The cost of the technology is usually higher though. But with the help of several nice features a lot of money can be saved after the purchase (such as duplexing, that can cut the paper cost in half and improve speed). Samsung’s CLP-315 color laser printer is a bit of an exception to the rule. It’s actually small, light, easy to fit in an office, and not as expensive as you might expect.

It’s price tag of around $ 200 makes it a viable choice for home use as well. The design of the printer is very pleasant, meaning that it’s not the white (that turns yellow) you’ve grown so ‘fond’ of. It’s shell is made out of matte and high-gloss black. The only controls you can find on the printer are a single button and six leds. To keep its size so small, Samsung had to cut down on certain features as well as paper capacity. This is why the paper drawer has a limit of just 150 sheets.

As for connectivity, the Samsung CLP-315 color laser printer has a single USB port on the back. If you’re interested in networking, a better choice would be Samsungs improved version of the CLP-315, the CLP-315w that also includes Ethernet and WiFi.

Setting up the CLP-315 is very easy, you’ll receive it with its toners already in place, so all you have to do is get a USB cable, plug it in the printer and run the software from the CD you get in the box. After install you’ll have several smart applications, such as Smart Panel that shows the remaining level of ink, Dr. Printer, for diagnostics as well as the driver with a series of options like watermarks, multiple pages per sheet or overlay.

Print speeds are not extraordinary. Samsung claims a 17 page per minute for monochrome and just a 4 page per minute for color prints. There’s also a 20 second warm up time that will add to the overall printing time, and since this one is not a heavy duty printer that you’ll use all day long, you’ll feel those 20 seconds worth of warm up as well. The toner cartridges will last for around 1000 pages (in color) or 1500 pages (black). Cost/page is not as small as you’re used to for laser color printers.

As a conclusion, the Samsung CLP-315w may be a color printer but it only acts as one in terms of quality. The rest, cost, size and features, reminds you more of an inkjet. It’s inexpensive to buy, but makes up for it with replacing consumables rather often (that aren’t exactly cheap).