Conclusions:

Printers are one of the few computer peripherals which carry a continued cost of ownership. Unlike scanners and speaker systems, printers require cartridges to regularly be replaced. The cost of toner divided by the number of pages (at 5% coverage) printable per cartridge is call cost per page. Depending on the duty level of the laser printer, the toner cartridge can be extremely expensive, or quite inexpensive. In almost all cases, mono laser printers are less expensive to use than black and white ink jet printers. They offer better resolution and non-water soluble printer ink.

With a modest speed of 12ppm this printer, the ML-1210 is more than capable for personal or home use where printer requirements are typically sporadic and light. The support for either parallel or USB connections enables the ML-1210 to potentially be connected to a print server. The True 600dpi resolution and low cost of this printer put it within reach for most of us, and the versatility is right for what many of us will need. All in all, it is a good quality printer, not a high-end model, but one that provides very good value and excellent print quality for the price.