HP LaserJet Pro P1102

QUICK INTRO TO WHAT THIS PRINTER IS

First and foremost this is a review for the HP LaserJet Pro P1102. As it says in the name it is a laser printer. This means that the printer produces extremely high quality text. However, this particular laser printer only prints in black ink. It is a basic printer, it does not scan, or copy documents, it just simply prints documents. It gives extremely high quality results and it works extremely fast. It is what I would call a 'work type of printer' perfect for the requirement of lots of printing at a fast pace at a high quality whilst saving energy at the same time (this I will explain more about later in the review).

WHY THIS PRINTER?

This printer my dad bought four months ago as the printer for his main computer and the laptops in the house. The laptops include his laptop, mine and my brother's laptop. I could not at the beginning understand why my dad had spent £84.00 for a printer, especially one that only prints in black for at home. However, at least he got it at that price from Amazon and did not spend £109.99 at PC World for it. At university I have the HP Deskjet 1050 All-in-One printer which I got for a massive bargain of £30.00 and I love it. It does everything that I need it to do including scanning, copying and normal printing in colour and black. However, the first difference I noticed with the HP LaserJet Pro which dad bought was that I did not need to install the printer with a CD. This made life easier than usual already, I literally just had to make sure that the printer was plugged in and attach a USB cable to it which I connected to my laptop and the set up started straight away. The one downside to the USB use is that you actually have to purchase the USB cable separately from the machine. It is not included, but this was the same for my HP printer at university. It must just be something that HP do not provide, which is rather frustrating if you do not have a spare USB cable lying around the house.

WHAT DOES THE PRINTER LOOK LIKE?

It is a very attractive printer, it is white in colour and has an input tray at the bottom for paper. This tray can hold up to 150 sheets of paper which is quite a lot compared to my other printer. This paper tray when not holding paper can be folded upwards so it is not visible, which is great for travelling by making the printer compact. However, I am not suggesting that it is a printer that you would travel around with, it is far too hefty for that, but if you were moving home etc, it can be folded up slightly. The paper tray area at the bottom is grey in colour and where the paper once printed on appears at the top of the printer is also grey in colour. I was surprised that dad had not bought a black computer in all honesty since most business men (I know I am generalising here) have a black laptop and computer like he does and the white and grey printer does not really match. However, it does match with my white laptop, which is surely all that matters to me. There is a version of the printer in black but the model is called HP LaserJet Pro P1102W. The size of the printer is approximately 35cm in width by 24cm in depth and 20cm in height. So it is not massive but it is certainly big enough for a printer. It weighs 5.2kg. On the left hand side of the printer is the ON button and at the top of the printer is an LED control panel, one button is green to show it is working and the other is orange/red which lights up if there is a problem like a paper-jam (but I have not experienced any problems as of yet).

WHAT ACTUALLY COMES IN THE BOX WITH THE PRINTER?

Like I have already said no USB cable comes with the printer, this must be purchased separately but it does not have to be a HP USB it can be a cheap one from Amazon or Play.com for around £3.00. My dad bought the Belkin PRO Series Hi-Speed USB from Amazon. However, the USB needs to have different ends; one to put into the laptop/computer which is the normal USB type A side and the printer needs a different USB type B end which is squarer. But if this is searched for online it will make more sense.

So in the box you get the printer of course, along with a small black ink cartridge (however, this is just a starter ink cartridge so it ran out very quickly). It also comes with the power plug in cord and a CD to install (however, like I said it is not necessary, it can be installed without the CD). Along with an instructions manual and a few other documents like the getting started guide with quick and easy step by step instructions.

WHAT INK CARTRIDGES ARE REQUIRED?

As I mentioned earlier only a black cartridge is required because the printer only prints in black. This particular printer uses HP LaserJet CE285 print cartridges (HP black and white laser toner printer cartridges) which are approximately £45.00 off Amazon. This is the cheapest my dad has found them for. This ink cartridge states that it should last for around 1600 printed pages which is a lot more than regular cartridges but I suppose that is why they are so expensive. My dad has replaced our ink cartridge once in four months which is quite good going considering my dad prints a lot of pages every single day.

PRINTING

Simply press the ON button of the machine if it is not already on. The first time I printed from the printer was for some lecture notes that were in colour. So unfortunately the printer only printing in black and white made my lecture notes a little less appealing to read. I was impressed by the speed of the printer as well as the quality of the print. It is much quicker than mine at university. Some of the specifications in the instructions manual states that the printer prints up to 18 pages per minute of A4 paper which is a lot! The printer paper is at the bottom of the printer and the printed documents are produced at the top of the printer. This is a better set up than some other printers like mine which produces the printed document in the same area as where the plain pages are inserted, which occasionally causes paper jams.

OTHER FACTORS

The printer is ENERGY STAR qualified which means that it saves energy. It states up to 50 percent of energy is saved due to its instant technology. It does not require heat up time.

The printer can print on paper of different sizes including, A4, A5, A6, B5, postcards and envelopes. My dad often uses the printer for printing on envelopes and has told me it is extremely easy to use for them. The paper that my dad buys for the printer is the HP LaserJet paper with 500 sheets in a pack for around £8.00. Which is about the same as any other printing paper.

WHICH COMPUTER SOFTWARES ARE COMPATIBLE WITH THIS PRINTER?

The printer is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP, Server 2008 and Server 2003. It can also be used with Mac (Apple) computer software versions inclduing: OS X v10.4, v10.5, v10.6

CONCLUSION

Overall to make this printer perfect it would need to print in colour in my opinion and also be wireless since it makes life far easier to print from anywhere in the house without the USB cable. But overall, for the purposes that my dad bought the printer for (to print black and white documents quickly and at a high quality)... it does all of that, so he says he cannot complain. He said he would give it 5 out of 5 stars but for my couple of disappointments with it I will rate it 4 out of 5 stars. However, lets not forget how fast this printer is and what great quality documents are printed whilst saving energy at the same time! To be honest he could have spent a lot more on a printer than £84.00 so I am thankful it was only that much!