HP LaserJet 2100TN

The LaserJet 6P (reviewed issue 25, p167) will soon be receiving its marching orders, and it will be the last of Hewlett-Packard's workgroup and departmental mono lasers to be replaced.

Stepping into the limelight instead is the LaserJet 2100 which brings with it a host of welcome new features. True print resolution has been boosted from 600 to 1,200dpi, while engine speed shifts up a gear from 8 to 10ppm. And, unlike many printers in this class, HP claims this speed can be maintained at all resolutions.

Naturally, the 2100 is also JetSend-enabled. Developed by HP, this technology allows direct device-to-device printing over TCP/IP and aims to do away with printer drivers. In theory it sounds like a great idea: you could, for example, scan in a document and send the output directly over the network to your printer without having to first go through a PC. Unfortunately, JetSend-enabled input devices have been very slow to materialise and only HP's 9100C Digital Sender provides full support. HP does have plans to introduce a handheld scanner this year which uses JetSend to communicate over an infrared link. But, other than that, there's nothing else available. However, since HP has licensed the JetSend technology to more than 90 companies, we should see some more devices soon.

The new range comprises three models. The basic 2100 comes with 4Mb of memory, PCL6 emulation plus parallel and DIN-8 Macintosh local ports. The 2100T increases memory to 8Mb and adds PostScript 2 support, while the 2100TN reviewed here includes a JetDirect network printer server card and an additional lower paper tray.

Physically, there's little to differentiate the 2100TN from the LaserJet 6P. Minor cosmetic changes have been made to the chassis; the control panel has moved to the opposite side, although it still consists of print and cancel job buttons along with a couple of status LEDs. The 2100TN also supports infrared printing by way of a large, semi-circular receiver low down on the front panel.

The 2100TN uses a removable side panel to hide all its ports, leaving only neatly protruding cables at the rear. Beneath the panel you'll find a standard Type B parallel port, a DIN-8 LocalTalk socket and an HP JetDirect 600N print server card. Three DIMM sockets are present too, one of which is occupied by the PostScript module. The printer requires smaller 100-pin DIMM modules, but as HP charges a hefty £120 for an extra 8Mb you'd be well advised to shop around.

Paper capacity for the 2100TN is 600 sheets up to A4 and Legal sizes spread across a 100-sheet multipurpose tray and two lower 250-sheet cassettes. The toner cartridge is easily accessible under the top cover and lasts for 5,000 pages at five per cent coverage, which equates to a reasonable, though not dirt cheap, operating cost of 1.3p per page.

HP printers generally deliver on their promises and, when printing text at least, the 2100TN is no exception. A 24-page Word document dropped into the output bin in 155 seconds at both 600 and 1,200dpi resolutions to give a tidy 9.3ppm. However, the complex formatting and large graphics of a 24-page test saw the speed drop to 8.5ppm at 600dpi and a lowly 4.3ppm at 1,200dpi. Printing high-resolution photographic images may require a memory upgrade as well, and a memory overrun caused the 2100TN to fail on some tests.

Print quality is a mixed bag. In testing, text was razor sharp while graphics varied depending on the resolution. Unusually, there was a significant difference between the two resolutions. At 600dpi, the PCL6 and PostScript drivers delivered quality that was on a par with Xerox's DocuPrint P12 (reviewed issue 52, p174) and Oki's OkiPage 10i/n (reviewed issue 47, p152). Moving up to 1,200dpi, however, saw a remarkable improvement in clarity and sharpness. Although marred by some banding and streaking, the levels of detail were quite extraordinary and far superior to other lasers of this class.