HP LaserJet 1012 Printer

by HP

Product Details

Product Manual [2.43mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 13 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 16 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000C1XHY
• Item model number: Q2461A#ABA
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (128 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 14, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Compact design, affordability, and strong performance make the HP LaserJet 1012 laser printer a logical choice for home or small business users with moderate print demands. Powered by a 133 MHz processor and 8 MB of internal memory, the HP 1012 delivers crisp 600 dpi black printing at up to 15 pages per minute.

PC and Mac compatible, the HP 1012 offers USB connectivity and comes with a handy CR-ROM with software and simple steps for hassle-free setup. This model offers versatile paper handling from its 150-sheet standard input tray and also includes a priority input tray for specialty jobs. The HP 1012 comes with everything you need to get started except the printer cable itself; it is backed by a one-year warranty.

What's in the Box
HP LaserJet 1012 printer, HP print cartridge, Getting Started guide, software and electronic User Guide on CD-ROM, power cord, printer media input tray, printer priority input tray, tray cover; USB cable not included

Product Description

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1012 Monochrome Laser Printer - It's never been this easy or affordable to bring laser printing into your home office, so if you've been thinking about upgrading, this is the way to go. Compatible with Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Mac OS 9 & OS X Compact design saves desk space and is half the size of most Laser printers USB 2.0 Interface for fast transfer of large print jobs Uses Q2612A toner cartridge (Included) 1 Year Limited Manufacturers Warranty Unit Dimensions - 14.6 (W) x 9.1 (D) x 8.2 (H) Actual print speed will vary according to use

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HP 1012 Outstanding Low Cost Laser Printer, July 8, 2004

By 

Victor Healey (Marietta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP LaserJet 1012 Printer (Office Product)

I will make this short and sweet. I love the HP 1012.

There are painful issues when buying low cost lasers beyond the cost of replacement toner.
The laser drum has a limited life span and will eventually fail, possibly do to the corrosive effects of heat and humidly over a period of six months to a year. In many lasers this is a separate assembly which has a rated life span of about 20,000 pages. That is great if you print all those pages within that time period but some users are finding that the drum fails regardless of per page use because of the above. They may print two thousand pages in one year and still have to purchase a new drum when the printing begins to fail. The pain is that a drum costs almost as much as a discounted laser printer does in the first place. This is a rip because these drums are not much more substantial than an empty coke can. Truly this is a case of "selling you the razor and hoping to make money when you need the blades". Look at all the Amazon reviews of other lasers where people have had them for more than six months. Do you begin to feel their pain?

The HP apparently does not have a separate drum assembly. When you replace the cartridge you are replacing this also. That is probably why their cartridges appear to cost slightly more per copy than the other low cost lasers that I looked at. HP states their cartridge is guaranteed to be good for at least six months after it has been opened and that an unopened cartridge has a shelf life of two years in the plastic package.

What HP doesn't want you or I to know is that they are rather conservative with the supply of toner and that the toner is designed to wear out long before the cartridge and drum does in the home environment of limited usage. If you really plan to print with the HP 1012, you may use that laser cartridge up long before six months is out. You may be interested in knowing that you can save two thirds the cost of a new cartridge by melting a hole in the used one and pouring in new toner designed for the HP 1012. You plug the hole and drop the little guy back in the printer and print away. Some people are reported to be able to do this up to four times before the little cartridge gives out completely and you must buy a new one. Anyone who can refill a salt shaker can be taught how to refill the HP 1012.

This tactic drops the true cost per page way down compared to those other printers I looked at. To calculate their true cost per page you have to figure in buying a new drum or amortizing the total cost of the printer and pages printed until you must throw it away. Almost all of them can be refilled in a similar manner to the HP or you can pick up remanufactured toner cartridges for them. Do a web search for "HP 1012" laser "toner refill" using GOOGLE and you will eventually figure out how it is done. You can buy both the toner and a little twelve dollar tool kit to melt the hole from various sources on the net.

Everyone else in these Amazon reviews have already hit on the other key reasons I grabbed an HP from one of Amazon's affiliates.

ADDITIONAL 1012 PROS
1 The printer has no fan and is super quiet.
2 The 1012 uses only two watts in standby, you could leave it on 24X7 and it will draw as much as an instant on monitor or TV in standby.
3 When printing it draws less than 300 watts, the others I looked at almost cause brownouts as they draw so much current while printing.
4 The toner save feature works very well, I find it suitable for most of my print outs.
5 It is so small it will fit almost anywhere. I placed mine behind my LCD montior screen in the area where there once was old huge CRT monitor body.

CONS
1 Printing on 3x5 cards is slower than normal printing, from hitting the command to send to the printer and the first card actually coming out. I suspect there is some driver issue causing this.
It is not irritating but noticeable when you are used to get the first page in eight to ten seconds.
My inkjets take far longer and they don't print on 3X5 cards correctly.

