Assessing The HP Color LaserJet 4600dn Printer

by garrett on January 25, 2010

The role you need it to fill should play a big part in determining the criteria you want to examine when deciding to purchase a printer. Reviewing a few key areas regarding the HP Color LaserJet 4600dn printer using HP Color LaserJet 4600dn toner and their meaning will give an example of how you may want to approach purchasing a new printer. Below are listed a few requirements, however, your situation may mean you need to review more details, or perhaps add additional ones as well.

Using only the types of media recommended by the manufacturer can save you many hassles. Often using unsupported media can be linked to issues such as poor print quality and problems with feeding paper through the machine. When intending to purchase a printer, if the media you print on is not listed for your printer it would be prudent to either search for a different printer or consider changing your media. The 4600dn is listed as supporting plain paper, recycled paper, film and glossy paper types. Also supported with this model are envelopes, transparencies, cardstock and labels.

The number of pages a printer can hold is often another area of interest to someone when they are researching which printer to buy. If you print in large batches you will probably not want to be filling paper trays every few minutes to finish the job. It would be best to have a printer with a larger input volume, to minimize users having to refill the paper trays. The paper capacity of this HP printer is 600 sheets, including the 500 sheet paper tray and the 100 sheet multi purpose feeder. An additional paper tray option can be purchased which will raise the total input level to 1,100 sheets of paper.

A popular feature for people to focus on is the speed of the printer. There are two performance areas that a printer is most often rated at:  the length of time for the first page to print and the amount of pages processed in a fixed time. The time to first page measurement is broken up into 3 different scenarios. When your printer is in a ready state it will take as little as 17.5 seconds for the first page to print, with the printer in power saver mode you can expect it to be as quick as 18.4 seconds, and finally when the printer is first turned on you can expect the first page to complete in about two minutes after the print request is sent. The 4600dn will print in both black and color up to 17 pages per minute.

In an environment where multiple users will be accessing a printing device, it is always wise to examine the different options for connectivity. This printer comes already configured for network use, which would make use by multiple users easier. There are also other options available to allow use with LocalTalk, printer servers, and wireless connections.

If you desire to print on both sides of the paper you will want to check to be sure the printer you select supports duplex printing. There are two ways that duplex printing can be done and a printer may support either way or neither, so it is important to check, if you desire this service. The first method is referred to as manual duplex, which involved just feeding the paper back into the printer to print on the blank side. Be sure your printer will handle manual duplexing before you attempt it, the printer will behave differently when manually duplexing to properly handle your document.

The alternative method is the use of a built in duplexer or an add-on duplex option. Both of these normally are controlled by software or print driver settings and do not require you to manually manipulate the paper. This HP printer comes standard with a duplexer to allow for simple duplex printing.

Using the criteria above we can determine that the HP Color LaserJet 4600dn printer would fit in a medium to small work role. The connectivity and speed allow multiple users to print to the printer and have the jobs completed in a satisfactory time frame, and the paper handling allows less downtime to stock trays. The duplex ability means users can print duplex or simplex without having to stop working and manually flip pages.

Performing at the level you expect is the HP Color LaserJet 4600dn toner.  Crisply clean pages are a certainty with HP toner and with this printer you’ll want to make sure you have a spare toner around as this printer will be performing for you on a regular basis.

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