which usb cable for laser printer?

[Ben]

Hi,

I am in the process of buying a Samsung ML-1710 laser printer and am
looking to buy a USB cable. I have seen for example at Officedepot the
"Belkin" brand for around $25 which I understand is the Rolls Royce of
usb cables, but I am wondering if I could just as easily get a cheap one
to do the same thing without any difference in performance or anything
else? For example, I can get a "10-foot USB 2.0/1.0 A-B Cable" for $10
at overstock.com. Would I be losing out getting a cheaper cable here?

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Al Dykes]

Hi,

I am in the process of buying a Samsung ML-1710 laser printer and am
looking to buy a USB cable. I have seen for example at Officedepot the
"Belkin" brand for around $25 which I understand is the Rolls Royce of
usb cables, but I am wondering if I could just as easily get a cheap one
to do the same thing without any difference in performance or anything
else? For example, I can get a "10-foot USB 2.0/1.0 A-B Cable" for $10
at overstock.com. Would I be losing out getting a cheaper cable here?

Thanks,
Ben

The cheapest one.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hi,

I am in the process of buying a Samsung ML-1710 laser printer and am
looking to buy a USB cable. I have seen for example at Officedepot the
"Belkin" brand for around $25 which I understand is the Rolls Royce of
usb cables, but I am wondering if I could just as easily get a cheap one
to do the same thing without any difference in performance or anything
else? For example, I can get a "10-foot USB 2.0/1.0 A-B Cable" for $10
at overstock.com. Would I be losing out getting a cheaper cable here?

Unlikely. The USB specification is pretty specific about the
cable parameters. Just make sure it is an USB 2.0 cable if
the printer uses 2.0, I have ben having trouble with running
USB 2.0 iover a 1.1 cable, and no problems with a similar
looking USB2.0 cable (possibly from the same manufacturer).

Arno

 

[Larc]

| I am in the process of buying a Samsung ML-1710 laser printer and am
| looking to buy a USB cable. I have seen for example at Officedepot the
| "Belkin" brand for around $25 which I understand is the Rolls Royce of
| usb cables, but I am wondering if I could just as easily get a cheap one
| to do the same thing without any difference in performance or anything
| else? For example, I can get a "10-foot USB 2.0/1.0 A-B Cable" for $10
| at overstock.com. Would I be losing out getting a cheaper cable here?

Any cable that's USB 2.0 rated should be OK. As for Belkin being the "Rolls
Royce" of cables, I suspect the main source of such claims of superiority is
Belkin itself — or at least their advertising department. Frankly, I've usually
found their products to be overpriced in relation to real world quality.

Larc



§§§ - Please raise temperature of mail to reply by e-mail - §§§

 

[Marc Reinig]

Any USB 1.1 cable will work on USB 2.0. The spec guarantees this. There
were some out of spec USB 1.0 cables, but in general, if you buy a cable
today, don't be fooled by more expensive ones that are labled 2.0. Any 1.1
cable is the same as a 2.0 cable per the spec.

Marc Reinig
System Solutions

 

[Al Dykes]

| I am in the process of buying a Samsung ML-1710 laser printer and am
| looking to buy a USB cable. I have seen for example at Officedepot the
| "Belkin" brand for around $25 which I understand is the Rolls Royce of
| usb cables, but I am wondering if I could just as easily get a cheap one
| to do the same thing without any difference in performance or anything
| else? For example, I can get a "10-foot USB 2.0/1.0 A-B Cable" for $10
| at overstock.com. Would I be losing out getting a cheaper cable here?

Any cable that's USB 2.0 rated should be OK. As for Belkin being the "Rolls
Royce" of cables, I suspect the main source of such claims of superiority is
Belkin itself — or at least their advertising department. Frankly, I've usually
found their products to be overpriced in relation to real world quality.

Larc

I have friends that rave about Belkin support and customer service for
bigger things like KVM switches and I'm predisposed to them for this
reason, but I never expect to call support for a piece of wire.

 

[Ben]

I am in the process of buying a Samsung ML-1710 laser printer and am
looking to buy a USB cable. I have seen for example at Officedepot the

[snip]

snip...
Are you sure that the printer doesn't already come with a cable? It seems
that every time I buy some USB peripheral they throw a cable into the box.

According to the specs at
http://www.officedepot.com/txtSearchDD.do?searchTxt=431488&x=0&y=0 no
cable is included.

Thanks for everyone's response btw. I ordered the cable form overstock.
It was $11.50, but I got a $5 off coupon which with shipping made it $9.50.

regards,
Ben

 

[Arno Wagner]

Good to know. I have one of these out-of-spec cables, which I got with
an USB 1.0 hub. When I ran my external HDD over the cable`, I got so
mansy transmission errors, the kernel decided the HDD was unusable. No
such problem with the cable that came with the externam enclosure.

Arno

 

[Ben]

Any USB 1.1 cable will work on USB 2.0. The spec guarantees this. There
were some out of spec USB 1.0 cables, but in general, if you buy a cable
today, don't be fooled by more expensive ones that are labeled 2.0. Any 1.1
cable is the same as a 2.0 cable per the spec.

