Say what you want about the evil of printer companies.
“Why, the ink costs more than the printer!†Yes, we know. “They give away the razor, and sell you expensive blades!†Correct. “They say we have to use their own brand of ink! That's just to stop us from using other companies' cheaper ink!†Bingo.
But that's inkjet printers.
In the black-and-white, personal laser-printer realm, I've been pleasantly surprised. The one I bought in 2003, an H.P. LaserJet 1300, was cheap, compact and networkable; it served me flawlessly for a decade.
A couple of months ago, it finally gave up the ghost - or, rather, started printing lighter and lighter pages, even with fresh cartridges. I considered getting it repaired, but when I saw that I could get a much faster, much better, brand-new laser printer for around $100, I decided to leap into the future. ($100. Man. My first laser printer was an NEC SilentWriter for which a buddy and I paid $6,000 in the late '80s.)
Now, I generally don't review printers. The reason is simple: I'm a one-man operation, and there are hundreds of printer models to review. I'd lose that war fast.
The one I actually bought, though, deserves a special mention. It's the Hewlett-Packard Pro P1606dn ($150 online). Fortunately, whoever names these things doesn't design them. This is one rockin' printer.
First, it's shiny, black and tiny: 15 inches wide, 11 deep, 9.5 inches tall. We keep it on a bookshelf, believe it or not. It weighs 15 pounds, which is very light. (My old SilentWriter, by contrast, was roughly the size and weight of a Volkswagen Beetle.)
Keeping it in the main living area of the house is also made possible by this printer's environmentally thoughtful narcolepsy; it goes to completely silent sleep when you're not printing. And even when it is, it has a Quiet mode that's slower but quieter than normal.
Second, the printer practically sets itself up. The Smart Install feature means that the drivers and software you need are built into the printer; you don't need a CD or a download. Any computer you connect to it with a USB cable instantly grabs the software it needs, all by itself. (Smart Install is for Windows. Our Macs didn't need it; OS X comes with the driver already built in.)
The first page pops out only a few seconds after you click Print, and then the printer absolutely blazes: 25 pages a minute. It makes inkjet printers look positively sluglike.
The printouts look fantastic, crisp and black. The input and output trays hold 150 sheets; there's also a “priority†slot for envelopes, label sheets and other special paper. You get about 2,000 pages from each $78 cartridge, which isn't bad.
But for my family, the P1606dn's star features are these:
* Built-in networking. Plug an Ethernet cable into the back, and suddenly this thing is on the network, so any Mac or PC in the house can send printouts to it wirelessly. No setup.
* AirPrint. You can send printouts to this printer from an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch - or at least any app with a Print command - without any setup. For example, we routinely use the phone as a scanner. (We use a scanner-like app, JotNot, to capture page images, then print them instantly and wirelessly on the HP. Double sided.)
* Double-sided printing. I've never seen duplex printing on a personal laser printer before, but it's awesome. It saves a ton of paper and serves manuscripts and musical scores especially well. It's amazing to watch. Each page spits out of the printer, then gets sucked back in, and finally slides out a second time, now printed on both sides.
Here's what you sacrifice. This printer doesn't have a screen or even a status panel - only three indicator lights - but I've never once missed them. No memory-card slot, either. And, like most printers, this one comes without any cables. You're expected to supply your own USB or Ethernet cable.
Incredibly fast, superb quality, dirt cheap; no wonder this printer gets rave reviews on Amazon. Here's one more. If you're looking for a home laser printer, you'll fall in love with this one - whatever it's called.
