HP LaserJet Pro M227fdw: Price and availability
Designed for 1-5 users, the LaserJet Pro M227fdw costs £241.20 when bought directly from HP, although you can shave a few pounds off that price if you hunt around online. There are cheaper, single-function laser printers available, such as Samsung’s M2835DW, but the M227fdw is a multi-function device which also includes a scanner, copier and fax, along with an automatic document feeder. Do check out our roundup of the best printers for more alternatives. It also has useful connectivity options to provide a versatile all-in-one solution for your office printing needs. The only thing it doesn’t do, of course, is print in colour.
HP LaserJet Pro M227fdw: Features and design
Unfortunately, the Quick Start guide provided by HP isn’t terribly helpful, especially as the link that it gives to HP’s support site didn’t work when we tried it. That left us searching around on HP’s web site in order to find a proper manual – and we almost missed the second, smaller paper tray that that lurks right inside the body of the printer. But while HP’s documentation could be improved, the printer itself is well-built and easy to use. It does look a bit bulky, admittedly, but that’s mainly because of the large document feeder that sits on top of the printer. In fact, the M227fdw only measures about 16-inches (405mm) wide and deep, so it’ll fit quite easily onto a desk even in a smaller office where space is a bit tight.
As well as the 1200x1200dpi printer, the M227fdw also includes a 600x600dpi colour scanner (or 1200x1200dpi for mono), so you can scan documents in colour and store the files on your PC. Of course, the M227fdw itself will only print and copy in black and white. There’s USB, Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity, and the printer supports Apple’s AirPrint for iOS devices, or you can use HP’s own ePrint app for Android devices.
The primary paper tray holds 250-sheets of A4 paper, which should be adequate for most smaller offices, and the second tray (that we almost missed) can hold 10 envelopes or other types of paper for occasional use. There’s also a 35-sheet document feeder for scanning jobs, and the M227fdw includes a fax machine as well. There doesn’t seem to be a model without a fax at the moment, so if you don’t need the fax then you’ll have to look at one of HP’s other printer ranges instead, or simply accept you’re paying for something you’ll never use.
HP LaserJet Pro M227fdw: Performance
HP quotes a speed of 30 pages per minute for the M227fdw, although our tests with a series of Word documents and PDF files showed it to be marginally slower at 28ppm. That’s still good going for a small office printer such as this, and the M227fdw makes only a gentle purr when running, so it’ll be a good choice for a small office where you’re likely to be sitting pretty close to the printer most of the time. Print quality is excellent too, with crisp, black text and smoothly detailed outlines, so it’ll be ideal for letters and other business documents that require high-quality text. You need to watch out for running costs, though. The standard toner cartridge provided with the M227fdw lasts for approximately 1600 pages, with replacements costing £56.40 when bought directly from HP. That works out at 3.5p per page, which is above average, and not a great deal for a printer that’s capable of churning out thousands of pages a month. Fortunately, you can get a high-yield cartridge that costs £82.80 and more than doubles the yield to 3500 pages, bringing the running costs down to a more competitive 2.3 pence per page. Bear in mind, though, that you’ll need to replace the printer drum mechanism after every 23,000 pages (which, admittedly, may be more pages than you’ll ever print in a small office). The drum costs £105, which adds about 0.5p to the cost of every page you print, so it’s still worth shopping around to see if you can save some extra money when buying replacement toner cartridges.
