HP LaserJet Enterprise P3015x monochrome laser printer

If you're looking to do some serious text printing, HP's LaserJet Enterprise P3015x monochrome laser printer is a viable but expensive option. The most expensive model in the company's LaserJet Enterprise P3010 range shares many of its features with the LaserJet Enterprise P3015d, but offers an extra 500-sheet tray.

We wouldn't say the HP LaserJet Enterprise P3015x monochrome laser printer is a behemoth as such, but, with three trays equipped, it's certainly tall. Thankfully, that space is put to good use; the printer can hold 1100 sheets over the three trays, and you can purchase an additional 500-sheet tray for $375. The output bin holds 250 sheets at a time in the main tray, and a further 100 sheets through a rear paper tray.

USB and Ethernet connections are available on the back panel while a wireless adapter is optional. The printer also boasts a front-mounted USB port — a new feature for HP LaserJet printers — so you can directly print from flash drives. Unfortunately of the variety of file types we attempted to print, the LaserJet Enterprise P3015x only churned out PDF documents successfully.

The LaserJet Enterprise P3015x's control panel is easy to use and quite capable.

We criticised the LaserJet P3005x for the control panel's limitations, but the LaserJet Enterprise P3015x changes this. The printer offers an LCD display, two-way navigation pad, menu buttons and a full keypad that makes it easier to input user passwords. From the panel, you can easily configure default duplex and quality settings as well as copy numbers for all documents. You won't have to print a configuration page just to find the assigned IP address and you can choose from an array of emulation languages (playfully dubbed "personality"), including PCL 5e, PCL 6, PostScript and direct PDF.

The embedded Web interface provides the control panel's options as well as greater control over network protocols and security settings. It's easy to configure e-mail notifications, complete with an autosend feature that ensures you won't have to constantly access the interface to determine supplies usage. Security is fitting for a small to medium business, providing 802.1X authentication and an IP-based firewall, as well as the ability to configure HTTPS certificates.

HP offers a 6000 page standard yield toner for $244.71 and a high yield cartridge capable of outputting 12,500 pages for $335.48. You can expect a running cost of 2.7c per A4 page which, while inexpensive for laser printers, isn't as efficient as a heavier duty model like the LaserJet P4515x. You'll be churning through toners quickly in order to reach HP's claimed maximum duty cycle of 100,000 pages per month, but the company recommends the LaserJet P3015x should only print 5000 pages in the same time frame.

The HP LaserJet Enterprise P3015x monochrome laser printer has 128MB memory standard, expandable to 640MB. It also offers a 31MB RAM disk that allows you to store, secure and create copies of documents without a PC. There are four of these print options — Proof and Hold, Personal Job, Quick Copy and Stored Job — with each offering the ability to create a unique document identifier. The internal storage is a little restrictive if you want to store templates and forms on the LaserJet P3015x for easy reprinting, and $699 for the optional hard drive is a little too expensive.

Though the LaserJet Enterprise P3015x fails to match print speeds set by the cheaper Samsung ML-4551ND, it is still extremely fast. It's also miles ahead when it comes to print quality, thanks to HP's half-toning technology, which offers the ability to print in half-tone greys rather than simply black. For text documents, this means that the LaserJet Enterprise P3015x's ProRes 1200 180 lines per inch (lpi) quality settings can produce some of the most accurate text characters we've seen in our testing. The quality difference between the 180lpi setting and the standard 1200dpi resolution is certainly noticeable.

However, the effect of the half-tone technology is even more apparent when printing graphics. The LaserJet Enterprise P3015x monochrome laser printer's ability to produces shades of grey allows for much greater detail when printing high resolution monochrome graphics. Unfortunately the LaserJet Enterprise P3015x's 180lpi setting didn't deliver the black levels we would have preferred for our test graphic, but it certainly produced a better result than you would normally expect from a laser printer.

The HP LaserJet Enterprise P3015x monochrome laser printer won't replace your inkjet for black and white photos or even some presentation materials, but its print speed and quality are definitely valuable for documents and presentation graphics.

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