HP LaserJet Pro MFP M227fdw
A speedy, effective and surprisingly compact mono printer for the office, but it costs too much to run
SCORE ✪✪✪✪✪ PRICE £203 (£244 inc VAT) from printerland.co.uk
If you’ve no compelling need for colour, HP’s LaserJet Pro MFP M227fdw is a mono laser with plenty going for it. With a desktop footprint of just 403 x 407mm it’s a surprisingly compact design, with the 250-sheet main paper tray integrated in the body and the 150-sheet output tray stashed neatly beneath the flatbed scanner and ADF assembly. It’s noticeably lighter and less bulky than most other lasers, and there are some nice touches, such as the window into the paper tray that shows you how much paper you have left.
We struggled to get the printer connected to our 802.11n wireless network using WPS, but selecting the network and entering the password isn’t a struggle: the 6.8cm capacitive touchscreen might be small, but it’s responsive; otherwise, HP’s webbased setup process works a treat. There are Ethernet and USB ports if you prefer a wired connection, and the LaserJet supports the full range of HP’s Enterprise management and security features, making it a good bet for businesses scaling up.
The HP offers useful connectivity features, including Wi-Fi Direct and NFC touch-to-print wireless printing, and you can print directly from your phone or tablet using AirPrint, Google Cloud Print or HP’s AIO Remote mobile app. Print quality is generally excellent, with sharp text, both in the default FastRes and high-quality ProRes modes, although both business charts and photos suffer from a streaky look.
Of course, you could get more impactful results from a colour laser for the same money, but it wouldn’t match the M227fdw for speed. It whipped through our graphicsheavy, five-page report at a speed of 17.6ppm, with a single page arriving in less than eight seconds. Our 20-page monochrome text document saw speeds hit 24.1ppm or 16ppm when printing duplex. If you need to rattle through a lot of black text documents, the HP will speed through faster than any other laser at the price.
Scan speeds aren’t quite so impressive, the MFP M227fdw taking nearly two minutes on a 600dpi full-page colour scan and 25 seconds to get through a five-page document through the ADF. Sadly, its biggest weakness is its print costs. Despite HP’s claims that its JetIntelligence cartridges give you double the prints of rivals, the high price of the 30X toner and the 3,500-page capacity put the cost per mono page at a hefty 2.5p. Given that other office lasers are closer to 1p per mono page and some office inkjets go even lower, it leaves this otherwise great little printer hard to recommend.