After reviewing a few a couple of HP printers, the HP 6500A Plus and HP Office Jet 100 (L411a), we had very high expectations from the HP LaserJet 1536dnf multifunction printer. Here is a quick review of the printer followed by a detailed one.
PROS :
- Faster text printing about 24-26ppm & Superior graphics quality @ 1200dpi
- Can easily print about 100 continuous text prints without getting over heated
- Prints comfortably on varity of mediums like thick bond paper, envelopes, tracing paper, also supports selected colored & handmade papers
- Ecomony mode print option available which helps saving toner
- Supports AirPrint and ePrint
- Above average scan / copy speeds & quality
- Automatic duplex printing
- Automatic document feeder with capacity about 35pages
CONS :
- Some scanned graphic images may appear lusterless (which can be done easily with a little color correction on photo editing software)
- Inconsistency in completing colour scans @ 1200dpi
- Does not support print on art card with thickness even as low as 170gsm
- Comes with a demo cartridge which prints only around 500 pages & you will soon need a new replacement cartridge which costs around Rs. 3900 and prints around 2000-2200 text prints. So per page print cost goes over Rs 1.8 per print excluding paper with original replacement cartridge
Verdict :
- Value for money
- Low Maintenance
- Supplies available easily online
- Best Buy For Personal Use Or Small Business Use
Build and Design:
To begin with the first thing we noticed that the HP LaserJet 1536dnf multifunction printer has a matte finish and looks pretty good. But at the same time we could not ignore the fact that it is quite bulky at 11.7 kgs and would have ideally preferred it to have been a couple of kilos lighter.
The HP LaserJet 1536dnf being a Scanning, faxing, and copying machine besides printing, it has a well laid out and neat design which is compact enough for convenient access to each feature and easy to use as well.
Installations & Performance
To begin with, we were slightly disappointed by the fact that a CD is required to install the drivers of this printer and the same does not get installed automatically. Though, I must admit that doing the same was a breeze and doesn’t really take much of your time.
Now coming to the printer, here is a small piece of stats that we managed to pull off by using the printer.
Print speed
First page – 9 seconds (text print)
Pages Per Minute – 23 pages (text print)
Though the stats do not look exactly impressive to say the least but I must assure you that your impressions would change very rapidly once you take a look at the quality of the printouts. The text prints were very clear, irrespective of any fonts that we used.
When it comes to images, the quality goes even a notch higher and we were mighty impressed with the results. Also the ink immediately dried out and there was no spoilage of any sort. We tried taking image prints on A4, tracing paper and gloss paper. And the results were simply awesome, though understandably the image got a little spread on the gloss paper, as the printer is not supposed to handle those kinds of sheets.
Now moving on to the copier, we used some detailed pages with a lot of different fonts and complicated designs. And we were very happy with the results to say the least. The copier seems to pick up most of the minute details as well.
The same goes with the scanner, which also is sufficiently quick and gives you detailed quality scans as well. Though we are not sure if the UI is that easy for one to get easy access of Scan, took us a while to figure that one out.
That brings us to the control panel on the printer, which is neatly laid out and with the 2 line LCD display it makes for an efficient and easy to use control panel.
In case you are working on a project and need to get some large number of print outs simultaneously; the printer can handle about 100 printouts before overheating starts to creep into the printer. So one is advised to not use this particular printer for heavy usage like xerox printers.
Verdict
The HP LaserJet 1536dnf multifunction printer does each of the task, i.e. printing, scanning and copying (we did not test faxing) efficiently and with good quality as well. Add to it the simple and easy to use UI and you have a dependable office companion for your printing needs.
Taking the price of the printer into consideration which is roughly Rs. 25,000, it seems to be a bit on the higher side considering the fact that there are similar featured laser printers available from other manufacturers at a lower price. But after looking at the performance and quality of this printer, we can safely say that this printer is worth every penny you spend on it.
With inputs from Kunal Kakaiya.
