Printing a lot of text? Try HP's 4200n.

The students at my junior high go through a lot of paper.  Nowhere is that more evident than in the library, where they do research online, and then feel the need to print out every screen of every page of every website they happen to stumble upon.  They tend to search online, and then cull the information later.  That means you need a printer that can keep up with those kids without jamming, and can handle printing a lot of jobs quickly. 

Our solution is the HP LaserJet 4200n.  We have two of them in our library, each with a cluster of twelve computers networked to them.  We've been using them in the library with students for several years, and have very few complaints.  I didn't have any say in purchasing them, but as a regular user, I hope I'm qualified to write this review.  When we bought the printers, they were just over $300 a piece--you can find these refurbished for right around $200 now, which is quite a deal.  

For a simple LaserJet, it's a fairly large printer--about 18" wide, 18" deep, and 15" tall.  Working with students in the library, I actually like that it's a big piece of equipment--once it's loaded with a cartridge and paper, it weighs more than fifty pounds, so a student won't "accidentally" knock it off of the table.  They tend to do that with a lot of things. 

The printer comes with a standard 500-sheet tray that loads in the front of the base of the printer.  It slides out easily and locks into place, and to my knowledge, it feeds adequately, so we don't have many problems with paper jams.  A smaller tray folds out of the front of the printer, and we usually use that for cardstock, envelopes, colored paper, stationery, or other "alternative" paper.  There are other trays and tools that are available from HP, but we've stayed with the factory model, and it's been adequate for our needs. 

The menu controls are straightforward, with arrow keys helping you select options.  If you do need to clear a paper jam, configure the printer, or change which tray you're pulling paper from, it's easy enough to figure out.  If a 12 year old can figure it out, it's pretty easy for you to figure out too. 

The 4200n comes with both parallel (IEEE) cables and USB cables and interfaces.  We just moved the location of the computer stations in the library, including the printers, and it was easy enough to take down and set up again.  The onboard memory is enough to handle the student work we usually print--I know several teacher's classrooms are also networked to be able to print on the 4200n, and it handles those print jobs well without too much backup.  The standard speed for these models is 35 pages per minute, and that's about what we get out of them--but be aware that any graphics--even simple graphs or charts--will slow that speed down to a crawl. 

The only real problem we have with the 4200n is that it's just a black and white LaserJet, and like most of those models, it doesn't handle pictures well.  The pictures aren't fuzzy or grainy, but they take a long time to process, and then the grayscale printed pictures don't look as good as you'd hope.  The printer does do an outstanding job with plain text--which is a lot of what our students are printing.  If you're looking for a printer that will be printing reports, letters, or other documents, this may be a good solution for a small office, classroom, library, or home. 

Technical Details (from the Amazon.com listing)
Product Features 1,200 x 1,200 dpi resolution 35 pages per minute; 150,000-page per month duty cycle 2 input trays, 600 sheets HP Jetdirect 10/100Base-TX printer server Parallel interface; PC and Mac compatible
Print method: Laser
Print speed: 35 ppm
Resolution: 1200 x 1200 dpi
Maximum duty cycle: 150,000 pages per month
Processor type: 300 MHz
Memory: 64 MB RAM, expandable to 416 MB
Standard emulation: HP PCL 6, HP PCL 5e, PostScript® Level 3 emulation, HP GL/2, HP PJL (Printer Job Language) standard
Optional emulation: None
Color support: No
Standard interfaces: IEEE 1284-compliant parallel interface port, HP Jetdirect 10/100Base-TX print server card, 1 open EIO slot
Optional interfaces: Token Ring networks J4167A Fast Ethernet (10/100Base-TX single RJ-45 port) J6057A, Connectivity card (USB, Serial, and LocalTalk) J4135A
Paper sizes: Letter, legal, executive, No. 10 envelopes, Monarch envelopes
Standard paper input: 1,100
Optional paper input: 2,600
Standard paper output: 300
Optional paper output: 800
Media types: Paper (plain, letterhead, prepunched, bond, color, preprinted, recycled), transparencies, labels, envelopes, card stock, user-defined
Media weights: 16 to 32 lb
Power: Yes
Operating environment: Temperature: 50 to 90 °F; humidity: 20 to 80%
Noise: Power emissions: 6.8 B(A) printing LWAd, 4.0 B(A) standby; pressure emissions: 54 dB(A), 27 dB(A) standby
Power: 580 watts printing, 21 watts standby, 20.4 watts power save, 0.1 watts off
In the box: HP LaserJet 4200n printer, HP LaserJet print cartridge, software and documentation on CD-ROM, limited printed documentation, right angle power cord, control panel overlay, getting started guide, HP jetdirect (EIO) 10/100Base-TX print server