Assessing The HP LaserJet 4050t Printer

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:08:05 EST

Printers can be found with many combinations of options and choices available, which can be confusing to a person when attempting to purchase one. It may be easiest to determine what you require in your printer before you start looking, and then match your requirements against the specifications offered by that printer.

Below we will choose several areas of focus and weigh them against the specifications of the HP LaserJet 4050t printer and HP LaserJet 4050t toner to determine how well it may fit our need. Many people are concerned with the speed of a printer when they go to purchase one; however there are actually two different areas that are measured as far as speed goes.

The first one we can look at is the amount of time it takes the first page to finish printing, measured from when the print job is first started. This model printer can complete the first page 15 seconds after the request is submitted. The other measurement that is used for speed is the number of pages that can be printed in one minute. The 4050t can print 17 pages per minute, a rather good time for the average print job.

Connectivity is an important area of focus when purchasing a printer, as there is a wide variety of possible connections types and a specific printer may not support many of them. The IEEE parallel connection is standard on this printer, but there are 2 additional expansion slots available. These slots can be used to install cards to allow communication using Token Ring, LocalTalk or a JetDirect network card.

The more paper a printer can hold in its input trays allows for more printing before someone must stop and refill the trays, which is a big focus for some users. A printer can be measured in two ways to determine paper handling user intervention needs; the standard amount of paper handled and the maximum amount.

The maximum amount is determined by the addition of one or more paper input options. This model can handle up to 600 pages of paper before needing to be reloaded, but the addition of the optional paper tray increases the paper handling to 1,100 sheets. The paper output area will hold 50 sheets in the rear bin or 250 sheets on the top output bin.

Print resolution can be viewed in two different ways, first the term dpi (or dots per inch) is used to note the maximum number of toner/ink dots that will fit in a one inch area. The more dots that can be fit in a small space the greater the possible resolution and the better the print quality will look.

Software technology and other processes can improve the images look outside of the standard dpi formula. The 4050t can print at 300 dots per inch or 600 dots per inch. Software enhancement includes the HP FastRes 1200 to allow faster speeds when printing and ProRes 1200 for better quality graphics.

Additional options can be added to give you more flexibility when printing; a duplex option will allow two sided printing and having an envelope option installed will allow easier management when printing envelopes. The envelope feeder can load up to 75 envelopes at one time. Adding memory or storage devices in expansion slots can allow use of added features or more flexibility.

If high volume printing is frequent for your printer you will want to examine a printer's Duty Cycle before purchasing. This number is the manufacturers rating for the number of pages possible in one month of printing with the device. If you print more, or close to this number you may need to look at a different model that is more robust and will meet higher demands. The 4050t printer has a duty cycle of 65,000 pages printed in one month.

When searching to purchase a printer there are a myriad of possible areas of importance to focus on, the information above is more of a guide to show the types of questions you may want to examine before making the printer purchase. There may be criteria unique to your situation that should be taken into account, for example a company may place a printer inside a freezer to print shipping labels for boxes of frozen goods.

In that instance you would want to know what the supported environmental stats are for the printer in question. (This HP model is supported for printing between 50 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit!) Based on the criteria listed above the HP LaserJet 4050t printer would fit well in a small business or home environment looking to use a laser printer. The speed and the resolution are good for this type of role and the addition of a JetDirect nework interface card would expand the capabilities to allow multiple users to print via the network.

TRCB.com RSS Feed

Assessing The HP LaserJet 4050t Printer