Customer Reviews

HP LaserJet P2015dn Printer (CB368A#ABA)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Last week was HP week at Office Depot and I decided to buy the HP LaserJet P2015DN for [...]. Things I particularly like:

--250 sheet input tray under the unit, not stuck out front, reminds me of the old LaserJet II and III workhorses that are still in use by some

--fast start up

--fast print, even duplex

--lots of paper choices, including recycled which I usually use

--small footprint

--easy set up

--excellent print

--plenty of memory for a single user, easy memory upgrade if more needed

--front tray for envelopes, etc.

Things to know:

--cartridge included is the smaller one, rated at 3000 pages (larger is rated at 7000)

--"D" means duplex

--"N" means network card included (not in use by me)

--4 models available

P2015

P2015D

P2015DN (mine)

P2015X comes with a 2nd 250 input tray and 7000 page cartridge

--recommended page volume is 740 to 3,000 pages per month, though the advertised duty cycle is up to 15,000 per month.

This printer was designed for workgroups, though it will serve me well as my primary printer at home. It sits next to my humble HP 1510, ink jet printer, copier, scanner, which I will use if color is needed. I was tired of replacing black inkjet cartridges every 200 pages or so at $15 a pop and having only 50 pages in the input tray. A replacement 3000 page toner cartridge costs about $80.

I started printing the first 100 pages of a document I wanted on paper in the duplex mode. Although duplex is "automatic", one has to tell it to print duplex. It resets to one-sided at the end of the job. By the time I found my 3-hole punch and binder, the job was done, so I printed the other 107 pages which were ready as soon as I was. The duplex process is a bit noisy, but not obnoxious.

If you want the detailed specs, there is a 4-page document at the HP site that covers all 4 printers.

Thanks to the user comments here at Amazon, I decided against a color laser printer in part due to the problems with other than 20 lb. paper. I don't really need color for most of my printing, and am pleased with this choice.

I had no problem at all setting the 2015dn up for duplex printing under OS X 10.4.9.

It could be that the drivers have been updated since the previous poster had trouble -- but it also could be that because the duplex feature is well-buried in the options, he didn't find it.

First, make sure that when you check the printer properties under Preferences, that the duplex option is checked. You do this by clicking on "Printer Setup" and going from there.

In the Print dialogue box you first grab the drop-down menu for "Copies and Pages," then select "Layout," and there it is, as "Two-Sided." Select "Long Edge" or "Short Edge" and go.

Works perfectly.

After close to ten years of using an HP 4L,(which still works perfectly), I decided to look for a printer with a larger paper reserve and higher speed. I've been thrilled with the P2015dn. The speed is incredible, the paper tray holds 250 sheets, with the front of the unit having a small indicator as to approximate amount of paper left in tray. The 32 MB standard memory means that on a big print job, even if the paper runs out in the middle of printing, it will remember and print the remainder of the job. Here's the great thing...this model of the P2015 unit is network ready with a built-in print server. I have a small network server connecting 2 computers and a wireless router for our laptops. My 4L was connected to a print server with parallel cable. By choosing this unit, all I had to do was use a J45 ethernet cable, plug one end into one of my ethernet hub's empty ports, and the other end into the back of the printer. Install the drivers on each computer (not the server), and you are instantly in business. Just choose the P2015dn as your default printer on each computer. I kept my existing setup for my 4L as a backup printer just in case.)

The really nice surprise was that my ethernet hub is an old 10base-T, and yet the P2015dn still fires out each page at blinding speed. The machine doesn't make a sound until it has processed the job, then starts firing the pages out. Duplexing works perfectly. The extra money spent on this dn model payed in simplicity of installation.

There is no operating manual that comes in the box. There is only the installation disk. The manual can be found on HP's web site. My only problem with the install instructions is they tell you not to turn on the machine until the install is complete, but it can't find the machine on the network to complete the install unless the machine is on, and the software does not tell you at a specific point to turn on the machine. So on a leap of faith, I turned the machine on, it was found on the network, and the install finished nicely. During the install, it will tell you it has to reboot your machine, so don't have anything open while doing the install.

Overall, based on my experience with my old 4L, and the current performance of my new P2015dn, I look forward to many years of trouble free service. You can tell I'm an HP fan. Yes, you can find cheaper makes and models that do the same, but for me, HP is the only dependable brand.

I only say that based on personal experience...I understand others may feel differently. Good luck on your printer purchase.

This is my first review on Amazon. I usually don't write reviews if I feel they will not add anything new to the reader; however, I think this might help some of you who own an Airport Extreme or Airport Express. I bought this printer b/c I do accounting work as a side job from home and use a software that prints out legal forms that must meet certain requirements. As a result, I was required to purchase a laser printer that using PCL as its language and that is how I came to purchase the HP P2015DN since it meets the PCL requirement.

Although, I realize the fact that is has a network card I wondered if I will be able to hock it up to my Airport extreme using a USB cable instead of Ethernet cable since my Airport extreme has only one port which my PowerMac G4 uses for its internet connection. I hooked the printer up using the USB cable and followed the instructions to add it to bonjour and it worked flawless lee on all three of my mac's and my PC.

