HP Neverstop Laser 1202nw
HP’s laser answer to refillable inkjet tank printers only comes in mono but does drastically cut costs
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PRICE £217 (£260 inc VAT) from store.hp.com/uk
While ink tank printers now have a significant presence in the inkjet market, “refillables” have yet to make much of a splash amongst lasers. This is one of the few, with toner that’s refilled from a bottle, much like the Epson and Canon ink tank printers on test.
The main downside is that, for the moment at least, this bottle-based approach is only available on a mono printer. Its prints work out to around 0.7p each, meaning it doesn’t match the phenomenally cheap printing of the inkjet models, but at less than a penny per page it significantly undercuts its laser rivals.
It’s a good thing it does, does because the Neverstop
Laser 1202nw seems expensive for what you’re getting. To be fair, it’s a multifunction device, so it can also copy and scan, but spending this much elsewhere would buy you a colour printer.
It also lacks some key functions, the most inconvenient of which is double-sided printing. It can only scan up to 600dpi 600dp and the control panel is ba back to basics: it offers a copy button and a mono 1.8in LCD L display. As the “nw” suffix indicates, however, the 1202nw 12 includes both an Ethernet port and Wi-Fi (along with the usu usual USB).
The paper tray looks like it should pull right out but it’s actually just a cover. You remove this to access the paper tray, which is a cavity in the bottom of the printer you can slide paper into. This isn’t as convenient to refill as a tray that can be pulled right out, and we found the cover fiddly to replace.
Nor is this the quickest machine, falling behind the other lasers and, in some tests, failing to trouble the fastest inkjets. Print quality is good, with text documents appearing clear and sharply printed. Graphics and photos are inevitably printed in grey, but they come out well.
For anyone who simply wants lots of affordable black prints, this HP laser is a very sensible option. It comes with enough toner for 5,000 prints, meaning that if you’re after laser sharpness but don’t want to fork out laser prices on a page-by-page basis, the Neverstop 1202nw is a worthy choice.