HP LaserJet P3015x

To look at the LaserJet P3015x you wouldn't think it capable of a 40ppm A4 print speed, but that's just what this diminutive mono laser delivers.

The P3015x targets businesses with a thirst for forests and a need for low costs. It comes with an integral print server, automatic duplexing and an extra 500-sheet base tray, taking paper capacity to 1,100 pages.

The printer offers a Gigabit Ethernet port and a hardware integration pocket for adding authentication devices. Print security is a key feature, as the EIO slot accepts an optional AES encrypted hard disk with Kensington lock for storing sensitive documents locally.

The JetDirect print server supports encrypted IPsec connections for secure transmission, and the front control panel can hold jobs sent to the printer that will only be released when the user enters a PIN. The front panel also has a USB host port for walk-up printing jobs, although this only supports PDF, PRN and PS formats.

It uses a combined toner and drum unit with 6,000 and 12,500 page capacities. The best prices we could find returned a high 1.6p and a more reasonable 1.2p per page, making the high-yield cartridge a far better bet. The printer comes with 128MB as standard, which can be expanded to 640MB, but an HP branded stick of 256MB DDR2 memory costs a gob-smacking £435.

Printer and driver installation is nicely automated and HP also delivered in our real-world performance tests. A 40-page Word document printed at the standard 600dpi driver setting was delivered one minute after the first page appeared, and reprinting it at the top ProRes 1200 resolution made no difference to speed.

It didn't trip up with our heavy-duty 24-page DTP-style document, with the P3015x breezing through in 36 seconds for a perfect score. Duplexing didn't faze it either - printing the 40-page test document on both sides took less than two minutes.

Print quality for standard business reports is fine, with text crisp and sharp across a range of sizes, while graphs and charts showed no evidence of banding. The P3015x didn't fare so well with large graphics and photographs, with vertical banding and poor detail in darker areas.

The printer's web interface provides information about its status and consumables. More security is on offer with the IPsec and firewall settings that are accessed from the network menu. These allow you to create rules that determine which services are made available, which users can access them, when to apply encryption and what traffic should be dropped.

As a high volume mono laser the LaserJet P3015x is good value and delivers quick print speeds. Overall print quality is no better than average but it's a good choice if you want plenty of printing security features.

Author: Dave Mitchell