I just checked and according to the Samsung site its connectivity is USB
1.1. From what you said above I assume that the cables are then
interchangeable and the 2.0 one I ordered will work okay with it?

Thanks,
Ben

 

[CJT]

Hi,

I am in the process of buying a Samsung ML-1710 laser printer and am
looking to buy a USB cable. I have seen for example at Officedepot the
"Belkin" brand for around $25 which I understand is the Rolls Royce of
usb cables, but I am wondering if I could just as easily get a cheap one
to do the same thing without any difference in performance or anything
else? For example, I can get a "10-foot USB 2.0/1.0 A-B Cable" for $10
at overstock.com. Would I be losing out getting a cheaper cable here?

Thanks,
Ben

FWIW, Fry's here has 10' 2.0 cables on sale today for 2 bucks. Even
their regular price is less than $10.

 

[Ed Light]

I used one from newegg for about $6 postpaid. It works fine.

 

[Ed Light]

This is the one I got.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=12-105-702

 

[Ed Light]

Are you sure that the printer doesn't already come with a cable? It seems
that every time I buy some USB peripheral they throw a cable into the box.

My Minolta didn't have one.

 

[Duddley DooRight]

Best thing to do is to read the manual and see what is recommended. Make
sure you know what kind of a USB Plug it uses. There are mini usb plugs.
Make sure you know if it is USB 2.0, 1.1, 1.0, etc. Hopefully it is USB
2.0. I dont know if there is a difference. Parallel cable use to have an
IEEE rating for the cable for printers. I dont know if there is such a
rating for USB plugs for printers. USB is designed to be a one size fits
all. The closer the device is to the Computer the better.

Normally I would say look at the printer manual. It can probably be
downloaded from the manufacturers website.

 

[Duddley DooRight]

Try some different sites for cables:
www.cablesamerica.com
www.dalco.com
www.newegg.com
www.bestbuy.com
www.tigerdirect.com

If they have free shipping that might be a plus. I would trott on down to
the local Radio Shack and see what they have.

 

[MrB]

Let us know how it works.

I am in the process of buying a Samsung ML-1710 laser printer and am
looking to buy a USB cable. I have seen for example at Officedepot the

[snip]

snip...
Are you sure that the printer doesn't already come with a cable? It seems
that every time I buy some USB peripheral they throw a cable into the

box.

According to the specs at
http://www.officedepot.com/txtSearchDD.do?searchTxt=431488&x=0&y=0 no
cable is included.

Thanks for everyone's response btw. I ordered the cable form overstock.
It was $11.50, but I got a $5 off coupon which with shipping made it $9.50.

regards,
Ben

 

[kony]

It should. The spec for USB 1.1 detachable cables yielded products that
were way over designed for the needs of 1.1. The USB 2.0 spec for cables is
virtually identical to the USB 1.1. This ensured that the infrastructure
for USB 2.0 (namely the cables) was backward compatible.

Marc Reinig
System Solutions

True, but only when talking about USB 1.1 HIGH-speed cables, which
included shielding and a few other parameters that slip my mind at the
moment. The low-speed USB 1.1 cables (and many case ribbon cables)
aren't meant to be capable of USB 2.0


Dave

 

[blackgold]

Shouldn't the cable come with the printer? If it doesn't, then why not buy
the cable from the vendor who sells you the printer? In this case the vendor
should know exactly what cable is required. Unless the vendor is that
ignorant: in which case I would get a more knowledgeable vendor.

 

[Marc Reinig]

No. Any detachable USB cable must be FULL/HIGH speed. According to the USB
1.1 spec, "6.4.4 Prohibited Cable Assemblies", Low-speed detachable cables
are expressly forbidden.

There are LOW speed cables for mice, keyboards, etc. But they cannot be
detachable and have a few other restrictions.

All FULL/HIGH speed cables have both a metalized Mylar shield and a braded
copper shield. There is a single spec (in the USB 2.0 spec) for FULL and
HIGH speed. There is no difference in them and the spec is identical to the
USB 1.1 FULL speed spec.

BTW, I think you meant FULL speed instead of HIGH speed. LOW speed is 1.5
Mbit/Sec, FULL speed is 12 Mbit/Sec and HIGH speed is 480 Mbit/Sec. HIGH
speed was added in the 2.0 spec. The 3.0 spec will undoubtedly add a NEW
IMPROVED HIGH speed ;=)

Marc Reinig
System Solutions

 

[Ben]

Best thing to do is to read the manual and see what is recommended. Make
sure you know what kind of a USB Plug it uses. There are mini usb plugs.
Make sure you know if it is USB 2.0, 1.1, 1.0, etc. Hopefully it is USB
2.0. I dont know if there is a difference. Parallel cable use to have an

The printer actual has USB 1.1, but for the price I am getting it it
doesn't matter. It retails for $200 and I am (hopefuly) getting it for
$80 (on sale at officedepot for $170 - $20 coupon - $70 rebate) but I
have it on backorder so hopefully it will arrive within the rebate
period and since I am upgrading from a Officejet 600 I think I'll still
appreciate the difference in speed.

regards,
Ben