OK, I never write reviews, but after my frustrating experience setting this up with Windows VISTA I feel I need to say something to either warn others or help them. I have Windows VISTA and XP on various computers on my home network. The XP install and setup went fine so if you are using XP then I would recommend this printer. If you have VISTA then you may want to think twice before jumping into what may be an extremely frustrating and difficult setup!

HP should really be embarrassed by claiming VISTA compatibility with this printer and the work their customers need to go through to get it setup is beyond reasonable. I have been a big fan and user of HP printers for almost 20 years and this experience has shaken my faith in their quality. This printer says it is compatible with VISTA and even states that on the outside of the box. However, the install CD which comes with the printer does not contain software or drivers for VISTA and will not work. You will need to visit the HP site to download new drive files in order to set this up. So just toss the CD if you are installing on VISTA. If you are installing in VISTA here are the steps I finally went through to get it to work. This is slightly different than what some others have posted so it may have changed from past methods.

1- Go to this link and download the PCL5 driver. http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=1845551&prodNameId=1845561&swEnvOID=2093&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=hv-43941-3

2- Save the file to your hard drive and note the location.

3- Rename the file to something simple...this is not really necessary but it makes the next step easier. I renamed mine simply 2015.exe.

4- Go to a command line (dos prompt) by clicking on the start button and typing "command" in the search box.

5- Change to the directory where you saved and renamed the downloaded file.

6- Type this command 2015.exe -s -a -silent (where the 2015.exe is the name you renamed the file) This will silently install the driver.

7- Go to the printers in the control panel and select install a new printer.

8- Now you can just follow through the window's prompts to select a network printer or a printer connected via USB. (make sure the printer is on before you do this)

9- When it asks you to select a driver you can select HP from the list of manufactures and then the HP 2015 should be listed in the long list of driver that will come up. This is the driver file you installed. Simply select it and you should be good to go.

It is really unbelievable that HP makes it's customers go through this complicated process to get this setup in VISTA. Once set up the printer seems to print well, and is fast. I have no complaints about the quality.

If the install had been less traumatic I would have given the printer 4 or 5 stars.

My need was for a fast, good quality printer. This one fits the bill extremely well. I also print quite a few envelopes. It also works well for this. If you print several hundred envelopes, you'll have to feed them about 8 at a time The print quality is excellent and the almost instant on speed is great. It also doesn't stay "on" after printing, which I appreciate. I often print single sheets of card stock thickness or colored paper for notebook divider pages, and the easy and quick access to the alternate feeding tray (which is also where the envelopes go) is very good. I'd buy another one of these printers.

I'm a big HP fan and this was my 4th printer from them (4L, 1100, 2500L). But this one simply doesn't work, the text flakes off on creases or even with a rub of the finger. It happens using any of the paper-type settings, and four different media types, all laser-guaranteed (including HP paper), and all of which work just fine on the 1100 and 2500L.

The feature set is great and it truly is a fast printer. But I need the text to stay on more than one minute. Try it out on the paper you plan to use before buying. If you have one and haven't tried it yet, scratch your fingernail lightly and see if the whole page comes off. It may surprise you like it did me...when a client called about it. Very unprofessional.

RE: support...after a very long support session doing a bunch of things that didn't solve the problem, HP offered to have a look at it if I paid $54 shipping. For a brand new printer, that doesn't print. I'm picturing spending the time finding another box, packing it up, getting it shipped, getting it back, same problem. In a world full of $300ish printers I may just eat the loss on this one and try another brand...caveat emptor.

After trying other printers for a while, I came back to HP and bought the P2015DN and I'm happy that I did. It's a workhorse, with near instant printing from sleep mode, and extremely fast throughput. We have it networked with Bonjour to several computers and it doesn't miss a beat. Highly recommended for a workgroup printer.

This printer is very fast, quiet, compact, does automatic duplexing, and it has built in networking. The initial cost was very competitive (especially with the rebate) and the cost per page is about as good as it gets. I use it for my main printer since 99.9% of what I print is in B&W. If I have to print in color, I use our HP4200 injet all-in-one that has a much much higher cost per page.

I had some trouble setting things up on my home network because the printer's default IP address was out-of-range for my wireless router. I had to find out what the range was and then manually change the printer's IP to a static value that was within that range. Once I got that figured out (which took longer than I care to admit), things worked out very smoothly. Now I can print from my laptop even when my desktop computer is turned off.

This printer comes with a standard toner cartridge (3,000 pages), not the cheapo starter cartriges that comes with many othe printers. In our house, that can get us by for at least six months. I ordered the high capacity cartige (7,000 pages) for the supply cabinet, so I wont need to by toner again for 18 months or so.

The "most helpful" negative review for this printer on the Amazon website is NOT correct. Duplex printing IS possible.

Just go to Preferences / Print & Fax, then select the P2015, click Options and Supplies, then select the middle tab (Driver) and check the box "Duplex Unit".