HP Laserjet Pro MFP M426FDN Printer Review

Using the latest HP JetIntelligence Laser Technology together with standard automatic duplex printing, the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M426fdn gives economies in both energy consumption and paper usage. Being able to print on both sides of the sheet automatically can save up to 33% of the paper used.

The MFP is an Ethernet networked unit through a host or server with a1 Gigabit 10/100/1000T network to serve for up to 10 users with a print volume of up to 4,000 pages per month.

To meet the demands that will be placed upon it in a real situation a printer needs to be quick off the mark and maintain a consistent pace.

When printing, the first page out time is claimed by HP to be the fastest in its class at 7.4 seconds and 9.7 seconds from sleep mode. Subsequent A4 pages are printed at the speed of 38 pages per minute single sided and 30 ppm in duplex. The print is sharp at 1200 x 1200 dpi using HP FastRes 1200 technology.

There are two standard paper trays; Tray one has a maximum capacity of 250 sheets whilst Tray 2 has a capacity of 100 sheets. There is an option for a third tray with a capacity of 550 sheets giving a total capacity of 900 sheets.

All three trays are fully adjustable to handle a vast number of paper sizes as well as up to 10 envelopes.

The media weights range from 60 gsm Bond paper through to 175 gsm for Paper Tray 1 and from 60 gsm to 120 gsm for both Paper Tray 2 and the optional Tray 3

This means that cardstock and even transparencies can be used as feedstock.

The output tray has a capacity of 150 sheets.

A further option to enhance productivity is the ability to store and retrieve regular print jobs on a USD stick using an additional USB drive.

Both the copier and the scanner are fed by a 50 sheet Automatic Document feeder or a flatbed. Using the ADF allows single pass duplex printing when copying and printing to reduce paper usage.

The scanner has a resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi and can copy from both colour as well as mono originals. It converts the colour original into a 256 grayscale. The scan speed is up to 47 images per minute from a B&W original and up to 31 ipm from a colour original. The print speed is 26ppm from a B&W original and 21 ppm from a colour original.

As well as scan to print, scan to USB, scan to network folder and scan email and scan to cloud are also supported.

The copier function can produce up to 99 copies at a time, again with single pass double sided printing to reduce paper usage. It has reduce and enlarge capability from 25% to 400% and a resolution of 600 x 600 dpi. The copies are produced at up to 30 pages per minute in duplex mode and 38 pages per minute single sided.

The fax facility offers all the usual fax capabilities with memory for up to 120 speed dial numbers and 4MB of fax memory. Although it does not support a telephone handset it does support a fax telephone. It has a resolution of 300 x 300 dpi and is halftone enabled. With a 33.6 kbps fax transmission speed it takes about 3 seconds to transmit each page.

All instructions to the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M426fdn are entered by the by the 7.6 cm intuitive colour touchscreen located on the top of the front panel.

A printer is becoming more of a communications hub with multiple access points for users to benefit from its features. In this respect the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M426fdn has a variety of connection points to gain access in a number of ways. As well as an Ethernet Gigabit 10/100/1000 port for network integration it offers 1 Hi-Speed 2.0 USB, a host USB and an easy access USB. Additionally it features a Near Field Connector (NFC) so that a portable device such as a Smartphone, Tablet and Notebook can gain access remotely without tying up the network. Mobile printing supports HP ePrint, Apple AirPrintTM MopriaTM-certified, Google Cloud Print 2.0 and Mobile Apps.