Printing Started...Printing Complete (HP Laserjet 5)

Member Name: johnsy32

Product:	HP Laserjet 5
Date:	04/03/05 (1591 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great for large amounts of work

Disadvantages: Needs cleaning inside, It's not colour and toners are expensive

This is an ideal printer for what I need it to do. I need a printer that can print out very quickly in large amounts quickly and that can change between different coloured paper and labels. This is the printer that is connected to my computer at work and I have two years experience with this required tool. Hewlett Packard is a leader in printer technology and this only shines through with this version.

Installation
*************
Installation is very quick and easy. You plug the printer into your printer port and if you're PC is like mine, it recognises the printer straight away and you just need to follow the driver installation procedure, once it is installed it is ready to go. You have a very detailed instruction manual so the user's who aren't as experienced with the installation of hardware can easily follow the instructions. There is no specific software that is needed to run along side it, it work's through Windows fine. This printer has also been networked and accessed by other computers on the network, which was installed by an I.T. Technician so it is ideal for networking.

The jobs I use it for
************************

My main job that I use this computer for is printing out around fifty sheets of paper at a time on up five different coloured sheets of paper. The changing of the coloured can be done with the drop down paper feed at the front of the printer that makes changing the paper quick and easy. I also need to print out labels and use the front drop down paper feed for that job too. I also need to print the odd single sheet out for colleagues and the speed of the print out is very good and takes about four seconds from when the paper is grabbed.

Features
***********
This printer is a fair size and takes up half of my desk but is essential for me. A small inkjet or laser printer wouldn't be able to cope with the amount of paper that I have to handle and the speed that my company needs it printed out.

The printer has two paper trays, tray 1 and tray 2, in tray 1 I keep it fully loaded with white paper as it is the most common I use, it holds up to half a ream. Tray two is the one that I use for labels and different coloured paper as it saves on time having to open tray 1 and change the paper. Tray 2 is the very handy as you can pull down it down and put some paper in and the printer makes this tray the default so as soon as anything is put into the tray it grabs it.

The printer comes with it's own menu that consists of Parallel Menu, Serial Menu, Printing Menu, PCL Fonts Menu, Job Menu, Config Menu, Mem Config, HP Mio Menu, Reset Menu and Test Menu. Plus you have loads of features that are included with windows and applications for getting the print outs that you need. There is also an option to cancel a job using a button, plus you can skip and go to later jobs and print them out first. You can also pause printing. All the menu items and alerts are given on a clear LCD display on top of the printer.

Problems Encountered
**************************

The first problem I sometimes have is that there is sometimes a line of ink running down the left-hand side of my print outs which is usually sign that the toner cartridge and printer needs cleaning inside. This can be quite a messy job so watch the cuffs on your shirt.

There are occasionally paper jams that come from the paper feed tray taking more than
one sheet of paper, the sheet of labels having a crease in and the paper not correctly being put into the paper feed tray properly. So I suppose that these are more human error than technical errors.

Another problem is that when another computer apart from mine tries to send a job through it asks to have a letter loaded and can only be bypassed by clicking on the go button, which is annoying.

Once the printer has gone into power saving mode, it takes about thirty seconds for it warm up again which is time consuming. When someone at work wants something printed off and it has gone into power saving mode, you just have to sit there looking at it, until it is ready to go again, can be a bit embarrassing.

Conclusion
*************
This is an excellent printer if you have lots of paper to print out once the printer is in motion it prints a sheet out every four seconds which is very good.

The toners are easily replaced, but these can be expensive. The life expectancy of a toner for me is about three months before the ink really starts to fade, which is really good going considering the amount of print outs that I do.

The problems that I have encountered with this printer are really no different from the problems and errors that other printers get but it shows that this printer does have some problems and doesn't always run smoothly. I would recommend this to anyone who needs a printer to carry out the same tasks that I do. The problems are only minor and I know that I
couldn't use any other sort of printer than this one.

Summary: