Printers come in all shapes and sizes, and for all manner of settings and workloads. There are tiny portable printers for photos; massive, beastly machines for printing large formats in color; and everything in between. But the printer that is likely closest to the hearts of small office/home office users is one that is inexpensive, fast, and produces high-quality prints. Or, to put it in more precise terms, a laser printer that costs less than $200. Aside from the improvement in quality over their inkjet counterparts, laser printers have ink cartridges that last significantly longer, making them ideal for environments with heavy use. For example, a doctor’s office that has to print records and receipts all day needs a reliable machine that won’t need a cartridge change more than once a month. Even in your home, where there is less print traffic, it’s nice to be able to forget about ink cartridges for months at a time. Finding a black-and-white laser printer that doesn’t break the bank yet yields high-quality text and graphical prints is a must for many home or small office users; we’ve dug up four printers that fill the bill.
HP P1505
Specifications
Ppm: 24ppm
Image quality: 600 x 600dpi
Memory: 2MB
Paper capacity: 250 sheets
Duty cycle: 8,000 pages per month
OS: Win2000/Server 2003/ XP/Vista and Mac The P1505 is, to put it bluntly, loud—loud enough to turn heads in an office setting while printing, at least. Although it idles as quietly as any machine can, when it starts printing, the P1505 belts out sounds that people in the back of a theater could hear, and it may very well be a distraction in a small office setting. | BUYING TIPS Before you buy a printer (or any hardware, for that matter), check to be sure that it’s compatible with your computer’s OS (operating system). A product that isn’t compatible with Windows Vista, for example, is probably outdated and likely has been replaced by a newer version in a company’s product line. And on occasion, a product will not run on Mac or Linux machines. |
Why didn’t HP make it a little quieter? Probably because it was busy giving it lightning-fast speed. This printer performed exceedingly well when printing a 10-page document (31 seconds). If you’re printing a one-page text document, it’ll appear in less time than it takes to have a hearty swig of coffee or take a bite of muffin.
A couple of other knocks on the P1505 are that it has no network capability, it only has 2MB of RAM, and it’s also a pain to install. (We had to completely uninstall the software and reinstall it a couple of times to get the printer to work properly.) Of course, if you don’t need to use your printer on a network, the former complaint is nullified.
Those few negatives are ones you can quickly ignore if your primary criterion for a laser printer is print quality; the P1505 produced exceptionally rich, deep blacks in graphics and crisp text even in an 8-point font.
Although the P1505 produces prints in 600 x 600dpi, the FastRes 1200 function gives it an effective output quality of 1,200dpi. It can also handle legal-sized paper and can print on a variety of media, including envelopes and postcards.
If you can deal with the noise and don’t need a network-capable printer, the HP P1505’s impressive speed and superb print quality make it an ideal laser printer for your home or small office.
Xerox Phaser 3124
Specifications
Ppm: 25ppm
Image quality: 1,200 x 600dpi
Memory: 8MB
Paper capacity: 250 sheets
Duty cycle: 20,000 pages per month
OS: Win98/Me/2000/ 2003/XP The Phaser 3124 is an all-around good machine. While it doesn’t have any features that make it stand out in a crowd, it quietly does everything it’s supposed to do very well. There is little to say against it. It doesn’t have any network capability, which may be a big concern for some users, but otherwise it holds its own when compared to other machines.
It’s not blazingly fast, but it’s still awfully quick. The Phaser 3124 cranked out a 10-page test document in 36 seconds.
The print quality isn’t especially impressive, but it still sports deeper blacks than some of the other machines, produces nice grayscale images, and makes eminently readable text prints even at small sizes. There is nothing in terms of print quality to complain about. In addition to being able to print on a splendid variety of media, including envelopes, labels, transparencies, and cardstock, the Phaser 3124 can make manual double-sided prints on all supported paper sizes, up to 8.5 x 14 inches. A couple of unique features of this printer include N-Up printing, which allows you to print up to 16 pages on a single sheet, and the ability to create watermarks. It also has an impressive duty cycle of 20,000 pages per month.
The Phaser 3124 is a workhorse printer that produces quality results in every area; even installation was quick and tear-free. It may not be sexy, but it’ll get the work done and do a fine job. Although some users may want to opt for a pricier Xerox product to acquire network capability, this machine can do everything else.
Samsung ML-2571N  Specifications
Ppm: 25ppm
Image quality: 1,200 x 1,200dpi
Memory: 32MB
Paper capacity: 250 sheets
Duty cycle: 10,000 pages per month
OS: Win98/Me/2000/2003/ XP/Vista, Linux, and Mac The Samsung ML-2571N is much like the Xerox Phaser 3124—in fact, they come in identical form factors—but the ML-2571 also has wired network capabilities. However, the ML-2571N has a few shortcomings; although text prints are good, graphical prints leave something to be desired. Though not especially fast, it still sports decent speed—38 seconds for a 10-page document. | BUYING TIPS Although a printer with snazzier features may be more appealing, don't purchase a product that has more than you need. A network-capable printer may be a powerful tool for a home with multiple computers, but for a single-computer home, it may be overkill. Conversely, be sure your printer has enough features to satisfy all your printing needs. |
Shortcomings notwithstanding, the ML-2517N boasts some impressive features. It supports a number of OSes (operating systems), including every Windows OS since Windows 98, Windows Server 2003, several Linux OSes, and Mac OS 8 through OS X. It can print on transparencies, labels, postcards, and envelopes, and it supports manual duplex printing. The ML-2571N also has a burly 32MB of RAM.
Like the Phaser 3124, the ML-2571N is a solid printer with enough options to accomplish any home or small office print job you can throw at it. The wired network capabilities make it a useful addition to any network, although you’ll have to settle for only moderate quality for graphical prints. Still, the ML-2571N is a printer that won’t disappoint.
Brother HL-2170W
Specifications
Ppm: 23ppm
Image quality: 2,400 x 600dpi
Memory: 32MB
Paper capacity: 250 sheets
Duty cycle: 10,000 pages per month
OS: Win2000/2003/ XP/Vista and Mac The Brother HL-2170W is a printer that is simply designed well. It maintains a low profile (literally) so that it takes up very little desk space, and it has a sturdy, removable paper tray for easy loading. And that’s just the plastic parts; inside, the engineers over at Brother have managed to cram an impressive number of features into a petite package. For one thing, the HL-2710W boasts a resolution of up to 2,400 x 600dpi. It also has 32MB of RAM, supports Windows, Linux, and Mac OSes, and is a breeze to set up and install. And perhaps most appealing is that it’s ready for a wired network .
What sets this printer apart, however, is that it features Wi-Fi. With Wi-Fi capabilities, not only can you add the HL-2170W to your network, you can print wirelessly to it from a Wi-Fi capable device. A number of wireless security protocols are supported, including WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). And the cherry on top of the convenience cake is that you can configure the machine with a number of one-touch technologies including SecureEasySetup, AOSS (AirStation One-Touch Secure System), and Wi-Fi Protected Setup-capable routers.
The HL-2170W isn’t slow by any means, but it’s not setting any speed records, either. It makes up ground on longer jobs, though—a 10-page test document clocked in at 33.5 seconds. The print quality, although technically at a high resolution, isn’t as impressive as the other printers in this roundup. However, text prints are still crisp, gray-scale images are moderately smooth, and blacks are fairly deep.
The HL-2170W doesn’t have the best-quality prints or blazing speed, but because of its ease of use, impressive networking features, and low price—only $149.99—it’s definitely a printer that will meet your home or small office needs.
 Bang For Your Buck
It was not so long ago that having a decent laser printer around the house was a luxury; times have definitely changed. As evidenced by the above printers, for very little money, you can outfit your home or small office with a laser printer that can do just about anything you need it to. Print quality ranges from good to superb, they can handle enough media types and sizes to meet the needs of any home or small office, and some even sport network capabilities.
Whether you need a quick printer with high-quality prints or a networked device that can handle the workload from multiple computers, you can find the device you need for under $200.
by Seth Colaner
Printer Information
| | Price | Company | Contact Information | URL | Notable Features | | LaserJet P1505 | $199.99 | HP | (888) 999-4747 | www.hp.com | • Fastest print time among the printers we tested, by a long shot
• Deep, rich blacks and crisp text | | Phaser 3124 | $179 | Xerox | (800) 835-6100 | www.xerox.com | • Can print multiple pages (up to 16) on one sheet
• Solid quality all around | | ML-2571N | $159.99 | Samsung | (800) 726-7864 | www.samsung.com | • Wired network capabilities
• Supports a large number of operating systems | | HL-2170W | $149.99 | Brother | (877) 276-8437 | www.brother-usa.com | • Impressive bevy of wired and wireless networking capabilities
• Small form factor makes it unobtrusive |
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