Samsung SCX-5639FR

Samsung SCX-5639FR

Aimed squarely at a micro- to mid-size office, and potentially useful in a busy home office with heavy duty needs, the Samsung SCX-5639FR ($550 street) offers at least one feature that most mono laser MFPs don't: a duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF) that lets you scan both sides of a page. If you have to scan or copy two-sided documents very often, that alone goes a long way towards making it a highly attractive choice. Not too surprisingly, the SCX-5639FR is similar to, but a step up from the Samsung SCX-4835FR ($450, 2.5 stars) that I recently reviewed. It offers a slightly faster engine rating, at 37, rather than 33, pages per minute (ppm), but it's really a variation on a theme, suitable for slightly more heavy duty use. Like the SCX-4835FR, the SCX-5639FR is too big to share a desk with comfortably, at 17.6 by 18.5 by 17.2 (HWD) inches, and it may be a little hard to find room for in a home office. However it's small enough to fit easily in most micro or small offices, and it's easy to share on a network, thanks to the Ethernet connection. Basic MFP features for the SCX-5639FR include the ability to print from, fax from, and scan to a PC, even over a network, as well as work as a standalone copier and fax machine. It can also both print from and scan to a USB memory key.