Finding a printer in a budget class is increasingly leading a potential buyer to buy a laser printer. The reason is the low cost and high printing speed. In this article, the reader will become acquainted with one of such inexpensive representatives of an affordable class. The HP LaserJet P1102s laser printer is considered not only the leader in sales in the domestic market, but also the cheapest in maintenance. Description, instructions, specifications, reviews will help the user find out more information about a decent printing device.
First meeting
The very well-known company HP greatly upset their fans who wanted to buy printing equipment under the brand of the same name. What packaging, equipment in no way correspond to the high status of the manufacturer. True, on the other hand, this explains the low cost of the printer itself on the market - only 5-6 thousand rubles.
The plain gray box, made in the form of a diplomat and having a flimsy plastic handle, has a poor package bundle: HP LaserJet P1102s laser printer, user manual, starter cartridge, power cable and USB cable. As for the protection of the device from damage during transportation, this is a complete order - at the factory all removable and moving elements are attached to the case with adhesive tape, which is easily removed and leaves no sticky residue.
Build Quality and Appearance
If we talk about the quality of the plastic itself, from which the device and removable elements are made, then there are no complaints against the manufacturer. All elements are impeccable and do not have any defects. However, there are comments on removable trays that are not very tightly attached to the printer and dangle when moving the printer assembly.
The HP LaserJet P1102s is equipped with a starter cartridge, which many users have questions about. Firstly, it is lightweight, which gives rise to suspicions that it had not previously been refueled at the plant. The second unpleasant fact for the owner will be the capacity of the cartridge - only 65 grams of toner (800 pages).
Hardware and Software Compatibility
The driver and software disks that are missing from the device will definitely suggest to the owner that the manufacturer forgot to put them in the box. In fact, everything is much simpler - installation of additional software is not required. The HP LaserJet P1102s laser printer is detected by all Microsoft Windows-based operating systems and also has hardware support for working with MacOS and Linux. Fans of all operating systems perceived this approach of the manufacturer well, as evidenced by the positive reviews.
As for the software part and fine-tuning of printing, everything here is not as simple as it seems. In the Windows operating environment, you can still use standard equipment to achieve changes in print quality or page size. But owners of other systems will have to install additional software created by enthusiasts. Alternatively, you can install software from the official website of the manufacturer, designed for another modification of the printer (compatibility is described in specialized forums).
Non Warranty Case
Whatever brand the printer is purchased for, before the first start-up, the manufacturer strongly recommends that after opening the box and assembling the device, leave the printing device for 6-8 hours for ventilation and drying (at any time of the year). However, few people adhere to these rules, trying to quickly turn on the device and check print quality. In most cases, if we are talking about other brands, the wet toner will not be transferred to the paper, respectively, clean sheets will come out of the printer.
The HP LaserJet pro P1102s laser printer works differently - wet toner sticks to the drum, spoiling its photographic surface. In fact, this is a full-fledged wear that can not be fixed with anything - a complete drum replacement is required. Naturally, such a problem does not fall under the warranty case and is eliminated at the expense of the owner of the printer.
Specifications
The print speed announced by the manufacturer (18 pages per minute) will definitely attract the attention of many potential buyers who want to buy an HP LaserJet P1102s laser printer. Performance characteristics are always a priority for future owners. However, the manufacturer is silent about the fact that with such speed it is possible to print only text documents that do not contain graphs and images. But to print a photograph or drawing (albeit in worse quality) will be problematic.
The problem lies in the small amount of RAM. The HP LaserJet P1102s is equipped with 2 megabytes of RAM. The problem is easily solved by changing the resolution of photos sent to print. But the fact remains - why the manufacturer did not worry about the final consumer, because even a 16-megabyte memory module costs a penny that any owner would gladly give to improve the performance of his printer.
Print quality
As for the other characteristics, the printing device has complete order with them. There are no complaints about print quality - any font, any size of letters and special characters print perfectly on paper. With permission, too, complete order. You can achieve maximum text printing speed with a resolution of 300x300 dpi. The quality of the prints will not be affected, only the text itself will not be black, but with a gray tint.
Resolution 600x600 dpi improves printing, but slows down the printer to 12-14 sheets per minute. The problem is the post processing the processor is responsible for. Many stores selling the HP LaserJet P1102s laser printer omit the description of the technical characteristics of the central processor while offering the product to the buyer, and it is this element that is the weakest link in the printing device, which affects both quality and speed.
Printing Costs and Printer Maintenance
The media has a lot of questions about the consumables that the HP LaserJet pro P1102s uses. The reviews of the owners assure that there are a number of problems that have one solution - the purchase of an additional non-original cartridge of increased capacity. After all, the usual refueling is expensive for the user, and the drum in it wears out too quickly.
As for the maintenance, then everything is simple - any equipment should work clean and tidy. Accordingly, when refueling, you need to thoroughly clean the toner cartridge and insert it carefully into the printer. Also, it will not hinder the owner of the printing device after a certain number of printed pages to clean and purge the printer elements from dust and spilled toner. This is the only way to extend the life cycle of a printing device for decades.
Finally
What conclusion can be made? If you do not take into account the problems with the original cartridge that came with the HP LaserJet P1102s, the feedback on the printing technique is more positive than negative. The thing is affordable for many buyers. After all, an inexpensive segment is always in great demand. Superbly the manufacturer came up to reliability. Although the removable elements may not be rigidly mounted, it is impossible to break the printer components during operation, whether it is servicing or cleaning the device — all components are easily removable and also easily installed back.
The technical characteristics of the device will satisfy any home user, especially if the owner plans to print only text documents. But the installation of such a printer in the office is not recommended - a low-power machine is not able to correctly process a large print queue or print high quality images on paper.