HP LaserJet 1150

The HP LaserJet 1150 has the same 250-sheet capacity paper input tray as the LaserJet 1200. It slots into the front of the system, with a frosted plastic cover that doubles as a manual paper feed, and a 125-sheet capacity output tray that is sunk into the top of the unit.

A second output slot at the back of the printer simplifies the paper path of awkward media and is exposed by pulling down the fold-down flap.

The case of the 1150 is totally devoid of buttons - the only display on offer is a jelly-bean shaped LED on the left-hand side of the casing.

Next to this are two smaller sidekicks that blink in different sequences to communicate different status and error messages. A fold-down flap at the front of the printer exposes the interior of the machine and simultaneously extracts the cartridge from the guts of the unit as you open it, making cartridge removal and installation simple.

The 1150 has a quoted print speed of 17pages per minute (ppm) - a speed that the printer achieved in all our tests apart from the test photo, which it printed at 3ppm compared to the 1200's 14ppm. On the other hand, resolution is not as good, at 600 x 600dpi against the 1200's 1,200 x 1,200.

Output quality was generally good though. The 1150 produced solid characters with smooth outlines from 72pt down to 4pt, and these were on a par with those produced by the 1200.

Characters at 2pt were less easy to read and the real difference in the resolution of the two units became evident in our 10-page pdf test where icons and areas of shading were very grainy.

Contact: HP 08705 474 474
www.hp-expo.com/uk/eng

Specifications:

• Mono laser
• 250-sheet input/125-sheet output tray capacity
• 17ppm quoted printing speed
• 600 x 600dpi
• Single cartridge
• 8MB memory
• USB2, parallel
• 8.5kg
• 415 x 486 x 241mm
• Cartridge cost: £54.58, estimated life 250 pages