Customer Reviews

HP Color Laserjet CP1518NI Printer Entry Level Color Laserjet for Us Government

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

The Good:
1) The Price - it is on sale for 299.00 in a number of places. A network printer at that price is a steal.
2) Image quality is sharp and crisp. Colors are fairly accurate.
3) No problems were encountered installing printer on computer running Vista. However, there is a lot of stuff (optional programs) on the installation so a typical install can take a long time (in my case well over a half hour) during which time I did wonder why it was taking so long. I guess, in this age of "bloatware", this may expected.

The Bad:
HP does not make high yield toner cartridges for this series of printers (this one and HP Color Laserjet CP1215 Printer). High yield cartridges are a great money saver since they typically give you 2-3 times more pages while typically costing only 20-25% more than standard cartridges. So unless HP comes out with high yield toner cartridges for this printer in the future, you will be trapped into paying about twice as much per printed page than you would if you purchased a printer that can use high yield cartridges. At about $280.00 for a replacement set of cartridges, the low printer price savings could easily be overcome by higher printing cost if you intend on doing a lot of color printing.

The Product Description doesn't list the replacement toner cartridges. Here they are:
CB540A Black print cartridge with HP ColorSphere toner
CB541A Cyan print cartridge with HP ColorSphere toner
CB542A Yellow print cartridge with HP ColorSphere toner
CB543A Magenta print cartridge with HP ColorSphere toner

I had a Samsung CL-300, about the same size as this pritner, but I hated the color from it. So when I got to use this HP at work, I was so surprised and HAPPY that the color is very close to what I see on screen. Prints nicely too. Since it's a laser printer, large scale photo doesn't look as nice as inkjets, but still does a great job!

I love the manual duplex. I didn't understand what it meant until I tried it. I always had a problem with figuring out which side I put back in for duplex printing, but HP made it easier. When it prints out, just put the one-side-printed-paper back in the paper tray, without flipping it over or turning it, or whatever. Just put it in the tray the same way it come out.

The worst thing about this printer is the toner usage. The toolbox application installed in the computer says the black toner is still 60% full, then after a minute, it went down to 10%... It's been less than 7 weeks and only printed 600 pages. It's suppose to print up to 2000 pages... After another print, the cyan toner did the same, from 60% - 10%... The toners aren't excatly cheap. The fuser is connected to each individual toners, so I guess that's why the toners are more expensive.

I am thinking of replacing my Samsung (at home) with this (buying one for myself). I love the color and that I can rely on the close accuracy on the colors, but the price of the toners is making me think twice.

This is our second color laser printer in the past two weeks, and after a week of use we feel this is a keeper. The previous printer we tried, the Brother HL-4040cdn Color Laser Printer with Duplex and Networking, was a step better than this printer in nearly every respect, except color accuracy. But my wife had to have a printer that was highly accurate for her project and this little printer was able to meet her high expectations. The Brother just could not cut it with the color accuracy, despite all the advanced calibration steps we tried.

Let me admit that I was a bit apprehensive about getting this printer given the many negative early reviews. Thankfully, it seems HP has addressed the quality problems with the later releases of this printer since it has been receiving excellent reviews lately.

The print quality of this printer is astonishingly nice. HP is confident enough to let the printer print out a photo quality test page that has brilliant, vibrant colors, and amazing depth for a laser printer.

The build quality of this printer is good but perhaps a step below the substantially heavier Brother HL-4040cdn, which seems definitely capable of a higher duty cycle. This printer has a smaller footprint and feels more at home in a home-office as opposed to a business office. That said, in our first week of use we have had no technical issues with this printer whatsoever and, despite being slower and less robust than the Brother, it suits our needs just fine.

After networking it with our Linksys router and assigning it a fixed IP number, we found to our delight that most of the settings of the printer can be manipulated using a web browser after pointing the browser to the printer's IP number. The printer's built in webserver page displays information such as toner levels and estimated remaining prints and has a full menu system to allow you to change the settings.

Our only grouse with this printer is that the default color output for photos is a bit too dark, causing dull pictures. I browsed through HP's Support pages and found that the dark color issue was quite common, but I could not find a solution for the correct Print Density settings for this printer. So, after much testing, and lots of wasted paper, I came to the same conclusion as another reviewer that there was too much magenta, which tended to smear the subtle details.

My Color Adjustments:
Using the "HP ToolboxFX" program that is provided, or through the web interface, it is necessary to modify the "Print Density" settings under "Device Settings". I arrived at the following settings: cyan: 0, magenta: -2, yellow: -1 and black: 0. To keep things simple, I kept the values consistent accross all the print density attributes, i.e., contrasts, highlights, midtones and shadows, although each individual attribute should probably be further tweaked. To my eyes colors were true, with slight heaviness in magenta remaining.

It was also necessary to brighten the pictures themselves slightly, using a software tool such as Adobe Photoshop or Arcsoft Photoimpression. I simply used Photoimpression to bump up the brightness by 10% (or "auto brighten" by two levels).

Finally, when printing, I found it is also necessary to set the the color theme to Photo. I did try sRGB, Vivid and Photo (Adobe RGB 1998) color themes, but they all tended to push too much magenta. Only with the color theme set to Photo was I able to get true reds and vibrant, almost photo quality prints on 8.5 x 11 glossy photo paper.

