How to choose a quality printer for home use? The answer to this question depends on many factors: the monthly volume of pages, the type of printouts, and more. However, for printing text documents it is better to choose exclusively laser printers. Their toner consumption is much lower than ink consumption. Yes, and they work much faster and quieter. Laser monochrome printers are the main working tool in many offices. But it’s okay to use them at home. In this regard, the HP LaserJet Ultra M106W is of exceptional interest. Reviews about this product are mixed, so you'll have to disassemble it in detail. But first, a few words about the manufacturing company.
Printer manufacturer
Hewlett-Packard was founded in 1939 by two former students. At the dawn of its formation, the company was engaged in the production of computing and measuring equipment: oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, signal generators, and more. A little later, the company mastered the production of various medical electronic equipment. The "computer era" of the company began in 1966 with the release of the world's first mini-computer. After that, the manufacturer closely engaged in the production of computers and laptops. The company took up the computer peripherals in 1984, releasing the world's first inkjet printer. Since then, printers, computers and laptops - the priority areas of the company. And her technique is very high quality. Just look at the HP LaserJet Ultra M106W printer. User reviews about him are mostly positive. And that says a lot.
The history of the company in our time
In 2015, HP was divided into two concerns. The first is engaged in the production of mass products (printers, computers and laptops). The second specializes in server solutions and serves exclusively corporate clients. This separation of functions only benefited the company and improved productivity. Everyone still remembers the corruption scandal with HP. The company's management pleaded guilty to bribing officials to receive government orders. A huge penalty was paid. But this did not affect the quality of the products. And the HP LaserJet Ultra M106W, reviews of which we will analyze a little later, is a direct confirmation of this. Now consider the technical characteristics of the device.
Laser Printer Features
Let's take a closer look at the HP LaserJet Ultra M106W. We start the review with the number of pages produced per minute. It is 22. In normal operation. This is a very good result for a budget device. Cartridge yield is 9,200 pages. The maximum monthly load is twenty thousand pages. What can I say? For home use, such a device is quite enough. For a small office too. But large organizations are better off paying attention to more expensive, professional models. A monthly load will not allow printing large volumes of documents.
A processor with a clock frequency of 600 megahertz is installed on board the printer. It is used to correctly recognize text and print in high resolution. By the way, the maximum resolution of a printed page is 1200 dpi. Fast printing is available in 600 dpi. For printing plain text, permissions are not critical. The text will be perfectly readable both at a resolution of 600 and 1200 DPI. More important is the first page exit time setting. With a cold start, the first page prints in 7.3 seconds. This is a decent result. Now let's look at the appearance of the HP LaserJet Ultra M106W G3Q39A. Reviews about the design are mixed. Not everyone likes it.
Printer design
In principle, the appearance of the printer is standard for devices of this class. This is a relatively small device in a rectangular case with rounded, streamlined faces. The color palette is rather meager. There are models in black and white. But for office equipment this is normal. On the top panel there is a sheet release slot. At the front, under the blank cover, is a tray for blank sheets. On the back of the printer is a compartment with access to the cartridge. The controls are also located on the top panel. There are also information LEDs. There is nothing extraordinary about the appearance of the HP LaserJet Ultra M106W. User reviews confirm this. It's time to consider the unique features of the printer.
Additional functionality
Unlike budget models, this printer has additional functionality that is designed to make life easier for a simple user. Additional features include Hp ePrint. It allows you to connect the printer to any mobile device using a Wi-Fi network and perform direct printing. Yes, a Wi-Fi transmitter is also included. This means that you can connect the device to a computer using both a classic USB cable and wireless. Another useful option is to support different types of paper. Printing can be done both on ordinary office sheets, and on such "exotic" products as venel paper. Photo paper support is also available. The printer can be connected to a computer running Windows or MacOS. Linux support is not announced, which, of course, is not pleasing to some users.
Positive feedback from owners
Now it's time to move on to people's opinions about a device like the HP LaserJet Ultra M106W. Reviews are extremely important when choosing a device. They help to understand how the characteristics declared by the manufacturer coincide with the real ones. And the behavior of the device in real conditions would also be nice to study. So, the vast majority of users are quite happy with the purchase. Everyone notes that the actual characteristics of the printer do not differ from the declared. Prints the presented device very quickly. Also, manufacturers did not deceive in terms of cartridge life. It is really enough for 9,200 pages. But the purchase of a new cartridge is quite noticeable hit in the pocket. So it’s better to just refill it. But then the resource will slightly decrease. However, for an ordinary user who uses the device for personal purposes, there will be no difference. A special advantage many owners consider the availability of wireless connectivity to a PC or mobile device.
Negative owner reviews
However, there are also negative comments about the HP LaserJet Ultra M106W. Negative reviews are mainly related to the design of the device. Many do not like the frankly faceless device. Boring white rectangle on the table. But this is office equipment. So you need to be more tolerant. But the accusations against the company's engineers that they could not establish a normal wireless connection - this is serious. According to users, the Wi-Fi connection of the printer with any device is extremely unstable. Because of this, it is not possible to print a page of text normally. The lack of support for the Linux family of operating systems also dislikes users. They are gaining more and more popularity. Well, the most common cause of complaints is the high cost of consumables. Replacing a cartridge is really quite expensive. Despite the fact that the printer itself is worth a penny. But that’s part of HP’s long-standing strategy. They give their printing devices for nothing, but then more than compensate for the losses due to the original cartridges. Be that as it may, this printer is a worthy device for home and office use, because there are more positive reviews than negative ones.
Conclusion
So, we reviewed the budget laser printer for home and office use HP LaserJet Ultra M106W. His description suggests that we have a modern and quite functional device with a decent monthly load. Everything is good in this unit, except for the wireless connection of not the best quality and dull design. But this is not particularly critical. Most attractive price. But the cost of the cartridge repels. However, the average user will not have to change the cartridge very often. So the game is worth the candle.