Are printer jams called printer jelly in the US? (HP Laserjet 1100)

Member Name: Plymyphil

Product:	HP Laserjet 1100
Date:	23/01/04 (1355 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Robust, Still working

Disadvantages: Jams slightly too often, Memory issues

Here I am with another printer opinion to help inform purchasing decisions. Thank you in advance for reading and I look forward to any comments you may leave.

Firstly, my history of this product. I have been responsible for two of these printers on a network for about five years now. Our experience with each has been different and this puts a unique perspective on this opinion that I hope will encourage thought about purchasing printers for network usage.

First, a technical outline. The printer is supplied with 2Mb of internal memory as standard. In both cases, we upgraded to 8Mb internal memory. Now, as a basic guide, the more memory a printer has the quicker it can hand the computer activities back to the processor without interrupting for more print data. Remember this, it will be important in a couple of paragraphs time. The printer has a resolution of 600 dots per inch (dpi). This is a perfectly acceptable resolution for a laser printer and this uses no enhancement technology so it is a genuine 600dpi. Beware those that claim higher resolutions and then in the same sentence boast clever enhancing technologies. It is capable of 8 pages per minute and our experience is that this is a realistic expectation of the printer's output. Via various little sliders of plastic on the in tray it can take in a wide variety of different sized media. The paper tray we have installed on this printer claims to hold 100 sheets but jams (read below) are even more common if it is loaded to capacity. Fifty to seventy sheets is a more acceptable working load.
The printer can be connected standalone using a parallel port or as is more commonly the case with this workgroup printer, to a network using the inbuilt 10/100 adaptor.
We have the computer connected to a Windows network with an NT 4.0 server and Windows 98 clients but again, versatility is a plus point of HP printers and newer and older operating systems will not pose a problem. Windows 95, 98, ME
, 2000, XP and NT4.0 or higher are all covered as are Mac OS 8.1 or above.

That really is the technical bit done - there is nothing more to say. Now, a brief overview of the network these printers serve and then on to how each one has coped with the life of drudgery it has enjoyed churning out sheet after sheet for the last five years.
The network consists of one server but is split into two. There is an administrative segment home to printer number one of this make and model and then a segment for the rest of the computers. The administrative segment has three machines, rarely connected simultaneously and even rarer that they print simultaneously. The main segment of the network has over forty computers. It is common for up to thirty to be connected at once and for twenty machines to send to the printer at the same time.

To understand the different experiences we have had with these printers you need a small background to our printing system. (I promise to keep it short.) Printing from a computer sends the file to the server. At the server, it gets sucked bit by bit into an in queue and then the user gets full control of their computer once again. (Remember the important bit about memory that I promised to return to?) Now, the file gets moved to an outqueue from where the server send it bit by bit to the printer.

Now, this is sold as a workgroup printer which means it is designed to serve a small segment of a network. Enter stage left printer number one serving the administrative network. Now, this printer has hardly ever returned a problem. It's print queue empties effortlessly to the printer memory (8Mb) and from there is printed. No problem. Result - the administrative staff describe it as the most reliable printer ever, a delight to use.

Printer number two is working that little bit harder, serving the rest of the network. Now, using the magic of complicated mathematics - if you have a file in say, Microsoft Word, tha
t when saved will take up 1Mb, when in the print queue it breeds. There is no explaining it but as it appears in the print queue it swells to over twice its normal size. (Smutty comments to yourself please!) This is fine - the file then moves to the out queue and out to the printer - prints and all is well. Now, let's up the ante slightly. Twenty users all send a 1Mb file at the same time. Each file doubles in size - within milliseconds the printer memory is full and the server is desperately trying to communicate (thousands of times a second) with a printer that has now just stopped listening. Imagine if you will somebody gives you a task to do - you are about to begin and they give you another task ... and another ... and another. You become confused - disorientated and then without warning suffer a nervous breakdown and sit whimpering in the corner doing none of the jobs. Well, that is this printer. Regularly it was found whimpering in the corner with a print queue running to hundreds of megabytes. Clear the print queue, switch the printer off and on (which wipes the memory and is a printer's version of prozac) and all is well once again until the next pressure situation.

OVERALL
Overall this printer is ideal for the market at which it is targetted. Please, do not try and cut corners. If you have a greater output and a greater number of users then you need more memory and a printer that is better at multitasking. If this printer had a gender it would be male - does one job very well so long as it is left to get on with the job with no nagging.
The price of £600 that we paid is now significantly lower and may lead potential buyers to consider other entry level laser printers. I would say that the brand of HP has been superb for printer reliability but you do have to pay attention to the side of the box. If it says workgroup printer this is for a small office of up to half a dozen machines printing a limited number of pages simultaneously.
We have learned and the replacement to this printer performs memory tricks that would have David Blaine applauding.


Thanks for taking the time to read this opinion and I hope it succeeds in providing the information needed to inform purchasing decisions. All comments are gratefully received as always - Phil

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