HP Color Laser Printer For Home Or Office

Whenever you are shopping for something and in the decision-making-buying process, it is good to read about the experiences of others. And here is one buyer's experience with an HP color laser printer.

I was looking to replace my printer primarily because even though it still did some pretty good printing, there were some features that wanted and I also needed a printer with new technology. I already had an idea about the type of printer I wanted, because I had been using the color laser printer at my job. The quality of the printing had always impressed me so I was determined to get one. Obviously, I wasn't going to get the same model, but I was definitely going to look at affordable HP color laser printers.

My initial research began by going online. Although I did check the circulars in the newspaper, but mostly my browsing was online. Then, I went to the HP site to get an idea of all the models and styles and tried to get an idea of the different features that were available. Once I settled on an HP color laser printer, I read some reviews about it. Eventually, I found an affordable model that fit what I was looking for.

Even though I knew the measurements of the printer, when I actually saw it, it was a little bigger than I anticipated. Not that that's a bad thing, because in looking at it, I felt confident in the quality and durability of it. But understand, it went nicely in my office.

Getting it set up and ready to go was a breeze. The manual laid everything out step by step. As a matter of fact, the manual was less than a dozen pages. It the covered the bare bones of things to let you how things work and to get you up and running. However, there is a CD that contains more information about the printer. I mean you can actually take the printer out of the box, do the CD set up, plug in the cables, and print out a page in under 10 minutes.

Getting the paper loaded wasn't a problem. The tray held it nice and flat. And you can adjust the tray to just about any size. Although I have to admit one thing. I wish the paper tray was a little sturdier, but with that being said as HP color laser printers go, it wasn't a deal breaker by any means.

I like the professional-quality look and the various buttons and lights on the front that let's you know what's going on. There are lights to let you know when any of the cartridges are getting low. There's a light to let you know that the printer is working and ready to go. There's a light that let's you know something is wrong altogether. There's a light to tell you when you've run out of paper. And there's a light that let's you know when paper is jammed. There's a button that let's you resume printing if you stop for whatever reason. There's also a button to cancel the print job if you discover something is wrong.

Depending on where you place your printer, you'll have to decide if the location of the power button is a problem. When the printer is first turned on, for about 10 seconds or so, it can be a little noisy as it's warming up. Don't worry, it's really not a problem.

The actual printing process is like any other printer. You push the button and it prints. But that's not the reason I bought the printer. It's the look of what comes out that different than most other printers.

The printer I chose doesn't automatically print both sides. Meaning, if I want to print two-sided copies, I have to do it manually.

But, the print quality especially for a home computer was excellent. The black text looked clear and sharp with no smearing, and the color was vibrant. And I felt like the printing speed was reasonable for my needs -- 12 ppm in black and 8 ppm in color.

Overall, I like my HP color laser jet printer a lot. I could try to nitpick some things here and there, but it's a quality printer inside and out and have no complaints. And, I would make the purchase all over again, if I had too. So my personal opinion is that if you're in the market for a new printer, you might want to check out HP color laser printers.