Pros & Cons
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- Prints, scans, faxes, copies.
- Automatic document feeder.
- Ethernet.
- Has Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and NFC.
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- Low paper capacity.
- No duplexer.
- High running cost.
Samsung Xpress M2070FW Specs
| Color or Monochrome | Monochrome |
| Connection Type | Ethernet |
| Connection Type | USB |
| Connection Type | Wireless |
| Maximum Scan Area | 8.5" x 14" |
| Maximum Standard Paper Size | Legal |
| Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum) | 10,000 pages per month |
| Number of Ink Colors | 1 |
| Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono) | 21 ppm |
| Scanner Optical Resolution | 600 pixels per inch |
| Scanner Type | Flatbed with ADF (Standard or Optional) |
| Standalone Copier and Fax | Copier |
| Standalone Copier and Fax | Fax |
| Type | All-in-one |
The Samsung Xpress M2070FW ($209.99) is essentially a light-duty, personal multifunction printer (MFP) built around a monochrome laser engine. What makes it a little different is that it's packed with mobile printing features, including NFC. If your phone or tablet also supports NFC, that will let you connect and print simply by touching it to a spot on the printer. If you need to print from your mobile device very often, that may make the M2070FW ($232.80 at Amazon) a particularly attractive choice.
The mobile printing support is the one area where the M2070FW outshines the Canon imageClass MF4880dw , our Editors' Choice for light-duty personal MFP or shared MFP in a micro office. The Canon printer delivers a higher paper capacity, faster speed, a lower claimed running cost, and even includes a duplexer (for printing on both sides of a page). However it doesn't offer NFC or even Wi-Fi Direct for connecting directly to a mobile device. The M2070FW offers both, along with other mobile printing features as well.
You can connect the M2070FW to your network using Ethernet or Wi-Fi, which will let you print through the cloud, assuming the network is connected to the Internet, as well as let you connect to the printer from a mobile device through a Wi-Fi access point. Thanks to Wi-Fi Direct and NFC, you can also connect directly to the printer even if it's not on a network. This can be particularly useful if want to connect by USB cable to use the M2070FW as a personal printer, and still want to print to it from your phone, tablet, or laptop.
One additional twist is that mobile support isn't limited to printing. Samsung's Mobile Print app will also let you scan to and fax from an iOS, Android, or Windows smartphone or tablet.
Basics and Setup
The M2070FW measures 16 by 14.2 by 12.3 inches (HWD). Its basic MFP features include the ability to print, fax, and scan, including over a network, and to work as a standalone copier and fax machine. For printing, the single input tray holds only 150 sheets, which is one of the key limitations that makes the M2070FW best reserved for personal use. If you try sharing it on a network in a micro office, you'll likely wind up running out of paper annoyingly often. Paper handling for scanning includes a letter-size flatbed and a 40-page automatic document feeder (ADF), which scans in simplex (one-sided mode) only.For my tests I connected the M2070FW using its Ethernet port, and installed the software on a Windows Vista system. Setup was standard fare.
Speed and Output Quality
The M2070FW's engine rating is 21 pages per minute (ppm), which is the speed you can expect when printing text or other files that need little to no processing. On our business applications suite, I clocked it (using QualityLogic's hardware and software), at 9.8ppm. That's essentially tied with the official speed for the Canon MF4880dw, at 9.6ppm, but the speed for the Canon printer is with its default setting, printing in duplex.
In simplex (single-sided) mode, the Canon printer came in at 12.5ppm. As another point of reference, the Canon imageClass MF4770n , which is limited to simplex printing, managed 12.3ppm. That puts the M2070FW's speed in an acceptable, but not particularly impressive, range for the price.
The printer's output quality istypical for a monochrome laser MFP. The text is suitable for almost any business need, as long as you don't print with smaller fonts than most offices use. Similarly, the graphics output is easily good enough for any internal business use. Most people also would consider it suitable for PowerPoint handouts and the like. Photo quality is good enough to print recognizable images from photos on Web pages, at roughly a match for newspaper photos, but it's not suitable for anything more demanding than that.
One last potential issue for the M2070FW is its high running cost, at 5.3 cents per page. Unless you print very little, you can easily wind up with a lower total cost of ownership by getting a printer with a higher initial price, but a lower cost per page.
If you don't need the mobile printing features in the Samsung Xpress M2070FW, you'll be much better off with the Editors' Choice Canon MF4880DW or the Canon MF4770N. Both offer faster speed than the Samsung printer, along with a lower cost per page and higher paper capacity. The Canon MF4880DW adds duplexing as well. If you don't print many pages, however, the lower running cost for either Canon model isn't as significant. And if you can make good use of mobile printing capabilities, particularly NFC, the extra convenience and the time it will save can make the M2070FW the better fit.
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