Samsung SCX-3405FW Laser Multifunction Printer Driver and Software

If you need a mono laser MFP for light printing in a micro office or as a personal printer in an office of any size, the Samsung SCX-3405FW should catch your attention. It’s small enough to share a desk and offers support for cable and WiFi networks.

the ability to scan, work as a standalone copier and fax machine; and the ability to even fax over a network from your PC. It even includes a 40-page automatic document feeder (ADF) that complements the letter-size flatbed and allows for scanning legal-size pages. Add in the reasonably high-quality output and the acceptable, if not impressive, speed, and it’s definitely worth a look.

Setup and Speed

Setting up the Samsung SCX-3405FW was standard fare. For my testing, I connected it to a network via the Ethernet port and ran the tests from a Windows Vista system.

Samsung rates the printer at 21 pages per minute (ppm). This means you should work close to this speed when printing text files without graphics or photos. In our business application suite, I set the timing (using QualityLogic’s hardware and software for timing) to an effective 7.7 ppm, fast enough for speed not to be an issue, but far from impressive. It’s essentially tied with the cheaper KX-MB2000 at 8ppm and significantly slower than the more expensive M1217nfw at 11.1ppm.

Output Quality and Other Issues

The Samsung SCX-3405FW’s output quality is a bit of a mixed bag, but the best results are achieved for text and graphics, which are generally the main output types for mono printers. Both are at the top of the narrow range that the vast majority of mono laser MFPs fall into. The photo quality is in the lower range of the entire range in the category.

The text is light enough for any typical business document, even if you need small font sizes, although you may need to choose the font style carefully if you need a 4 or 5 point size. Depending on your level of perfectionism, you might even consider it good enough for desktop publishing. Graphics quality is similarly good enough for all internal business needs, including PowerPoint handouts and the like.

The photo quality is good enough to, for example, print web pages with recognizable photos, making it good enough for internal business use. However, there is an obvious loss of shading across the entire white to black range, so bright areas like a sky with clouds turned solid white and dark areas turned solid black in my tests. I wouldn’t even consider using the printer for something like a customer newsletter with photos.

Unless you need better quality photos – and probably not if you buy a mono laser MFP – the Samsung SCX-3405FW can only recommend it. It offers all the MFP features you’re likely to need in a personal printer – scanning, faxing and copying.

Related Printer: Samsung SCX-4826FN Driver

Also note that Samsung offers free apps that allow the printer to print from and scan to Android, iOS, and Windows 7 devices over a Wi-Fi access point. A direct Wi-Fi connection will be possible later this year with a firmware upgrade. Most importantly, it’s small enough to be a good physical fit as a personal printer, and a good fit for what it can do.