All-in-one printers are all the rage nowadays. To be noticed a gadget must go the distance and double as a MP3 player, personal organizer and a portable videogame device, for instance. All-in-one printers were pioneers in that particular field, combining printing, copying, scanning, and faxing functions. The Samsung SCX-4100 Digital Productivity Center does all that – minus faxing – in an affordable package.

Although being bigger than a traditional printer, a all-in-one device minimizes space usage in a crowded home office or small business. It’s a good choice for those with space issues – but it’s inadequate for the needs of a big corporate office who demands faster copying and professional (i.e. larger) scanning surfaces.

Being laser-based, the SCX-4100 is a more economical choice over bubble jet printer whose cartridges are expensive in comparison to their durability. But be mindful that the SCX-4100 is a black-and-white device – so no color printing/copying for you, although it obviously scans color documents. The toner cartridge is good for about 3,000 copies, a figure that can increase 40% with toner management software (included).

The device has a main paper tray that holds 250 sheets up to legal size. You can manually feed a sheet at time into a slot right above the front paper tray, and there’s also a rear slot for jam-prone material, like envelopes and transparencies. Unfortunately, the SCX-4100 lacks an automatic document feeder.

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Figure 1: Samsung SCX-4100 (front view).

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Figure 2: Samsung SCX-4100 (rear view).