1200 HP Laserjet
Monochrome -1200 HP Laserjet Printer
1200 HP Laserjet
1200 HP Laserjet
Technical Details
- Personal printer - Laser - Monochrome
- Print Speed up to 15 pages/min - Max speed
- Connectivity Technology Wired
- Max Resolution ( B&W ) 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi
Description
Hewlett-Packard’s LaserJet 1200 is poised to replace the HP LaserJet 1100xi, a low-cost laser we’ve known and loved for its excellent print quality and its versatile copy/scan attachment. Improving on a good thing can be difficult, but in this case, HP succeeds admirably. The LaserJet 1200 fixes all the things we disliked about the 1100xi and delivers better print quality at faster speeds–all for the same low price.Hewlett-Packard’s LaserJet 1200 is poised to replace the HP LaserJet 1100xi, a low-cost laser we’ve known and loved for its excellent print quality and its versatile copy/scan attachment.
The LaserJet 1200 fixes all the things we disliked about the 1100xi and delivers better print quality at faster speeds–all for the same low price. Setting up the $399 LaserJet 1200 is a breeze. The printer has both parallel and USB ports; you can even hook up two PCs–one through the parallel port, one through the USB–to the LaserJet 1200 without going to the trouble of networking the printer. There’s no Adobe PostScript upgrade available, however, just an emulation of PS level 2. The standard 8MB of RAM is upgradeable to 72MB.
The LaserJet 1200’s bundled software includes scanning and copying programs, as well as ReadIris Professional OCR, for turning scanned documents into editable text files. Offices seeking a multifunction’s versatility might also appreciate the LaserJet 1200’s copier/scanner attachment option ($149). This device, which sits on top of the output tray, adds important office functions to the machine, so you won’t have to buy separate machines. The LaserJet 1200 bested its predecessor on all of CNET Labs’ tests. It clocked 10.5 text pages per minute (ppm) at 600 dots per inch (dpi).
The LaserJet 1200 slowed down to about 8.3ppm when printing mixed text and graphics, but it was still among the fastest we’ve tested. Output quality was even better than output speed. Text samples we printed looked excellent at 600dpi, with crisp, solid black lines on both serif and sans-serif fonts. On graphics tests, the LaserJet 1200 is only the second monochrome laser printer that CNET has tested to receive a score of excellent (the other printer is the HP LaserJet 2100TN). The LaserJet 1200 did a fine job on the line drawings, gradients, and tricky grayscale photographic elements in our test document.
The HP LaserJet is also economical. A 2,500-page replacement toner cartridge costs $62.50, which works out to about 2.5 cents per page–about the norm for personal laser printers. HP plans to offer a 3,500-page cartridge for $64 starting in July 2001.
With a boxy yet curvy new design that drew admiring comments from CNET editors, the LaserJet 1200 looks completely different from the LaserJet 1100xi. The LaserJet 1200 also handles paper much differently than did its predecessor. The LaserJet 1200 can take 250 sheets of input and 125 output, compared to the LaserJet 1100xi’s 125/100. The input tray’s clear plastic cover pulls double duty as the manual input for heavy paper and envelopes; a straight-through output path exits at the back of the printer. You can attach an HP JetDirect 175X for $199. Network-ready and copy/scan-ready versions of the LaserJet 1200 are available for $599 and $529, respectively.
The HP Web site offers the usual support options, including current drivers, FAQs, manuals, and troubleshooting tips. SOHO users and small workgroups who can live with the HP LaserJet 1200’s paper-handling limitations will probably be thrilled with everything else about it. The HP LaserJet 1200 greatly outperformed its predecessor, the LaserJet 1100xi, and narrowly squeaked by the NEC SuperScript 1400 to take top honors in the text-speed category. While the LaserJet 1200 lagged a bit in graphics speed tests, the end result was worth the wait: The LaserJet 1200 is only the second monochrome laser CNET’s tested to receive a score of excellent on the graphics test document.
