HP LaserJet Pro P1102w Toner Review

The HP LaserJet Pro P1102w hits all of the right bases for any personal monochrome laser. It is small as well as light, it is quick, plus it delivers reasonably high-quality results across the board. It offers improved speed as well as output quality as well as adding WiFi as standard, so you can share it simply.

The P1102w is smaller and also lighter in weight compared to many ink jets - a significant thing to consider if you need a printer that will not occupy lots of desktop space. The P1102w measures just 7.7 by 13.7 by 9.4 inches (HWD) and furthermore weighs 11.6 pounds.

As you may assume from the small size, the unit presents just limited paper capacity, at 150 sheets for the primary tray. That ought to be sufficient for most personal use, nevertheless its just a little below average if you are hoping to use the WiFi interconnection to share the printer between several persons.

Aiding to make up for the low paper capacity is the convenience of a 10-sheet multipurpose tray, that lets you print upon various kinds of paper-checks or letterhead for example - without needing to swap out the paper in the main tray or even manually feed every page utilizing a single-sheet manual feed.

As reported by HP the unit comes with drivers with regard to Vista 64-bit; both 32- and also 64-bit versions of Windows 7, XP, Server 2003, and Server 2008; as well as Mac OS X version 10.4 through 10.6. Additionally, HP states you are able to acquire drivers for "nearly any Linux distribution available today" from HP's Web site.

As with a lot of low-end mono lasers, actual setup is straightforward. As soon as installed, the P1102w functions swimmingly. The engine is graded at 19 pages per minute (ppm), and this even for a personal printer is actually moderate by the current standards. Nevertheless, the actual throughput is a match for other printers having quicker rated rates of speed. I timed it on the organization programs suite at a total of 7 minutes 36 seconds.

The P1102w additionally scored fairly efficiently on output quality. Printed text from the HP LaserJet Pro P1102w toner cartridge was at the lower end of a tight range where many mono lasers fall, but nevertheless within the range. Over fifty percent of the fonts on our textual content test were both readily readable as well as nicely formed at 6 points, and all but one intensely stylised font with thick strokes passed both thresholds at 8 points. Except if you have an uncommon desire for small fonts, or perhaps must print top-quality desktop publishing output, then you should not have any kind of complaints concerning the text.

Graphics quality was completely average with regard to black and white lasers - sufficient for almost any internal enterprise use, yet well below the standard many people would desire regarding marketing materials or other output that should look fully professional. Amongst other matters, I noticed visible dithering as distinct graininess and, in certain images, an undesirable darker band within a solid grey region. The printer also experienced some problems with slender lines, but that's perhaps the most common problem. The P1102w really addresses thin lines much better than many printers.

Pictures were equally typical for monochrome lasers. They're adequate regarding printing Web pages including pictures on them. Based upon how demanding you are, you might consider them adequate for any client newsletter or the like.

Unless you anticipate you'll print substantial volumes the HP LaserJet Pro P1102w's balance of small size, fast speed, as well as realistically high-quality output makes it a more than fair alternative as maybe a personal printer in any size business office or perhaps as a shared printer inside an office with simply two or three people. HP toner cartridges are to be found here.

Theodore Beach is a member of the Cartridge Concept team which specialises in printer cartridges.