This printer has been tested in an office of six people with moderate printing needs. This review is based on usage for a small to medium size office.
Let’s be honest. The first thing one looks for when buying a new printer is the price. However, the average buyer is much smarter than this these days and realizes that the initial cost is not the only outlay that comes into play. Most of the spending on a printer will be on the toner cartridge, paper usage, and the overall life of the machine.
The HP Laserjet 400 isn’t among the cheapest printers on the market, but it is one of several more moderately priced machines. It uses CE410, CE411, CE412 and CE413 toner cartridges, which are very economical, especially if you use an alternative brand. Care must be taken when selecting an alternative toner cartridge to ensure it does not damage the machine, but there are several reputable brands available that will not void a manufacturer’s warranty. In this case Hytec cartridges were used, which do not invalidate the HP warranty and the results are good.
For a small, inexpensive printer it’s very fast: up to 21 pages per minute, black or colour. Speed isn’t a primary consideration for most offices, but it’s a nice change if your prints are ready by the time you get to the machine, instead of spending valuable time waiting for the document to finish printing.
It is also networked, which is essential for most offices. There are netless versions of this model available if you don’t need it for your use and that will work out a bit cheaper to buy.
The duplex feature works fine, which is not the case with all duplex printers. It’s still relatively fast when printing on both sides, so it can really cut your paper costs if you regularly print multi-page documents.
However, there is a problem. This machine may be prone to paper jams, especially when printing on labels or cards. If you have large batches of labels to process, I recommend caution. This printer prefers that you only feed a few sheets at a time. It is essential to select the correct paper medium before pressing print.
In conclusion, this is an intermediate printer suitable for a small to medium office. It is by far the only print shop to serve this role, but it is one of several that would produce the products.