Farba Research Product Review

Copyright 1999 Farba Research All Rights Reserved

Rebuttals may be sent to Rebuttals@FarbaResearch.com
This product review is strictly the opinion of the reviewer, who is not necessarily a Farba Research employee. 






 

    Product: 
  HP LaserJettm 4P

 

    Category: 
  laser printer

 

    Manufacturer: 
  Hewlett-Packard

 

    Vendor Website: 
  
       http://www.hp.com/   

 

    Rating: 
   terrific print quality

 

    Reviewer: 
  E. Nicholas Cupery

 

    Review Date: 
  31 March 1999




 
 




Introduction

I purchased my LaserJet 4P over five years ago, and it is still my only
printer.  Its 4ppm print speed is starting to seem a bit slow compared to
what is available now, and I'm thinking I might like to print in color
someday soon, but this 4P meanwhile keeps on cranking out glorious
looking output.  It has never broken.

 
 




Pros



 
 




Cons



 
 




Discussion

This is a terrific printer that is very handy to use.  The normal input
paper bin is a tray at the bottom and the normal output bin is the top of
the printer, which means that there are no plastic trays "sticking out into
the wind" anywhere.  This is true even for the manual feed; the manual feed
is just a thin open slot in the front of the printer that does not require
any fold-down tray.  There is, however, a straight-through paper path that,
when selected manually (by a plastic knob), outputs the stock straight out
the back of the printer -- and thus requires about six inches of clearance
behind the printer. 


This printer will print envelopes from the manual-feed slot.  When output via
the normal (top) paper path they crinkle as usual and expected, but when
output via the straight-through paper path they are not crinkled at all. 


The manual-feed slot is used for more than just envelopes; it will accommodate
very heavy stock, as well as very small stock.  For instance, it will print
3x5 (inch) file cards just fine (even when outputting to the normal output
at the top of the printer).  The greatest thing about the manual feed for
this printer is the fact that one does not have to flip open any doors; all
you have to do is cram the individual piece into the slot and wait for the
printer feed-mechanism to grab it. 


When I first got this printer, I happened to be in Florida in the Spring.  I
was disappointed by the fact that this printer curled the paper a lot.
However, it didn't take too long to realize that the main problem was just
ambient humidity.  In a normal air-conditioned office environment, this printer
does not curl the paper excessively.  (I believe that it does
curl the paper slightly more than some other printers, and I believe that this 
is because it has a heated fuser on only one side of the paper.) 


The only other complaint I have about this printer is the fact that it prints
slightly crooked at all times.  By "slightly", I mean about one millimeter
difference left-to-right in the top margin of a normal 8.5 inch wide sheet.
This is not enough to notice when printing most documents, but it stands out
terribly when printing something very close to the edge -- for instance a
sheet of business cards.  Apparently this is the result of the printer
having only one feed-roller to grab the blank sheet.  (I saw this exact same
problem in the new and much more expensive HP 4000 series printer.)
There appears to be no way to eliminate this skew problem when feeding from
the normal input tray (yes, I tried skewing the toner cartridge slightly with
a layer of masking tape).  However, even though the manual-feed input has this
exact same problem, one can get perfectly straight output by
using the manual-feed slot while forcing the stock slightly to one side, and
this is good enough for me. 


My final complaint is about the company, not the printer.  I had some trouble
with some bad toner cartridges not too long ago (Fall of 1998), and I was
unable to contact Hewlett-Packard about the problem.  They seem to have
eliminated all telephone support as well as all online support for their
printers.  I could not even find an email address at their website.  However,
I am seeing this same problem with many other companies these days, and I
have decided that it is just a sign of the times.  This does not mean that
I have to like it!  



 
 




Conclusion

This is yet another in a long line of superb laser printers from 
Hewlett-Packard.  They surely deserve their top-notch reputation for quality.

On the business of support, I think that Hewlett-Packard gets enough of a 
premium price for its printers that it could certainly afford to answer the 
phone and respond to email.  I sure hope that they will reconsider this 
practice of hiding from their customers. 


 
 






Copyright 1999  Farba Research  All Rights Reserved 








Rebuttals may be sent to 
Rebuttals@FarbaResearch.com