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Single-Function Laser Printer Reviews >
Nilofar Hadjanadjiboudine
Test date: October 13, 2009
The first page in 24 seconds--no really

In the tech specs, HP promises that the first page of a black-and-white document will be ready in 24 seconds and within 30 seconds for a colour document, and the manufacturer gets it right. We achieved the same results with our test documents, and even beat them by a second.

But HP is careful to point out that these results are based on the CP1215 being 'ready', which is something it's important to remember. After the printer has been on standby for a while, the time to produce the first page climbs to 37 seconds.

When we tried printing a document straight after switching the printer on, we had to wait 54 seconds. It's a long time, but still a little quicker than some of the competition.

Handling

The HP CP1215 is a colour laser printer that's on sale for the same price as a black-and-white printer.  It can produce speeds of 12 pages per minute  (ppm) in black and white and 8 ppm in colour, which is twice as fast as similar entry-level models.  It doesn't use much ink and is quiet.  Well, so much for the advantages--there are also some drawbacks, too.  It doesn't have a network port, can't print on both sides of the page or come with Mac drivers (although they are available for Linux).  

The CP1215 has a drawer that holds 150 sheets and separate toner cartridges that have a lifespan of 2200 black-and-white pages or 1400 colour pages.

Speeds

When we tried it out, the CP1215 managed to reach the speeds that HP claimed: 12 ppm for black-and-white documents and 8 ppm in colour.   That's slow compared to the 20 pm offered by its more expensive rivals, but perfectly reasonable for personal use.

Noise and Energy Consumption

We were very impressed by how quiet the CP1215 was while printing: we measured just 48 dB from a distance of one metre, which means you almost can't hear it at all.

It did well on standby too, using just 4.6 W.  Of course, a value closer to zero would have been better, but a lot of other laser printers are worse.  If you're used to the consumption of an inkjet printer (often under 30 W), then you might be shocked to hear that this colour laser requires 270 W while it's printing.  But once again, there are plenty of other laser printers that use twice that ...

Printing Quality

The quality of office documents is very good and reflects well on the CP1215.  Graphics have bright colours, and text on a coloured background is very sharp.  Our test document with a black-and-white graph was also very nicely done.  However, colours aren't always faithful to the originals, with some shades darker than they should be and gradients that are hard to spot. 
 

Compare the HP Color LaserJet CP1215 to other printers in our Product Face-Off

Text documents in standard mode are very accurate with deep blacks and accurate text.

With photos, black-and-white prints have something of a green tinge and colour photos have plenty of contrast.

Cost per page

It's irritating, but it's often the case with entry-level printers: HP ships this printer with reduced-capacity consumables so you'll need to replace them sooner.  The four cartridges that come with this printer only have enough toner for 750 pages, meaning the colour cartridges are only half-full while there's only a third of the usual amount of toner in the black cartridge.

If you add up the cost per page from each of the four cartridges, the total is a relatively high 16.9 p per page.  Even the cost of the black cartridge alone is more expensive than average, which is usually below 3 p per page.
Cartridge RRP ISO Lifespan
 Cost per page
Black £70 2200
 3.18 p
Cyan £64 1400 4.57 p
Magenta £64 1400 4.57 p
Yellow £64 1400 4.57 p
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Pluses

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Very quiet printing

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Excellent quality for office documents

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Fast

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More energy-efficient than most laser printers

Minuses

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No network connectivity / no Mac support

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Black-and-white photos dominated by green

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No double-sided printing mode

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Higher running costs than the competition

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Not enough detail in colour gradients

3
Despite a rather limited range of features, the CP1215 will be perfectly suitable for home users. The downside is the expensive cost-per-page, almost two times higher than the most economical laser printers.

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