Samsung CLP-550

The CLP-550 is built around the same engine and chassis as Xerox's 6100DN, and its performance is therefore similar - 20ppm in mono and just 4.4ppm in colour. Like the 6100DN, a duplex unit is built-in, which is impressive for this price.

Unlike the 6100DN, however, print quality was fairly good. The Excel print-out was clean, without any of the bleeding that we noticed with the 6100DN. But, grain was still visible on solid areas of grey and our photo montage was too dark.

Running costs for the CLP-550 were better than those for the 6100DN, thanks to cheaper consumables. The transfer belt for the CLP-550 costs £79, while the 6100DN's is £121. The transfer belt for the Samsung isn't compatible with Xerox's machine, though. Installing consumables is easy although, unlike the 6100DN, the fuser isn't considered a user-serviceable part. Colour pages cost 7.5p each, while mono pages are also reasonable at 1.4p.

There's no built-in Ethernet adaptor; the 6100DN includes one card and is £71 cheaper. But if you need two-sided printing, you could do worse than the Samsung. It isn't overly expensive to run, and produces decent quality. But it's slow and lacks features, and comes with only low-capacity cartridges. Ultimately, you can do better all round and for total cost of ownership.