Posted October 25, 2007
There are perhaps no uglier consumer-electronics devices than multifunction printers—those all-in-one machines meant for home offices that pack printer, photocopier, and scanner into a single box. Versatile, yeah, but invariably hideous and huge. Samsung just changed all that, though, with the introduction of its new SCX-4500, the most elegant, thoughtfully designed device on the market. An incredibly quiet, simple, small rectangular box (thirteen inches wide by fifteen and a half inches deep by six and a half inches high), it’s got a glossy “piano-black” finish, a black-and-white photocopier function that works even if it’s not hooked up to a computer, respectable print speed (seventeen pages per minute), and a high-res color scanner. If you only need a printer, there’s also a smaller, just as sleek version (the ML-1630) for $100 less. Both models have scored the ultimate design endorsement: Apple signed a deal with Samsung to sell them exclusively at its stores and at Apple.com—though both machines work with Windows PCs too.
$299.95 at Apple.com.