Conclusion:
Since there is a relatively easy way to get around the dark color issue, I have no problem edorsing the HP CP1518ni as an excellent color laser printer for home use.

Normally HP printers are quality products, but this one is a dud in my opinion. The first one I received made the same screeching noises other reviewers have reported and then printed only solid black pages. I requested a replacement from Amazon.com and they sent one over night. The second printer had the same problems as the first, so I've asked for a refund. Getting two printers with the exact same defect points to some design and quality control issues from HP.

This is one amazing color laserjet - probably one of the best bang for the buck you can find among all color laser printers. I had recently bought this printer in order to print out more than 2,500 color pages (10 copies of my Ph.D. dissertation). I needed the best quality print-outs since I had a lot of pictures and artwork within my document. As a result, I had to buy a printer that was of high quality but also reasonably priced since I'm on a budget - and I wasn't disappointed at all!

Upon installing the software, I was already amazed by the test print out. The printed picture on standard multipurpose paper looked as if it was taken from a profesionally printed photograph. The text was crisp, and the colors were bright! In terms of print-out quality, this is by far one of the best printers you can find.

As for some technical specs, the printer does print 8 ppm, so depending on your needs, this may be good or bad. It does offer USB or Ethernet connection which is extremely convenient. The best thing is that no matter how large your document is, it prints within 30 seconds upon hitting the print button on your computer (and this is when I run my HP on a shared network). However, buyers beware - I have had some difficulty installing the complete HP software since I am running Vista on PC. It took a little longer than I wanted, but I was able to get everything installed at the end of the day :) Overall, no other printers can beat this one, and I highly recommend this printer to those who demand high quality prints from a printer that is economically priced!

When I buy a laser printer I have two criteria that must be met: it must be postscript compatible for printing graphic design proofs and it must have fairly accurate color.

This printer has done a fair job of both. It is postscript compatible but the accurate color is a little lacking. I've found that color proofs are a little dark and slightly heavy in magenta and cyan.

I've owned HP color laser jets in the past and I like that there is no drum roller, only cartridges to replace. This can save $200 in replacement part costs. I like that you can replace one color at a time and I find that I don't have to do it too often. The cartridges are way overpriced but I think that is common with any printer these days.

I have no trouble printing on a variety of papers. I never use the card readers in the front but it is convenient to have them.
I have hooked the printer up to a network with no trouble.

It does not take too long to print but is fairly loud. It is also loud when it cycles on its own.

It does have a power save mode that it goes into automatically.

I really wish I had a second drawer to keep preprinted paper (invoices or letterhead). I have not found that the front paper feeder is easy to use so I always use the pull out drawer.

I would recommend this printer for small or home office or personal use.

I purchased this printer to replace a different small color laser that died (Samsung CLP-300).
This one blows my previous one away. The color accuracy when printing photos full page size on normal paper is amazing. On photo paper even better. Looks like a photo print that you would get from developing film and having prints made. I really was looking to replace the printer that died for normal routine printing and was hoping that it might also do a good job of printing color photos because I was normally using a separate inkjet printer for that to get better quality. Surpassed my expectations and I can do both routine printing and color photo printing with this one printer.
Print speed is a slightly slower than my previous printer, but perfectly acceptable for my home use. I do like that start up time from when I send print job until it starts printing is much faster than my Samsung was. Love that is has a manual feed right on the front of the printer for envelopes and photo paper, so don't have to remove paper cartridge and change papers (Samsung CLP-300 didn't). I'm very pleased with this printer. Nice that it has built in networking so others in my house can use it too.

After reading positive reviews on the HP site, I thought this printer was a perfect match for my needs. This heavy printer was easy getting my computer to recognize the printer but once I hit print, that was where all the problems began. The drums made a loud screeching sound and the first page was a solid red with black ink. From there, nothing could print without streaking or blurring. Even after cleaning the drums, horrible print, page after page.
Now, more than one week later, support services have delayed exchange, so much for "next business day," so currently am looking for another printer.
Obviously, this new design has flaws. Someday day, it might become a great printer but I would not purchase at this time and save yourself aggravation. Wished we could have read someone's honest opinion about this product. My opinion has yet to show on HP's site.

The printer had been purchased as a replacement for a 20-year old HP Laserjet III. My expectations of the new printer had been tempered; however, the product proved more disappointing than I could bear. The unit was of flimsy build quality. Print quality was poor. There were numerous stray streeks on the printed pages. HP's once legendary service branch was of no help.

I exchanged the printer for a Xerox 6130 -- WOW, what a difference!!

I've been burned enough times with HP products during the last few years that it comes easy to write that this printer may well have been my last HP purchase.

I have had 5 HP printers in the past 12 years, 2 of them using HP Color LaserJet technology. The 3600n and the 1518ni have both suffered electrostatic transfer belt failure. The 3600n failed twice during a 14 month life cycle with minimal use and the 1518ni failed during installment a few minutes out of the box. I don't recommend HP Color Laser technologies at this time but do recommend their Black and White laser technology. I do have 2 black and white laser printers that are working very well.