Undercutting all of the small laser printers recently tested, the HP Laserjet P1505, with a price tag under £90 is aimed at the budget end of the laser market. Lacking an LCD screen, it makes do with buttons and coded lights and although it boasts a USB2.0 port, there is no Ethernet port for multi-user printing. If network printing is a high priority, HP does offer the P1505n model that incorporates an Ethernet port, but the price rises by an unreasonable £50.
Design
The P1505 doesn’t look much, especially compared to the attractive Samsung ML-1630 and it is obvious that HP has had to cut many corners to get down to this price point. Both the input and output trays are not of the usual HP standard, with the input guides being particularly small and difficult to move. The control panel, consisting of buttons and lights can be very confusing to interpret and the lack of any printed documentation to consult is frustrating. An on screen help system is employed but personally I would prefer referencing a hard copy.
Cartridge
Do not be overly concerned if you are quickly required to renew the toner cartridge on this machine. It is factory fitted with a small capacity starter cartridge that is limited to 1,000 pages. The only available replacement cartridge (HP CB436a) is good for double this amount, although at £42 is not very good value, giving a cost per page of over 2p. The other problem with this cartridge is the fact that it is a new design and is currently only used in a total of three models. Unless it is introduced into more new printers, it is unlikely that cheaper compatible cartridges will be commonly available in the near future, leaving you with high print costs.
Of great surprise with the P1505 is the print speed. The printer is built around a 24ppm engine, which is a fairly high rating for a budget personal printer. Even for that rating, it turned in fast speeds in test circumstances, measuring a commendable 22ppm in a test of mixed text and graphics. Text quality is good enough for most purposes, supplying crisp characters in more than half the fonts tested. Graphics quality however was a little disappointing, good enough for internal use but a little short of the quality I would feel comfortable with handing over to an important client. Solid fills showed some unevenness and there was visible dithering in some levels of grey, producing mild patterns and a slight graininess.
If you are just after a fast affordable mono laser printer for your home office, at less than £90 the HP Laserjet P1505 may just fit the bill. But if you require a little more in the way of usable features or better quality output, you would be well advised to increase the budget slightly and look one division up, at the likes of the Brother HL-5240.
