Samsung Delivers Quality Product, Service

For the shoe-string-funded home office hoping to operate like its deep-pocketed corporate cousins, the Samsung ML-1210 laser printer brings powerful printing at a pittance in price. The 1210 ($199) delivers 12 pages per minute in 600-dpi resolution from computers running Windows 95, Professional or NT, Macintosh OS 8 and Linux (6.0 or later) tethered with either parallel or USB connections. The 1210 also keeps in mind today's conservation-minded market. A "Toner Save" button can extend cartridge life by 1,000 pages with only slightly lighter image output. Even the footprint is stingy, measuring roughly 14 inches deep by 13 inches wide - a key consideration in a tight home office.

The company also proved that it knows the small business market. When a glitch in the install process kept the unit from working, a Sunday message left at customer service was returned at 9:05 a.m. Pacific time Monday morning (the error was discovered in the Windows operating system - not in the Samsung unit). Home officers often are forced to wear the IT hat, but that doesn't necessarily make us techno-savvy. As Samsung knows, any company that can deliver a quality product and top service will win this market's loyalty. www.samsungusa.com

Jeff Zbar, the ChiefHomeOfficer.com, is a speaker, writer and expert on alternative officing. He is the author of Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002); Safe@Home: Seven Keys to Home Office Security (FirstPublish 2001) and Your Profitable Home Business (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products). Visit his Web site to subscribe to Home Office Success Stories, his free electronic magazine on home business and teleworking.