Samsung SCX 4500

The Samsung SCX-4500 looks the way a printer should look. If I was a designer of office equipment, this is how I would make it. There is no real reason why the majority of machines have to be dull grey or beige and look like they have been nailed together in the first way they could get them to work.

The body of the printer is jet black. The top is a polished high gloss panel, and Samsung even provides a polishing cloth to keep it like that. The controls and LCD are all blue and compliment the black design. The best bit is that when the scanner operates, there is a blue scanner light that shines through halfway down the printer body. This adds a nice “cylon-esque” effect when scanning.

As a compromise to the design, the paper tray can only handle 100 sheets of paper. There is also unfortunately a need for a clear plastic paper holder, unless you have an area of desk for prints to run off to. This spoils the design slightly if you have to have them connected. USB connection and only 8Mb of memory that isn’t upgradeable, will limit the appeal of the SCX-4500 to the home worker, or small office. This is a niche that suits it well. It doesn’t take up too much space, is quiet when it works and looks good.

Changing the toner and drum is very simple. There is a catch under the lip of the scanner which reveals the toner drawer. Both simply clip into place and slide back in to the body.

Performance wise the SCX-4500 is a solid multifunction device. Printing at a rate of 13 pages per minute, the output is clear and crisp with solid lines. Images and graphics were well distinguished and looked professional. The copy quality is just as good, and just as quick. Reproductions were faithful with no graining or losses.

Scanning is just as good as printing. The color was very good, each one being faithful to the original. The images did seem a little soft, and a picky person could say that it could do with being a bit sharper. It is perfectly good for office use.

The SCX-4500 is a good looking, well designed piece of office equipment. Fortunately it performs as well as it looks. With a decent retail price, and reasonable toner costs, it won’t cost the earth like some other designer models would.