Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsGood solid printer so far, but mediocre setup software, but very competent Web configuration server.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 2, 2016
This review is for setup and installation process part of the HP M477fdw printer only.
At later time, 6+ month into future I am update the review for any issues with the
everyday use of the printer.
The printer arrived intact. The case is relatively secure. The box weighs over 50LB
and bit difficult to hold by one person. The internal foams are designed to secure the content
through the trials of UPS gorillas. The unit comes with DVD-ROM, RJ11 (telephone), and
power cord, and USB cable. The unit does not include ethernet cable. The instructtion manual
is as usual not extensive, but barely enough to get you through the basic installation.
As with previous printers that I have HP-4300/HP86xx I tried to configure the network setting
through the touch screen. The touch screen operations were mostly intuitive. However, not all
functions and setups are available through the front panel. Some of the setup can only be
done through computer running their setup application. The touch screen seemed to be
less responsive than the HP86xx series inkjet MFP.
When I tried to finish setup using the included setup.exe file that comes with the printer, half way
through the installation, the setup application crashed. I suspect that may be partially configured
printer setup (manual IP addressing and such), may had something to do with the crashing of the
setup application. When I tried to restart the installation, it first had to uninstall the printer setup
before the installation can begin again, after the computer is rebooted. The setup could not connect
to the printer. To save time I reset the printer to the factory default and ran the setup installation again.
The overall installation of the printer and setting up the printer to 4 laptops, kindle HDX, IPAD, and Android
devices took about 3-4 hours total. I also installed HPePrint which was a bit of travail as well. Overall,
the HP applications are not well written. When I installed the HP ePrint it tried to connect to the HP
printer which is location at my work with its own private address, and comes back complaining that work
printer cannot be found at my home network, and there was no way to get rid of that printer from work
out of my home network in that application. If you just install as default installation of the printer as HP
expect you to, you may not have problem. But, if you decide to use your own private IP network and
security configurations, etc. you may have problems.
What I ended up doing was just do the default installation and went back modifying the configuration to
add in scanning to NAS, scanning via email, setup USB, and other configurations after the initial setup
was done. The web interface originally was not working from me assigning private ip address which
cause havoc with the setup.exe program from HP. Adding the printer to the computer was relatively
easy; do not used the included CD, just get the driver separately and go through TCP/IP printing
setup installation.
The setting up this printer took longer than other printers that I have installed in the past.
It was bit odd that in order to setup the wireless setting you have to unplug the Ethernet
cable even to start configuration.
The printout quality of B&W and color seems to be as good as I require. I am not using this to
print photo, I have other printers for that purpose. The speed of the printer is quite fast.
The first page out maybe in 7-8 seconds.
The printer goes to sleep in 15 minutes by default. The auto sleep and auto turn-off can not be
disabled ( at not through the gui windows). I think the longest auto turn off is 8 hours, after which
the device will turn off). If you have the Ethernet connected through a swtich/router, the default
setting is that the printer is not turned off as long as there activity on the ports; this option is a must.
If the above option (do not sleep if the port is active (i.e. packets being transmitted through a port in the
network.) If you do not have this option enabled, you may have to walk up to the printer and
activate (turn on) the printer manually.
The printer was installed to Window 7 Professional, Windows 7 Home, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 and Mac OSX, and
Android 5.0 and Kindle (via HPePrint) and all tested and working.
After 4+ hours everything is working, laptops, Mac, tablets, etc. This took much longer than
previous printers.
The print quality using the stock ink cartridges were excellent for B&W. The color print quality
was to my subjective opinion better than HP8620 MFP inkjet printer. But, of course the paper
used makes lot of difference. The paper used were plain copy paper from Costco.
I bought this printer for the purpose of dual side printing, and for that it works perfectly, albeit
it takes little longer than single sided printing.
The only downside I have noted is that setup application appears to be bit of untested not
fully troubleshooted software. The web based printing software need more refinement and
seems to open itself up for security breach in its default mode.
Once the printer has been setup you can manage the printer over the wired or wireless network
via its IP address. The setup of scanning and other functions can be done over the web server
built into the printer. The configuration through web server seems to be much better tested
than the setup software. I will most likely use the web based configuration from this point on
for this printer. The web screen in included. It is professional , uncluttered, and usable. Again,
it is here where you can setup send scan properties, email, NAS, and other servers. Very good
user interface. Good job on web interface.
Apparently, you can also download apps for the printer. App such as calendar is pre-loaded
but other apps can be downloaded and installed onto the printer. I have not installed any
additional app as of now; maybe later.
So, far so good. Hopefully this printer is as lasting as my previous workhorse HP4300DTN which
lasted me 6 years and still going strong.
