The Ideal Solution for the Cubicle or Home Office
Pros:
Easy to install; small footprint; fast printing speed.
Cons:
None
The Bottom Line:
Hp has done it again; this printer is ideally suited for cubicles and the home office environment.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Laser printers, no matter their make or model, have an effective life of no more then six years, after which they start to deteriorate at a noticeable clip. Such was the case with our installed base of Lexmark Opera E small foot print laserjet printers scattered throughout the campus on individual desktops.
I was asked to research and recommend a new desktop (laser) printing standard to replace the Lexmark printers on hand, with an eye towards a small footprint, faster printing then the Opera E’s, and USB connectivity. I settled on the HP LaserJet 1012.
The Printer
Hp has done it again with the introduction of the stylish (black with silver highlights) LaserJet 1012. Clocking in at some 15 pages per minute (ppm), the LaserJet 1012 is fast; both printing and time to print; i.e. from request to actual print is less than 12 seconds. The LaserJet 1012 printer is ideally suited for cubicles, where space can be a premium, and or the home office environment, because it presents such a small footprint; just 14” wide.
The replacement toner cartridge is small and inexpensive, and the paper tray will easily swallow 150 sheets of standard 20lbs paper; output tray will hold 125 sheets. Print quality is 600 DPI or 1200 DPI with RET (enhanced). Connectivity is via USB, and according to HP, the LaserJet 1012 printer supports Microsoft Windows 98, Me, 2000 and XP as well as Macintosh OS 9 and OS X.
Installation
The box is nicely packaged and the printer is festooned with all matter of tape that will need to be peeled off; this of course it to protect the printer in transit. As is the prevailing trend, there is a large fold out diagram sheet that provides step by step instruction on how to assemble and install the printer.
Inside the box is the printer, toner cartridge, paper tray cover power cord, installation CD Rom. There is no USB cable; that will have to be purchase separately. As in all USB installations, it is high recommended that you install the software BEFORE you connect the printer. There is a method to this madness: namely after Windows 9.xx /XP finds the printer it will need the associated drives and or other software. If it is already installed the process becomes almost seamless to the end-user. Installation options include the ability to install a web based tool box, but be aware that it will consume 46MB of disk space. And the Tool box installs Java Runtime, and on system without a lot of resources; e.g. older Windows systems, this could cause problems.
Use
The output quality of the LaserJet 1012 is impressive; the print is clean, crisp and well defined. Though most people tent to use Xerox paper in their laser printers I recommend laser printer stock which tends to be whiter, and therefore offers better quality output.
Since the LaserJet 1012 is a small “beginners” printer the memory is static at 8MB, which should prove adequate for most users. The LaserJet 1012 will work well with both USB version 1.1 and 2.0 as I have printer attached to both.
Conclusion
If you need a small, fast inexpensive (just $199.99) laser printer that is also attractive and versatile, look no further then the HP LaserJet 1012.
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