| With prices dropping into the sub-$500 arena, | | | | Using HP's Solution Center software, you get |
| laser printers--even multifunction | | | | more options, including the ability to scan |
| lasers--are moving into the home, but the HP | | | | into a selected program such Word, |
| Color LaserJet CM1017 MFP is too expensive | | | | PowerPoint, and Photoshop. You can also scan |
| for the average home user. It is, however, a | | | | a document using the bundled third-party |
| good choice for the small or home office user | | | | optical character-recognition software, which |
| who needs high-quality laser | | | | will produce a text-editable scan. |
| prints--particularly graphics--but not | | | | |
| necessarily fast prints. For $700, you get a | | | | The CM1017's copy features are basic. When |
| network-ready color laser multifunction | | | | scanning documents, you can adjust darkness |
| printer that prints, scans, and copies, and | | | | and scale the size from 25 percent to 400 |
| includes built-in media card readers, a | | | | percent; when scanning photos, you can also |
| rarity for laser printers. We think the | | | | color balance and sharpen the image. One |
| CM1017 is a good choice for small offices | | | | common feature we didn't find is the ability |
| that need great image quality from a laser, | | | | to make N-up copies, which prints two or more |
| such as realtors and insurance agents. | | | | originals on one sheet of paper. You can, |
| | | | however, make N-up prints from your PC (you |
| Design | | | | can find it under the Finishing tab in |
| | | | Printer Properties). |
| The HP Color LaserJet CM1017 MFP is a large | | | | |
| printer better suited for an office than for | | | | As we mentioned before, the ability to print |
| a home. It sits 17.3 inches wide, 20 inches | | | | straight from a memory card is an uncommon |
| deep, and 21.3 inches tall, and it weighs | | | | feature on laser printers. With the CM1017, |
| nearly 50 pounds. The top-mounted flatbed | | | | not only do you get the ability to print |
| scanner and control panel sit atop the body | | | | photos, but you get a decent range of |
| like a flat hat. The flatbed scanner can hold | | | | features to boot. You can preview the |
| up to A4-size originals, but the unit lacks | | | | contents of your card on the color LCD via a |
| an automatic document feeder, so it can't | | | | slide show or by manually clicking through |
| scan legal-sized documents. | | | | the range of images. When it comes time to |
| | | | print, you can choose among a range of print |
| Below the scanner unit is the output tray, | | | | sizes, paper sizes, and paper types, |
| which juts out from the front of the printer. | | | | including HP's laser photo paper. You can |
| The input tray pulls out from the bottom of | | | | even choose to print a range of photos (by |
| the printer's front and can hold up to 250 | | | | photo number, not date). And best of all, you |
| sheets of plain paper. You can adjust the | | | | can print an index sheet of all the images on |
| paper tray to hold legal-size sheets. The | | | | your card or a proof sheet. The index sheet |
| front panel of the paper tray houses a | | | | includes the photo number, the file name, and |
| single-sheet manual feed slot for one-off | | | | the date it was taken-- all great references. |
| prints. Adjustable paper guides let you | | | | The proof sheet lets you bubble in the images |
| smoothly feed anything from envelopes to full | | | | you want printed, select your paper type |
| sheets of paper. If you need increased paper | | | | (plain or glossy), and a select a layout |
| capacity, you can purchase a second 250-sheet | | | | (from one image per page up to six images per |
| tray. | | | | page). Then you simply scan the proof sheet, |
| | | | and the printer takes care of printing the |
| The CM1017 serves up four media card slots on | | | | images for you. These aren't photos you'll |
| the right side of the printer. The slots | | | | necessarily want to frame and hang, but the |
| accept most major types of cards. The | | | | ability to print good-quality photos on a |
| printer's control panel resides next to the | | | | laser printer is a very useful tool for some |
| scanner bed. A 2.4-inch color LCD flips up | | | | offices. |
| and can be tilted to optimize the viewing | | | | |
| angle. Constantly displayed on the LCD are | | | | Replacing spent toner cartridges is a simple |
| icons that indicate the toner levels, so you | | | | task on the CM1017. Simply flip open the |
| can avoid a last-minute dash to the office | | | | front panel and pull out the used cartridges |
| supplies store to finish a print job. A bevy | | | | individually. A new 2,500-page black |
| of buttons let you initiate photo print, | | | | cartridge costs about $75, while each |
| scan, and copy tasks without touching your | | | | 2,000-page color cartridge (cyan, magenta, |
| PC, as well as navigate the printer's various | | | | and yellow) costs about $83. This puts black |
| menus. | | | | prints at around 3 cents per page and color |
| | | | prints at about 15.4 cents per page. These |
| Features | | | | numbers are a bit high when compared to |
| | | | nonmultifunction color laser printers and are |
| Although multifunction laser printers are | | | | also higher than the per-page costs for the |
| generally office-oriented, the Color LaserJet | | | | Epson AcuLaser CX11NF. Clearly, HP should |
| CM1017 MFP lacks fax functionality, which may | | | | work on high-capacity cartridges for this |
| be a deal breaker for some offices. On the | | | | model. |
| other hand, it does provide a feature that's | | | | |
| relatively uncommon among laser printers: | | | | Performance |
| media card readers for printing photographs. | | | | |
| You can print decent-quality photos on plain | | | | It's difficult to make direct performance |
| paper or on HP's laser photo paper, a feature | | | | comparisons for the HP Color LaserJet CM1017 |
| that can be useful in certain industries such | | | | MFP, as we haven't reviewed a color laser |
| as real estate or insurance. | | | | multifunction in quite some time. The last |
| | | | one we reviewed was the above-mentioned Epson |
| The CM1017 comes with a 300MHz processor and | | | | AcuLaser CX11NF. Still, the numbers speak for |
| 94MB of RAM standard (upgradeable to 224MB). | | | | themselves and what they say is, if you do a |
| It sports an Ethernet port for networking, or | | | | lot of printing and print speed matters, this |
| you can attach it directly to a PC via USB | | | | is not the machine for you. HP rates this |
| 2.0. Duplex, or two-sided, printing is a | | | | machine to print eight pages per minute in |
| manual operation, as the CM1017 lacks a | | | | both mono and color, so it's not intended to |
| built-in duplexer. | | | | be a speed demon. In our Labs' tests, it |
| | | | printed black text at 6.81ppm, black graphics |
| When scanning from the printer's control | | | | at 6.31ppm, color text at 5.91ppm, and color |
| panel you have a couple of options: You can | | | | graphics at 6.16ppm. It scanned a grayscale |
| save the file to your PC in a number of | | | | document at a rate of 3.39ppm and a color |
| different formats, including TIFF, JPEG, and | | | | document at 2.61ppm. To compare, the Epson |
| PDF, or you can attach the file to an e-mail. | | | | CX11NF churned out black text at 18.44ppm. |