HP Color LaserJet Pro M252dw Printer
- Speed through tasks, using a range of productivity and workflow features, while consistently producing professional-quality prints. This printer is packed with the tools you need to get the job done quickly.
- Stay on top of pressing business demands-whether you’re in the office or on the go.[4] HP’s wide range of mobile printing features let you work securely from wherever business takes you.[4]
- Bring out the best in your printer. Get more high-quality pages than ever, using Original HP Toner cartridges with Jet Intelligence.[9] Help ensure peak printing performance, and get the authentic HP quality you paid for-unmatched by the competition.
- Seamlessly manage the flow of information to and from your devices, using efficient HP Jet Advantage business workflow and printing solutions. Increase printer and data security, and stay connected to your work with wired and wireless capabilities.[7]
- This HP Printer is compatible with Windows 10 (printer driver update may be required)
HP Color LaserJet Pro M252dw
List Price: $ 382.06
Price: [wpramaprice asin=”B00S74JAHK”]
[wpramareviews asin=”B00S74JAHK”]
Let’s talk about the quality of the printouts.,
Here goes a recommendation:
1. If you’re using OSX, do not install the official HP drivers. Instead, just connect the printer to your network using the LCD screen, go to System Settings and add the printer. Your Mac will auto-detect it and use the default AirPrint drivers which have very good results. These drivers perfectly allow you to choose monochrome-only prints and duplex mode, along with many paper types.
2. After installing the drivers, open the Colorsync App, select your printer and choose Color. The Factory Color Profile for the printer is sRGB, but prints tend to be quite washed out with it. Click on the Current Profile arrow and change it to Adobe RGB.
3. If you work with Photoshop or similar programs, save your projects in RGB mode (sRGB color profile is my choice). Most of the Inkjets and Laserjets are calibrated to receive RGB data, even if they use CMYK inks. Saving projects in RGB usually gives me greater color precision, and with this printer it’s no exception. If you find better results otherwise, be sure to tell me!
Some reviews say that colors of this printer are off, but with the setup above, they look impressive to me. The dark parts of your pictures tend to get slightly darker, which might hide some details, but this is something I have always faced with HP Laserjets. The toner is glossy and reflects light slightly, which is something I appreciate. If you run the printout through the printer one more time (by printing an empty page, for example), the intensity of the glossiness is greatly increased.
I have no problems printing cardboards through the front tray and paper curl is minimal. If you are printing cardboards, be sure to select Heavyweight Paper before printing. This decreases the speed of printing, and increases the heat, making the toner adhere better. Some reviews also say that the only way to change paper type/size is via the LCD, but this is untrue. The paper type/size selection via LCD is only applied when you print a document directly from a pendrive (which you can plug directly into the printer).
Also, this printer allows you to calibrate it’s printing alignment, in order to center the page in the paper. This is especially useful when you’re doing duplex printing, making the front and the back faces of the page align properly. Another unexpected functionality it has are built-in templates for graph paper, notebook paper and checklists, creating these for you in no time, without the need to turn on the computer.
UPDATE: As mentioned above, HP Laserjets tends to slightly darken the dark parts of your pictures, which might hide some details. If you are using Photoshop, you can fix this problem by adjusting the picture shadows before sending it to the printer. Just click on Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights tool, and set the Shadows amount to 20%. This will slightly brighten only the dark parts of your image without distorting the colors, and they will now print perfectly, with amazing results!
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|The Hardest Part of Set-Up Was Unpacking This Printer,
You don’t notice it until the printer is mostly unpacked, but mine had an orange piece of paper showing a figure pulling on the plastic outer wrap bag to pull the printer and styrofoam packing sleeves from the box. That would have worked, too! I just dumped mine (slowly) out on the table after cutting through the clear tape holding the box closed.
Simple brochure shows plugging the printer in, loading paper and then turning the printer on.
When the printer is turned on you are taken through the basic setup steps (Language choice, IT managed or Self-managed) on the color LCD panel. Since mine was in a home network setting, I chose “Self-Managed.”
Actually loading the paper is not shown until after plugging in and turning on, however it should precede setup, since when making the decision between IT Managed or Self-Managed, selecting the “Print Information” softkey on the LCD screen will printout details between the two choices. Obviously, you will not be able to print out those details without paper loaded.
I knew I wanted to set up wireless printing on my home network, so I went to “Network Setup” and then chose Wireless Network and was taken through locating my home network from the list of detected networks nearby. Choosing my network then popped up a password box and a soft keyboard on the built-in LCD screen. Default is lower case letters; pushing “ABC” key toggled upper-case letters which remained upper-case for my Xfinity Router. After struggling to setup another HP LaserJet Pro wireless printer (CP1525nw) on this same network, I can now say that THIS M252dw printer IS THE ONE to hook-up to your Xfinity Modem (In my case, the 1st Gen VOIP/Internet/Public HotSpot Arris TG862G modem).
So now the printer is on my wireless network, but not connected to my Windows 7 computer.
DO NOT BOTHER with “Windows Update” to locate the specific drivers for this printer. Trying on two different computers, I do not think they exist on the Microsoft network. Just load the included CD into your CD/DVD drive after selecting “Have Disk” on the printer driver selection page and “Browse” to your CD drive, then select the autorun.inf (or probably you will see just autorun) click OK or Open and the Windows installer selects the correct driver for your system, installs it and you are ready to print a test page to confirm setup and HALLELUJAH!! the Test Page pops out in about 10 seconds.
This printer is FAST FAST FAST.
The set-up was accomplished on two computers, one a 9 year old DuoCore INTEL, and the other the last Core 2 Duo Pentium 8700 Intel, both running Windows 7 Premium and Ultimate respectively. Aging computers, aging operating systems FAST FAST FAST printer!!!
The color printing engine is the HP ImageREt 3600* which has been used for years by HP. As with any laser printer, photo printing is not great (maximum resolution is 600×600), but is certainly acceptable for general use or school projects.
If you are like me and have spent hours reading reviews, looking at TOTAL cost of ownership over years, considering off-brands (if you are an HP guy like me), then DO NOT BE AFRAID!! Buy this printer!
PROS
o Wireless setup was almost instantaneous on an extremely difficult Xfinity Modem/Router
o It duplexes in the machine (no more opening paper drawer and dropping printed pages in to be printed on the other side)
o On the computer, printer set-up is extremely easy and quick (9 year old granddaughter did the 2nd computer)
o *Print quality is what you would expect if you have owned HP Color LaserJet 3600, 3800, 4700, 1520, 2520, or 4730mfp series printers
o Direct printing via iOS (iPhone); just select the printer in Settings/WiFi
o Color LCD screen (backlit) is MUCH easier to read than 2 or 3 line Matrix screens like on the CP1525
o JetIntelligence toner cartridges supposedly give 28% more prints per cartridge
o Almost double capacity toner cartridges available (X series)
o This printer comes with a FULL Black toner cartridge
o Weighs half as much as my CP1525, and is about half the form factor (Same size as the Canon Pixma it replaces)
o Firmware update directly from the built-in LCD screen
CONS
o Color cartridges are sample cartridges with 700 possible color copies available
o Weight savings translates into a flimsier feeling printer. Maybe fine – time will tell
SUMMARY
Highly Recommended !! If you read my other reviews, you know I am extremely critical. There is way too much junk being sold to today’s consumers. This printer erased all the memories of HP idiosyncrasies when setting up and installing their printers. After 30 years, I am used to them, but I prefer to have things work now and quickly! The chase to bend technology to my will no longer holds…
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