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£50.53Hewlett-Packard

Thinking about it, there is one particular job that I would not fancy tackling due to the heavy work load.  That would be the task of keeping a check on all the various printers developed, currently and in the past, by Hewlett Packard.  With the number of years that the company has been in the printer manufacturing business, there has to be a sizeable number that would need to be catalogued.  Models designated as All-in-ones, standard inkjets, photographic units and, of course, the various incarnation of the original LaserJet offering, come off the production line at a seemingly increasing rate.  One of the latest HP printer's to fall under my gaze is the LaserJet 1018.

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Measuring 370 x 410 x 209mm (W x D x H) with the paper input tray extended, the LaserJet 1018 is currently occupying space on my work area.  It must be said that this model is one of the plainest, or has the cleanest lines, depending upon your point of view, of all the printers I have seen.  Almost totally computer grey in colour, this printer is denuded, apart from the rear mounted on/off switch, of any user controls.  You just have to make do with a couple of lights indicating power on and an error detected.  To be fair you do not need anything else as this printer manages perfectly well with this minimalist approach.

The lack of user controls is not the only slightly unusual aspect of this monochrome laser printer.  The unit's print cartridge slots down into the top of the printer which, I have to say, is very convenient when you need to replace it with a new cartridge giving 2,000 standard pages (the cartridge that comes with the printer should last for 1,000 pages).  Connectivity is via a high-speed 2.0 USB port and you will need to supply the appropriate lead yourself.

HP obviously feels that this printer will be used for basic tasks as no additional software is provided apart from the necessary drivers and a pop-up reminder about re-ordering consumables.  Document is also kept to a minimum with a brief Getting Started pamphlet and the main User Guide being supplied as an electronic PDF document.  As this User Guide consists of 116 pages, it would make a good introductory work out for the printer.

Paper is fed into the printer via two front mounted slots.  This approach means you could have both standard paper and envelopes loaded together.  Or you might prefer a headed sheet in one slot and follow-on sheets in the second slot.  Output is at the top of the printer.  Using my standard 102 word letter, I was not quite able to match HP's claimed 12 ppm but did manage a satisfactory 11ppm with the first page taking 9 seconds to appear.  A full A4 graphic print out stopped the clock at 11 seconds using the default settings.  Quality, especially with regards to text, was of a high standard.

At the heart of the LaserJet 1018 is a 234MHz RISC processor with 2MB of memory (the actual maximum).  Its standard 600 x 600 dpi print resolution can be enhanced to 1200 dpi-like quality using the built-in Ret and FastRes technology.  This model has no built-in fonts; instead it relies entirely on those found on the host computer.

Priced at £79.90, the HP LaserJet 1018 would suit a home/office user with a minimum specification of a 90MHz computer running Windows 98SE or later.  More details can be obtained by telephoning 0845 270 4000.

Link tp HP : http://h41306.www4.hp.com/item?p=1222&sku=CB419A