Jewish World Review May 16, 2003 / 14 Iyar 5763
By Mark Kellner
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
Those of you who have people working for you know the cliché of an ideal
employee: they're always on time, always agreeable, always get the work
done, and never take a break, sick day or vacation.
While such is a bit unreasonable to expect from a person, it's not too much
to ask from a computer printer these days, and, by and large, the new
LaserJet 1300 from Hewlett-Packard, a $399 (list price) unit, is the kind of
indefatigable worker one hopes to find. Compared with its predecessor
models, the HP LaserJet 1200 and 1000, the new LaserJet 1300 offers more
features and greater flexibility, not to mention faster printing speeds.
The HP LaserJet 1300 series printers - one has built-in Ethernet networking,
the other doesn't -- deliver fast, high-quality output, churning out text
at up to 20 pages per minute (ppm), with a "first-page-out" in less than
eight seconds with HP's "Instant-on Fuser," a system for, well, fusing the
toner to the page.
The LaserJet 1300 I tested was the standalone, non-Ethernet version. It's
relatively lightweight, making it easy to move around an office, and very
easy to set up. There's a paper tray in front, plus a "manual input slot"
that holds up to 10 pages of letterhead. The manual slot also handles
envelopes easily. Paper tracks around to feed out of the top of the printer
into a tray, but the back of the unit can flip open to handle heavier card
stock.
The unit is equipped with 16 MB of RAM, enough for most printing jobs to
quickly "spool" into the printer, freeing up the computer for other tasks.
It works with most flavors of Windows and Linux, as well as Apple Mac OS X.
However, print speeds under OS X take a bit of a hit when the print job
involves printing Web pages, at least from Apple's Safari Web browser. Now,
I know, Safari is still "beta" software and perhaps there's something to be
worked out there, but one could wait several minutes for the LaserJet 1300
to begin printing a Web page from a Mac. Perhaps adding more memory or using
other software would help. Printing from other Mac applications, including,
oddly enough, Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Photoshop Elements, was very fast
indeed.
I also tested the LaserJet 1300 with a Windows system running Microsoft
Office 2003, again "beta" software, and here, too, printing was fast. The
printer has both parallel and USB ports so it could, theoretically, print
directly from both Macs and PCs. However, I chose a different route in my
office, a necessary one since the PC I was using didn't have a parallel
port. Instead, I hooked up an HP JetDirect wireless print server to take
advantage of the PC's 802.11b networking capability. The JetDirect server
clamps onto the parallel port and can work with just about any 802.11-based
device, and included a software CD with drivers for the PC.
Of course, adding a $200 peripheral to a $400 printer quickly moves the
LaserJet 1300 into a rather pricey range of machines; a $49 2x1 (stet) USB
Peripheral Switch from Belkin Corp. (http://www.belkin.com) and a pair of
extra USB cables ($19 each, or less, also from Belkin) can allow you to
connect two computers to the printer for much less money. But the JetDirect
solution can be useful in other ways, not the least being a lessening of
cable clutter on your desk. HP also advertises Bluetooth printing modules
for the 1300, but I did not test one.
Other options for the HP printer include extra memory (better purchased, I
believe, from http://www.crucial.com, where costs for the DIMM-style memory
are a fraction of HP's charges) to boost printing speed and capability and
an optional 250-sheet paper tray, good for those who normally print big
jobs.
And while I wouldn't want to have 10 people depending on a single LaserJet
1300 for their daily needs, this is a printer than can ably serve the needs
of one or two people without hassle. It's stylish, quiet and fast in almost
every case, and well worth considering if you are in the market for a new
laser printer.
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JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.
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