Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1100
The LaserJet 1100 is the replacement for the popular 6L line of personal laser printers.

Setup. Setup was a breeze because absolutely everything was automated. We did not have to hunt online for the setup instructions, nor did we have to search through the CD-ROM for the driver. The printed quick reference guide was concise and easy to follow.

Performance. The LaserJet 1100 scored high marks for performance, as well. Even though we ran the PostScript test on the lowest-quality setting, simply to see if the printer could meet the challenge, the LaserJet 1100 produced perfect, legible text page after page. Most printers at this price don’t support PostScript.

The LaserJet 1100 produced impressive graphics and charts. Its speed won two races compared to the other printers in this review, but the Brother HL 1040 (reviewed on our Web site, http://www.smartcomputing.com) was the fastest. Still, the LaserJet 1100 took a long time to print the Photoshop graphics file. The result was worth the wait. The graphics were amazingly clear for a monochrome printer that costs less than $400.

The other text tests were flawless, with the text consistently dark black and legible in all font sizes. The LaserJet 1100 supports HP PCL 5e printer language, offers 600 x 600 dpi resolution, and has 28 Intellifont scalable typefaces. The external paper bin holds 125 sheets of letter or legal stock paper. The second external bin adjusts to feed envelopes and invoice-sized paper.

Consumables. Hewlett-Packard designed this printer to kick out 7,000 pages per month, and its toner cartridges ($50) to yield 2,500 pages. The LaserJet 1100 is also Y2K compliant.

The 2MB RAM is expandable to an impressive 18MB. We were also pleased to find that HP packs a printer cable with the LaserJet 1100.





Recommended: Yes