Customer Reviews

HP LaserJet 1200xi Printer (Government Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If you need a high-quality, low-cost laser printer then go with HP. The only exception is if they are between releases and the new one isn't out yet; then the HP models are sometimes not as competitive. That was the case somewhat until the 1200 came out. I consider Lexmark as a relative equal. Other brands are one or two notches lower. That's my bias. I bought the 1200 a few weeks ago. Output is great, setup was easy, and speed is incredible. 5 stars so far.

Do your homework, but right now there's no recent complete mainstream comparison source that I could find with the 1200. The ZDNet gang haven't done a full roundup in 2 years! PC World has recently, rating the 1200 about sixth, but best on speed (by far), text quality, and photo quality with good media options. They slam the documentation, flimsy tray cover, and cost per page. If you discount those factors, then the 1200 is really the best.

Older reviews look at the 1100 models, and the 1200 is far better for the same price. HP made minor improvements all over and upped the memory to an awesome 8 MB memory. Skip the optional scan/copy for $100 more (or $150 if you decide later). It only does sheet-fed paper. If you want scan/copy, spend $200-$250 on a flatbed model and be able to do non-sheet tasks and do them better.

I chose between the 1200 and Lexmark Optra E312/E312L. Neither includes a cable. Both have latest PCL/PS and software goodies. The E312L may seem like a bargain, but it is not! It comes with a only a 1500-page starter toner cartridge and only 2 MB of memory. The E312 has 4 MB and a 6000-page cartridge. That's a $40 and $90 difference that completely wipes out the savings and you get less functionality.

Final notes... If you have a few more bucks, consider the HP 3200se multifunction. Again, I'm not a fan of this type of scan/copy functionality. The only reasons I would spend more on a personal or home office laser printer is for dual paper trays and duplex printing. Also, I would never use an inkjet for documents over a few pages or printing text pages in bulk or often. Add a $200-$350 inkjet for that with photo options based on your needs. Lastly, if you are willing to hunt locally or online, you can get refurbished HPs (III-VI, even 1100s) for a few hundred less.

Some of my job duties here at work are to help distribute the best performance systems as well as any other computer peripherals such as printers to the users. In this case I needed to get an additional printer. I decided to go with the HP 1200, why? well look at the features, 15 PPM, 1200 dpi. This printer is replacing the HP 1100, which does it's job @ 8 PPM. They go for the same price! You can upgrade the memory to 64MB. That is more than what you need for a home or personal office printer. This is not a printer for a big network, but you can certainly use it for a personal network. I work in the Informational Technology department, I deal with computers EVERY day of my life. This printer was bought by me, installed by me, and tested by me. Set up is so easy! all you do is run the CD that came with it, that is all. It also allows you to use a Parallel Port cable or a USB cable (printer cable is sold separate). As a tip, if you have a USB computer (usually systems that came with Windows 98 or higher) use it, it transfers information from your PC to the printer much faster... I hope this info helps you!

I have small 3-PC network at home. I originally bought a Brother laser printer. It had a problem with paper tray sensor. Although it was cheaper, I'm glad I put the extra money for the HP 1200. My old printer was a Canon BJ-4300. Inkjet text quality doesn't even come close to laser technology. Of course, I'm keeping the old printer if I need to print in color.

Setup was very easy. Pop in the CD-ROM, run the program and it configures everything automatically. It was a bit unusual where they placed the parallel port. There's no power button but printing the demo page was a snap.

I bought this printer very recently. So far, so good. Standard cartridge prints average 2,500 pages with 5% coverage. They also have the high yield ones online which average 3,500 pages. It costs about $60-$65 per cartridge but this averages out to about 2 cents per page. Getting the high yield cartridge would be a better option. It's slightly less than 2 cents per page if you can buy the toner cheap.

Laser print quality is 1200 x 1200. I'm very impressed with laser quality. For black text printing, this is an excellent printer, and it does a good job when printing black and white graphics. If you don't print color or only print occasionally, I highly recommend buying a laser printer. It'll save money on the cartridges you keep having to buy with inkjets. Manufacturers and web sites will not tell you the average pages you can print from one cartridge. You end up paying more in the long run with the inkjet and get above average quality text.

I purchased my printer two months ago and I have been very impressed. Installation of the software on my PC with Windows ME was easy and error free. The speed is fantastic. Very little warm-up time. So far I've had only one paper jam that was very easy to fix.

The quality of the print is excellent. The paper tray allows sheets to go in straight and the manual feed dependable too.

If the price wasn't reason enough to buy this printer, I read in my latest issue of Consumer Reports that this their top-rated laser printer!

Thus far, I've had no need to call tech-support. I'm more than satisfied with this printer.

I have had this printer for a month now, and it is fantastic. Prints are crisp, though I haven't really stretched the graphics printing since I mostly print text. If you purchase, definately use the USB connection. The parallel is still pretty fast but USB is better especially for any large print job.

I am a graduate student, which means I print constantly. My husband and I invested in this printer this summer, and it is by far one of the best purchases we have made for our computer. It's fast, reliable, and the print quality is outstanding. If you do a lot of writing, if you need to print documents for school or work, or if you print from the internet, this printer will serve you very well. (The ink cartridges seem to last a lot longer than our previous printer's cartridges did; I've been using this same cartridge since July and have seen no change in print quality. And that's just with the "starter" cartridge, which HP says is good for about 500 pages. I've printed WELL over 500 pages so far...) All this and easy set-up, too... this printer is a workhorse.

During 2 days I tried to install it to a G3 and give up. Instructions on HP site and manuals are contradictory. Driver comes with a "Connectivity Problem" as stated by HP. Upgrading driver and instruction to solve problem didnt work. Im returning this baby. My advice: DONT EVEN THINK TO BUY IT IF YOU OWN A MAC!!!

I purchased my HP LaserJet 1200 printer because I was frustrated with the Epson 870 InkJet printer that I also own (the Epson is nothing short of a *RIPOFF*).

My HP 1200 is working it's way through it's third ream of paper since I purchased it. It is still using the original cartridge the printer came with.

*Print Quality Has Been Flawless*...even the ones I print in Econo Mode!

First print out in 10 seconds is *Great* and there have been No Paper Jams!

The only reason I didn't give this printer 5 stars is because it was slow printing big documents or complex graphics BUT that was easily fixed...$$$!!! bought me 32 megs of additional RAM. Now my printer shoots out my documents.

I have bought 2 of these printers, one for my home office and one for my small workgroup at work. Both hang off of a server via a USB cable and are shared with multiple users. Fast, clear output, and no jams. Only problem we have had is that the copier function sometimes stops on the upgraded office model and we need to unplug the machine to reset it. Other than that, we are extremely pleased.

I bought this from Amazon in 2001, and it still works. I've moved four times criss-crossing the country, including a couple years in graduate school when the printer was heavily used. After one move, the printer made a clicking noise, but that went away after I re-fitted the ink cartridge. If you are looking for a low cost, highly reliable and effective black and white laser printer which will last a long time, consider this one. I haven't purchased a printer since, so I'm not sure of other choices, but this one has worked well for me.