Opinion, HP LaserJet 1012 or 1300

[Jerry]

I’m looking for a B/W laser printer (non-business) and am considering HP
from past experience with their inkjets. The 1012 looks good, but I
usually don’t like to buy the bottom (cheapest) of any product line.
The 1300 also looks good, but is it worth twice the price of the 1012?

TIA, Jerry

 

[Joe Hayes]

If you want true 1200x1200 dpi resolution, you'll need the 1300 since the
1012 only does 600 dpi.

 

[Phil]

I’m looking for a B/W laser printer (non-business) and am considering HP
from past experience with their inkjets. The 1012 looks good, but I
usually don’t like to buy the bottom (cheapest) of any product line.
The 1300 also looks good, but is it worth twice the price of the 1012?

TIA, Jerry

I was in the same position as you five months ago and bought the 1300. I
print around 1,000 copies per month. Never had a jam and speed as quoted so
I have no regrets.

Phil

 

[Jerry]

Joe,

I have studied the specs on the lesser expensive models from HP, Samsung
and Brother. I may not need 1200x1200 for the more general home
documents, 600 dpi would be good enough, but the 1300 has a few other
features I think I like (ie. larger memory and the option to add more).
I'm not sure these features are worth twice the price, however. I
have not seen a review that compares the two at the same time. PCMag, PC
World and CNET generally rate the 1012 higher than the 1300, but the
reviews were not at the same time (1012 vs 1300) or by the same reviewer.

What I'm looking for is an opinion from someone that has experience
using B/W laser printers (any brand).

Thanks for your reply,

Jerry

 

[Jerry]

I was in the same position as you five months ago and bought the 1300. I
print around 1,000 copies per month. Never had a jam and speed as quoted so
I have no regrets.

Phil

Phil,

Thanks for your reply, however, I have one question. One of the reviews
said the text-print quality is mediocre. Another said the small print
text was not that good. At 1,000 copies a month what do you think?

Jerry

 

[Phil]

Phil,

Thanks for your reply, however, I have one question. One of the reviews
said the text-print quality is mediocre. Another said the small print
text was not that good. At 1,000 copies a month what do you think?

Jerry

Before I bought mine there were those on one news group, that criticised
varying aspects of the printer and there were those who were highly
delighted with it on another news group. I have just printed off some text
at varying font sizes between 12 and 7 each in caps and each bold and non
bold. Got my magnifying glass on them & to my eyes they look just fine.

I must confess I have regrets that I didn't go for the more expensive one
with auto duplexing but it was almost double the price. I will be buying
another laser printer very soon with auto duplexing as this is now the same
price as the 1300 but Brother or Kyocera. The latter having had some great
reviews.

Phil

 

[Tom]

Jerry for home use I just bought my second Brother HL-1440 first one cost me
300 bucks two years ago. Office max has it on sale for 99 after rebate
starting sunday. Aftermarket has Image drums for about 30$. Ihave yet to
wear a drum out. If you get the grey back ground its the toner is almost
empty not a bad drum. This printer recycles the toner used back into the
toner bin no waste bin when ya get almost empty the small amount of toner is
bad and is vaccumed out and refilled thru a small plastic already there and
refilled. ya can buy toner for about 25 and reuse the 52 dollar OEM toner
cart about 3 to 4 times this way.

 

[Phil]

Jerry for home use I just bought my second Brother HL-1440 first one cost me
300 bucks two years ago. Office max has it on sale for 99 after rebate
starting sunday. Aftermarket has Image drums for about 30$. Ihave yet to
wear a drum out. If you get the grey back ground its the toner is almost
empty not a bad drum. This printer recycles the toner used back into the
toner bin no waste bin when ya get almost empty the small amount of toner is
bad and is vaccumed out and refilled thru a small plastic already there and
refilled. ya can buy toner for about 25 and reuse the 52 dollar OEM toner
cart about 3 to 4 times this way.

Jerry

I have a distant business contact who has been refilling his Brother laser
for ten years and says the quality is exactly the same as originals. Looking
at the web site of the company he uses I can buy a refill bottle for 1/4 of
the price of new. Do you find it really is as good and it easy to refill? I
ask this as all my attempts at refilling inkjets have failed.

Phil

 

[Alan]

I’m looking for a B/W laser printer (non-business) and am considering HP
from past experience with their inkjets. The 1012 looks good, but I
usually don’t like to buy the bottom (cheapest) of any product line.
The 1300 also looks good, but is it worth twice the price of the 1012?

A few features the 1300 has that the 1012 doesn't:
* Standard printing languages -- PCL 6 and PS level 2. This makes it
compatible with everything (DOS, Unix, Linux, Mac, OSX, Windows, etc).
Also, if you ever do any DTP, PS is almost a necessity to proof files.

* Parallel as well as USB ports.
* Real 1200 dpi (the 1012 is "effective 1200 dpi"; though unless
you're doing greyscale images the difference will be imperceptible).
* 250 sheet tray vs 160.

Personally I do think these features are worth the extra cost, but
they may not weigh as much for you.

 

[Yianni]

Thanks for your reply, however, I have one question. One of the reviews

said the text-print quality is mediocre. Another said the small print
text was not that good. At 1,000 copies a month what do you think?

Text quality don't differ. Text quality is good even in the old lasers with
300dpi. The 1012 is cheaper because it don't have an internal proccessor, it
uses the computer process power, that's why it has higher first page print
time. And the 1300 is more durable than 1012. I would choose the 1012 for
home use.

 

[Jerry]

Jerry for home use I just bought my second Brother HL-1440 first one cost me
300 bucks two years ago. Office max has it on sale for 99 after rebate
starting sunday. Aftermarket has Image drums for about 30$. Ihave yet to
wear a drum out. If you get the grey back ground its the toner is almost
empty not a bad drum. This printer recycles the toner used back into the
toner bin no waste bin when ya get almost empty the small amount of toner is
bad and is vaccumed out and refilled thru a small plastic already there and
refilled. ya can buy toner for about 25 and reuse the 52 dollar OEM toner
cart about 3 to 4 times this way.

Tom,

Thanks for you reply. However, I don't understand when you said "This
printer recycles the toner used back into the toner bin no waste bin
when ya get almost empty the small amount of toner is bad and is
vaccumed out and refilled thru a small plastic already there and refilled."

Brother recycles the (unused) toner... but it is bad and vaccumed out?
By the printer or the user? And, what is refilled thru a small plastic
(tube)... the recycled toner or new toner?

Jerry

 

[Jerry]

Text quality don't differ. Text quality is good even in the old lasers with
300dpi. The 1012 is cheaper because it don't have an internal proccessor, it
uses the computer process power, that's why it has higher first page print
time. And the 1300 is more durable than 1012. I would choose the 1012 for
home use.

Yianni,

Thanks for your reply, however, both the 1012 and the 1300 have a 133
Mhz processor. I believe you may have been thinking about "print
languages" or "typefaces".

However, my original question still stands; is the 1300 worth double the
price of the 1012. I appreciate your opinion of the 1012 for home use.

Jerry

 

[Tom]

Left over toner that comes off the image drum goes back to cartridge instead
of waste toner bottle so near end of fills life printer develops grey
shadow. Mistaken by many for bad image drum. When you go to refill it there
already is a plastic cap on toner bin ya just pull it out and hook a hose to
a shop vac like 1/4 inch ductaped on and clean it out. Then just dump in new
toner. printer will do 1200x 600 or 600x 600 only a 66MHZ CPU so old style
72 pin simms fit in the one upgrade slot. Cheap printer for 99 bucks and
cheap to run
Tom

I bought a second one instead of their new HL-5140 which does 2400x 600