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