HP LaserJet 1010

With digital cameras and home photo printing going from strength to strength, inkjet printers have become the standard printer choice for most people, while laser printers have been passed off as expensive, bulky and best kept in the office. However, for those looking for an economical and efficient way to take care of daily office documents, a laser printer remains the better choice.

HP's LaserJet 1010 is compact and easy to use, making it ideal for both home users and small businesses. It has two buttons - one a power switch and the other to cancel print jobs.

Once the accompanying software has been installed on your PC, the supplied software allows you to check the status of your prints and change any printing options. The printer connects via USB but there's no parallel port for connecting to older computers.

Being a mono laser printer, the 1010 uses a single black toner cartridge. Toner cartridges are more expensive than inkjet cartridges but last a lot longer. So while a laser printer may initially cost more to set up, it will be far more cost-effective in the long run.

In our tests, black text documents printed at 12 pages per minute (ppm). Even on its normal setting, the text print quality was clear and sharp - an advantage of laser printing. A4 black photos printed at 3ppm and while the 600 x 600 printing resolution will never compete with images printed by an inkjet, they're acceptable if photographic quality isn't an issue.

There's a dual input paper tray and one of the trays can be resized for smaller documents, such as envelopes. Prints appear out of the top onto a paper tray that can be folded away when not in use.

The grey casing may be rather dull but its impressive speed makes the 1010 a good entry-level option. At £129, it's the cheapest mono laser we've seen and up there with the fastest. Although £65 for a replacement cartridge is a lot, you'll get your money's worth compared with an inkjet.

Contact: HP 0870 547 4747
www.hp.com/uk