2 Turning the 1012 off while printing will cause a paper jam and the HP 1012 lights will flash indicating a problem when you turn it back on. You have to take out the toner cartridge being careful not to expose the drum to light; I covered mine with the black plastic bag it came in. Then you must pull the jammed sheet of paper carefully forward thru the exposed assembly.

This only happened to me once when I realized I had submitted a long WORD document of several hundred pages when I only wanted two pages excerpted out of it. I panicked before thinking because this printer is so fast and it was churning out all these pages when I only wanted two! The correct way to cancel a print job is open the Win XP printers' folder and click on CANCEL to stop the current job.

I don't work for anyone in the computer industry. I have owned a number of HP printers over the years and still do. They always seem to be well built. The last inkjet I bought was an EPSON. I truely loath this printer with its constand clogs and super expensive ink which is wasted in head cleaning.

I am trying to find someone I don't like to give this to.

Vic

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth Every Penny, March 26, 2005

By 

SoulJoy (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: HP LaserJet 1012 Printer (Office Product)

I ordered the printer on Christmas Eve 2004 from Amazon, and it arrived about 3 weeks later on a Friday. I reckon the holidays must have delayed the shipment. I have seen it selling for a little less elsewhere, but taking into consideration that shipping was free and I didn't have to pay sales tax in California, it was the best deal.

I have a Powerbook running Mac OS-X 10.3.8 and I had the printer working in about 15-20 minutes after opening the box. There is no USB cable or a manual. A PDF manual is supplied in the CD-ROM along with the print driver. Just make sure you purchase a USB cable. I got an inexpensive Belkin USB cable from Amazon.

The supplied HP print driver is version 1.1.3 and it prints the pages in reverse order by default. The printer puts out the pages face down, so you have to rearrange the pages in the proper order every time. I am a writer and I print out over 100 pages at a time, so that can be a big problem. I searched for a newer version of the print driver on the HP website, but they only had version 1.1.3 for download. I emailed Tech Support at HP on a Saturday and received a reply from them on Monday. They informed me that Version 4 of the print driver can be downloaded via an FTP address, which they emailed me. I don't know why they didn't make the latest print driver available on the HP website in the first place. I downloaded Version 4 and everything has been smooth sailing ever since. I have to commend HP Tech Support for their timely response and effectively solving my problem.

Regarding the speed of the HP 1012.... It puts out the first page in less than 10 seconds. It is very quiet, because it doesn't have a fan. I have heard that the printer slows down after 50-plus pages while doing my research prior to purchasing it. Honestly, that concerned me. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I printed a manuscript that was 106 pages long. My printer never slowed down! Although the printer did get rather warm without a fan, it kept putting out the pages at the same consistent pace. I've printed 100-plus page manuscripts several times now with the same results. Even then, if you are doing extensive printing jobs, expect it to slow down. Otherwise, you might be better off getting a different printer that can handle the volume.

I bought the printer for printing text and the results are sharp and clear. I considered the Samsung 1710 and 1740 and a couple of Brother printers in the same price range. I soon learned that Samsung stopped supporting Mac OS-X. While less expensive, Brother printers require a separate toner and drum, thus making the operating costs higher in the long run. The HP 1012 has the toner and drum combined together in one cartridge, so there are no expensive drum replacements. I've heard some people complain about the $69 price for the HP 1012 toner cartridge. You won't see me complaining, because I will not be paying $150 for a separate drum replacement. Besides, I've seen a new HP 1012 toner cartridge selling substantially less than $69 on the web.

For my requirements, the HP 1012 was my only choice and the best choice. I've had the HP 1012 for 3 months now, and I've purposely waited this long to write this review so I can fully evaluate it. Aside from initial print driver issues, it has performed flawlessly printing everything from pages to envelopes. Feel free to contact me if you need print driver Version 4. I rate it 4 and a half stars. It would be 5 stars if it wasn't for the print driver issue.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great little laser printer, December 14, 2004

By 

JiggyDancer (New York City, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HP LaserJet 1012 Printer (Office Product)

I bought this laser printer when I realized I will need to print out dozens of pdf research papers. Laser printers can churn out black and white prints much faster than ink jets. As a low end laser printer, I was surprised at how good the quality of its print outs are. The printer is quiet and compact. Toner cartridges cost around 70 bucks for 2000 pages, which is a bit more expensive versus that from other brand names. But I am very satisfied with my purchase. A great laser printer to have at home for printing out forms, documents and homeworks! I'd give it a 4.5 if i could, but its more 4 than 5 because it prints a bit slow and is a bit on the expensive side versus other budget printers.

P.S. I also own a Konica Minolta 1350W, I find the LaserJet 1012 a much better product.