HP Colour Laserjet 1500L

This HP printer's look helps it stand out of the crowd but lets see if its features do the same.

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Price: £479

Manufacturer: HP

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Verdict

Pros:
Full-capacity starter toners.

Cons:
Consumable costs soon mount up.

Verdict:
It might have a very low RRP, but you?ll soon find that you?re spending a lot on consumables.

Will Stapley, Personal Computer World 06 Apr 2004

UPDATE: This group test has been updated. See Budget colour laser printers

HP has obviously made a big effort to give the Colour Laserjet 1500L a unique appearance.

Sit it next to the other models and it certainly stands out. There's no LCD status panel to be found, however the array of eight LEDs gives you a good indication of what's going on.

As far as cost of ownership goes, the HP starts off well, and this is all thanks to the fact that HP very kindly ships full-capacity toner cartridges with the Laserjet 1500L.

All the others in this group test supply low-capacity starter cartridges, although it should be noted that Tally's starter mono toner runs for 1,000 pages longer than HP's.

While the bonus of full-capacity toners is likely to attract the eye of any bargain hunter, it soon becomes apparent that this comes at quite a considerable cost.

The problem is that the Laserjet 1500L's running costs start to escalate very quickly, and before you know it you're shelling out an outrageous amount just to keep the printer ticking over.

The main culprit is the less than robust imaging drum. Lasting 20,000 pages in mono and, since this is a four-pass model, just 5,000 when printing in colour, this pricey consumable will dissuade those who want to be able to print more pages than this.

Printing speeds are varied with the Laserjet 1500L. With mono text it managed 15ppm, while in the pdf test it slumped to last place with a rating of just over 3.5ppm. The A4 colour photo, however, appeared in just over 44 seconds, which only the single-pass Oki could better

If you're not looking to print in bulk, the low initial price of the HP Colour Laserjet 1500L, combined with the full-capacity starter toners, will instantly appeal.

However, things soon start to get expensive thanks mainly to the poor life of the imaging drum.

Contact: HP 0845 270 4222
www.hp.com/uk

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