SHARP AL-1540CS TONER CARTRIDGE

Sharp AL-1540CS Review

Overview:

With sluggish print and copy speeds and a minimalistic hardware set, the Sharp AL-1540CS multifunctional device is best suited for an individual user who doesn’t mind using yesterday’s equipment to handle their document processing needs.

Pros:

With a maximum print resolution of 600 x 600 dots per inch, the Sharp AL-1540CS is a perfect device for printing and copying black and white text. Image copying will be executed at less than photo quality resolution, and this primarily monochrome device’s only color feature is scanning.

Optical scans can be done at up to 600 x 1200 dots per inch at respectable speeds, but interpolated scans will take considerably longer and will only be able to achieve 2400 x 2400 dots per inch of quality anyway. Additionally, the scanner is not accessible by way of the built in Parallel port, so users are forced to connect to it via the very slow USB 1.1 port.

The Sharp AL-1540CS is equipped with the welcome addition of an automatic document feeder. This 30 page capacity feeder is perfect for dealing with large quantities of input material for scanning or copying. As the paper is being fed into the machine, users can even add more material to the stack for uninterrupted copies of more than 30 sheets. With the help of the device’s built in 6 MBs of memory, single pages of input can be stored as data and replicated multiple times at once in amounts of up to 99 continuously.

With a 10 x 14 inch document glass, the Sharp AL-1540CS is equipped to handle Legal sized paper as well as letter sized, though it can only output to 8.5 inch width paper. The maximum monthly duty cycle for the machine rests at an uncomfortable 5,000 pages, meaning that the device is really best suited for an individual user, as an entire office could potentially overwork the machine.

When it comes to paper storage, this Samsung delivers no surprises. Its 250 sheet half ream single paper drawer is the only permanent storage space found in the hardware, though single sheets can be hand fed one at a time through the unit’s bypass slot. When printing to special media such as envelopes and transparencies, the bypass slot must be used. Luckily, standard Letter or Legal sized paper will not have to be unloaded when using the slot.

Cons:

The Sharp AL-1540CS’s print speed alone is poor enough to disqualify the printer for any sort of office usage. With 12 pages per minute as its top speed, the device is outperformed by pretty much every multifunctional device release in the past four years. Copy speed gets a boost up to 15 pages per minute, but this performance level is still sub standard.

First copy out times are a minimum of 9.6 seconds in length when the machine is warmed up, but when it is in standby mode this time is extended to 16 seconds. From a complete power off, users will have to wait a full 23 seconds before they will see any output.