawer accessory. A manual tray located directly below the toner access handle allows you to load individual sheets of media into the printer.

Samsung offers various ways to connect the Samsung ML-2525W to a computer. There is a standard USB 2.0 port on the back of the devices for wired access. However, you also get an Ethernet port for wired networking and an 802.11b/g print server for wireless connection. All three methods require you to first connect the printer to the USB 2.0 cable before you can discover networks. In less than five minutes, we were able to connect to our lab’s wireless network using the step-by-step instructions on the driver.

Once you get started, you can access paper size, function, switching automatic duplex printing (printing on both sides of a sheet of paper) and other general settings from the screen, or change the more complex options from 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 in the Windows taskbar, but does not display job progress or notify the user when supplies are running low.

Performance

The ML-2525W isn’t the flashiest printer on the shelf, but it sets the pace for the rest of the mono laser market in terms of print speed and output quality. It’s pretty rare for a printer to crank out text, graphics, and PowerPoint presentations at the same speed, but this Samsung maintains a solid 20 pages per minute across the board, about as fast as the ML-2851ND.

As with most mono lasers, Samsung text quality results were excellent, with dark lines and even thickness in bold fonts and large lettering. As you navigate through the driver, you’ll find the “Print All Text in Black” and “Print All Text in Dark” options, which do exactly what they say: they allow the printer to make dark lines and text even darker and improve solid characters For added emphasis across the page, especially with large blocks of black color.

Related Printer: Samsung ML-1915 Driver

This model also improves on previous iterations that struggled with our test graphics document. The ML-2525W sample page shows subtle movements of black and white gradations and within varying percentages of shading. We don’t expect many users to rely on their black and white laser for photos, but our presentation examples with detailed images are acceptable for a professional setting.