Fast, efficient little b/w laser printer
Written: Jan 30 '04 (Updated May 01 '04)
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Pros: Incredibly fast printing. Quiet operation. Clean prints. No wasted inkjet charging.
Cons: Instructions for installation were bad. Easy to muddle through though with no fatal consequences.
The Bottom Line: Great printer with a relatively small footprint. Fast (7 seconds to print), quiet and clean prints. Lovely. Highly recommended.
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| adamarket's Full Review: Hewlett Packard LaserJet 1012 Laser Printer |
After wasting time, money and energy on several color inkjet printers and those expensive little cartridges that always run out right before you really need to print something, I finally decided that I'd had enough of the whole "razor and razorblades" scam and would opt out of buying another wasteful inkjet printer. I would replace my suddenly defunct 10-month old Epson C82 inkjet printer with a laser printer instead.
Considering that most of my printing actually is non-color document printing, I realized that I probably wouldn't miss being able to print in color all that much. It had been a few years since I had last considered buying a laser printer and prices then were a lot higher. I was frankly surprised by how cheap a lot of the b/w laser printers were.
As I cast about the web for reviews, I kept reading good things about the HP 1012. Every other b/w laser seemed to have drawbacks except the HP 1012. It was a little more expensive than many of the others, but I decided this was the printer for me.
I found the printer on Office Depot's site for approximately $200 and ordered it, then the very next day I saw the same printer on HPShopping.com for $50 less. I called Office Depot to see if they would price match but they wouldn't. Needless to say, I still ordered the cheaper printer from HPShopping but spent $25 of my $50 savings sending back the first printer to Office Depot. Oh well, you have to look at the net gain, don't you?
The good news is my new HP 1012 is an absolutely fantastic printer. The footprint is small. The machine prints its first page within 7 seconds of being switched on and unlike my Epson inkjet it doesn't waste ink charging for 45 seconds and doesn't sound like an old newspaper press when it finally does print. Believe me when I say, you won't believe how whisper quiet and efficient this little black and white printer is until it's on your desk at home. The quality of the prints are also wonderful. I'm used to seeing inkjet black with banding and smudges. The lines on the page that come out of the 1012 are solid and straight as a razor. Great stuff.
Setting up the printer was a tad harder than it should have been, but not enough to put anyone off buying this printer. The printed instructions (ironically) were a bit vague and instructed me to actually load the software first before connecting the printer physically via a USB, however, when I did so, the software asked me where the printer was and I had to end the install. I started again by connecting the printer via a USB cable and then installed the software without problem.
If you are looking to replace an inkjet printer which is costing you an arm and a leg and don't need to print in color, then PLEASE consider purchasing this printer. I promise you won't regret it. The savings in headaches, new cartridges and wasted ink will quickly pay for the cost of the printer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
adamarket
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Member: Adam Carey
Location: California - San Francisco
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 1 member
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