Laser printers are not very lasting – specifically, the drum. After going through 2 or 3 toner cartridges, the print quality deteriorates and the drum has to be replaced, and it does not come cheap. In my opinion, it is better to buy a new printer than to replace the drum – you are guaranteed excellent print quality.
Pantum is a Chinese brand, and they are shaking up the market with their low priced products. Granted, the M6550NW printer is not as refined as similar products from Japanese and US brands, but it sets up and works fine, and that’s all i care. It costs $155 on Qoo10 at the time of my purchase, but as usual, i was able to apply a cart coupon and Qpoints to shave more than $20 off the price, plus getting cashback from Shopback and from the credit card. If there happens to be a $30 off $150 Super Sale deal on Qoo10, it would be perfect.
To be honest, the print quality isn’t the best, but it is good enough for me. At this price point, no other printer offer Wifi and mobile printing, plus automatic document feeder (ADF). I was able to set up Wifi and mobile printing within 15 minutes. I could use the Mopria app to print from any Android app (should work for iPhone too) and the Pantum app allows me to initiate a document scan. The scanned document is saved as an image on your phone, very handy. Tip on setting up Wifi printing: choose wireless connectivity manual installation to supply the Wifi SSID and password. You will be asked to plug in the USB cable momentarily to transfer these information to the printer for it to connect to your Wifi.
Another plus point for the printer is that it comes with a full capacity 1600 pages toner cartridge, something you don’t normally get with other printer brands. A replacement cartridge cost S$76.50 on Shopee Singapore but only RM115 ($38) on Shopee Malaysia.
The cheapest competitor product (3-in-1 Print-Scan-Copy) is the Brother DCP-1510 at $142.50, but it lacks Wireless/Mobile printing and ADF functions. It does have a higher printing resolution though, so if print quality is more important to you, you can consider this printer instead.
All in all, the M6550NW printer is a cheap buy that satisfies my general non-demanding printing needs.
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