Customer Reviews

HP LaserJet 4050N Network Printer

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As someone who has used, recommended, and supported printers in workgroups for nearly 10 years, I've come across a couple of truly outstanding printers. This is one of them. It's fast, the text quality is outstanding, and using the manual feeds and output tray, you can have a straight-through paper path for heavier stock. I've successfully used this printer to send post-card thick paper through to print, yes, post-cards.

Easily and completely compatible with both PCs and Macs. Possibly the best B&W printer I've ever encountered.

We have about 6 LaserJet 4050 printers and we are generally happy with them; however, there is a serious problem with the print feed rollers on these machines. We find that users complain of paper jams after a few thousand prints. It is always the case that the paper has not actually jammed, but is sitting on the hold down brackets because the lower pf roller has warn and can't pick it up. Replacing the pf rollers resolves the issue, but is a constant problem (pf roller run around $4.00 each).

I have three of these printers for my office (Also a Cannon IR5000 and an HP Color 4500 to explain the caliber of printers that I use.

The first one I have had for 3 years and it works as good as the day I got it. I use it for between 20 and 200 pages a day EVERY day. The Extended life toner cartridge seems to last FOREVER. The network feature was quite easy to setup through NT, XP, and 2000 using the standard Windows Drivers.. Heck I didn't even need a driver disk - How cool is that?

The second and third ones are general office printers which handle 200+ pages a day. Again easy network configuration and never a problem.

I don't [care]what the resolution is, or that fact that is spits out 16+ pages a minute - All that matters for me is that it works, I don't ever have to fix it, and it's super fast. I work in a wood shop and I swear this thing sits under 1/2 inch of dust. I blow it off with an air hose once a month and that is it. The manual feed works great too.

One more thing - In the seemingless infinte printouts we make - we have never had one jam... Not ONE.

Stop looking and buy this printer! You will not forgive yourself if you pass it up.

I would and will buy this printer again.

Matthew

Nicely packed and it arrived in great condition as advertised. I love this old printer and for a office application these old printers are work horses and are easy to set up and use. For the money this is hard to beat!

I've tried to 'cheap out' on so many printers in the past; you just wouldn't believe me. Right now in the stable, I have an Epson R260 (ink), Canon MX850 (ink), Samsung ML-1665 x2 (Laser), HP 1006 x2 (laser), and HP 1600DN (laser).

Nothing can touch this 4050N in productivity. We do a lot of mailings, and I used to fool around with Envelopes in the inkjet printers, and run manual duplex through the cheapie lasers, and finally got a cheapie duplexer in the 1600dn, and you really do spend all your time fooling around with these misfeeds and paper jams.

The Envelope feeding for this sucker is fantastic. It plugs into the front of the machine in place of the Manual Feed. There is an electronics module that inputs settings into the printer, and has it's own feed and roller mechanism. Envelope printers I was looking at online started around $5k. This was under $200 here on Amazon.

The Duplexer is awesome. They are also very inexpensive. The Windows drivers are seasoned enough so that any machine on the network can print to this thing. Windows XP, Vista, and Win7.

It's not USB, so if you are not putting this on the network, you will have to dig up a Parallell port somewhere.

Controls for setting up a static IP are easy enough.

I do need to chase down another paper tray - having a seperate tray for colored paper types will be very helpful.

Speed is not bad. Slower then some others, but only by a few seconds per page. You asbolutely make up this time by never having to play with misfeeds or jams. This printer just works.

The toner is the best deal going. You can't beat 10k pages for ~$30 anywhere. I have been printing out the Supplies page every handful of print jobs, to keep a running log of usage. I was breaking even on page cost vs my other printers when this thing was down only 1/4. The supply meter is quite granular and accurate. Most others you have no idea until you have 10 pages left. And for a $20 cartridge you get maybe 1k pages.

If you can get one of these still, it will probably be the last laser printer you have to buy. I'm that impressed. I'll do a ream of paper at a time on a company mailing. You don't have to worry about a thing. The top feed has a level that detects paper full, and with envelopes or pages, will stall the job until you remove the stack. Auto start again with no intervention.

The back of the machine opens up, so with the manual feed, you can do heavy card stock, transparancies, lables.. you name it. Straight through paper path. I would normally have to push cardstock through the inkjet printers, and this printer just does it no sweat.

The print driver software has all the settings for quality (RET 1200, RET 600, Draft) as well as paper settings (labels, cardstock, about 12 different things), and handles everything itself.

I can send big, mixed jobs to the printer from multiple workstations and not even have to check on it. I know it will work OK.

I've actually been thinking about buying another one just to have in case this one dies, or maybe run two at once.

The HP 4050 is better than the newer (made in China) units.

It goes, and goes, and goes.

This HP Laserjet 4050N is the best printer on the market for the price. The reasons I purchase this printer is because we had such great luck at work with HP 4050N. It is a old rebuilt printer but it works better than new one and will last longer (in my opinion).

Great Printer and we love it in our home office..

This printer delivers exceptional quality and performance, it's fast, and it's tremendously reliable. It is a true workhorse, and that is priceless. I have printed an average of 100-200 pages per day, every day, for the last 4+ years, and have never been disappointed (and I have very low tolerance for products that don't work!). I have needed only one service call, and that was easy too, because the HP site provides links to service providers. The tech came out the next day, and he went beyond repairing and replacing the part; he cleaned the machine inside and out, made suggestions for maximum usage and efficiency, and provided excellent customer service. With HP, I truly feel that I am getting so much product (and innovation and reliability) for so little money (and, no, I don't own their stock!).

I have at least one to two of this model printer in the offices I work at because they are so reliable, and need minimal maintenence. All of mine are in health care settings, where records are key. The toner last for many sheets of printing (never counted, but I know I probably go more than 1000 sheets at least). The printer rarely jams (except when I used really cheap thin paper), and the secretaries love the sheet feed selection if having to use overhead paper for a letter. The quality of the print (i believe up to 1200dpi) is great for black and white. Highly recommended investment, quite likely one of the last printers your office will need.

In the hospital I worked we have HP laserjet 4050N in every floor. Initially, it looks okay but later a lot of problem with paper jam and not recognizing the size of paper. More than half of printers in the hospital end up feeding from the front, in attempt to trick that stupid HP printer. Otherwise, it stopped printing after first page. HP has a very unreliable customer support and they won't waste their time once 1 yr warrenty period is over. They don't even seem to know the printers they produced and will suggest you to buy a new one.