HP Laserjet Pro M276nw review

HP's Laserjet Pro M276nw is a laser multifunction printer (MFP) that lets you print, scan, copy and fax over a wireless or wired network. Instead of control buttons the M276nw has a large, responsive touchscreen through which you access functions.

Despite having a good range of features, it isn’t especially well specified. HP quotes a 14 page-per-minute (ppm) print speed in mono or colour, and neither the printer nor automatic document feeder (ADF) supports double-sided (duplex) operation. Plus, we're unimpressed by the shallow paper tray, which only holds 125 sheets, or the lack of a second paper input or bypass feed. Build quality’s decent, however, with the exception of the scanner lid’s hinges which offer no resistance. You must lower the lid with care to avoid it crashing shut.

It's easy to join this MFP to a wireless network using just its touchscreen, but we found we had difficulty connecting it to a wireless network when using HP's setup program.

In use it proved to be a disappointingly slow printer, coming nowhere near HP's claimed speeds. It peaked at just 7.5ppm when tested over our wireless network. We reconnected via USB and repeated our mono letter and mixed colour tests, achieving a faster 12.3ppm and 9.1ppm respectively. Both speeds are acceptable, but neither is especially fast. While text quality was as good as we'd expect, we were disappointed by the poor colour accuracy of all graphical prints and photos; even our black and white test photo took on a green tint.

You can monitor and administer the printer over the network using the built-in web admin interface

Fortunately we didn't see the unwelcome sharpening often evident in our tests of HP scanners. The results were very satisfactory, and were let down only by an inability to distinguish the very darkest two shades of our colour target. While mono photocopies were excellent, colour copies were cooler than the original, with a hint of green creeping into some neutral colours.

If you want to print on both sides of a piece of paper you'll have to do it manually, but at least the driver can help

Unfortunately, even when calculated for the high-capacity black cartridge, which lasts for 2,400 pages, this MFP's running costs are high, being around 12.8p per combined black and colour page. With its underwhelming colour print quality, there's no compelling reason to choose the M276nw over a competing inkjet such as one of Epson's WorkForce Pro range. We'd suggest spending twice as much on HP's own Officejet Pro X576dw inkjet. It's far faster, and you'll recoup the extra outlay through much lower running costs.

Basic Specifications

Rating

**

Maximum native print resolution

600x600dpi

Max optical resolution

1,200dpi

Output bit depth

24-bit

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A4

14ppm

Quoted speed, colour A4

14ppm

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two 10x8in photos 1.0

1m 17s

Time for six 6x4in photos 1.0

2m 11s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfaces

USB, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless

Optional printer interfaces

none

Size

414x476x449mm

Weight

23.6kg

Noise (in normal use)

48dB(A)

Duty cycle

30,000 pages (max), 250-1,500 pages (recommended)

Paper Handling

Maximum paper size

A4/legal

Maximum paper weight

220gsm

Standard paper inputs

1

Standard paper input capacity

150

Maximum paper inputs

1

Maximum paper input capacity

150

Duplex (code, cost if option)

No

General

Printer technology

single-pass colour laser

Language(s)

PCL 5c, PCL 6

Supported operating systems

Windows XP/Vista/7/8, Mac OS X 10.5 or later, various Linux versions

Maximum printer memory

256MB

Other laser features and options

8.9cm colour touchscreen

Buying Information

Price

£274

Price per colour A4 page

10.0p

Price of 2nd paper cassette

N/A

Warranty

one year RTB

Supplier

http://www.amazon.co.uk

Details

www.hp.co.uk

Tested Scan Speeds

Full scan area preview

10s

A4 document at 150dpi

10s

A4 document at 300dpi

14s

6x4in photo at 600dpi

22s

6x4in photo at 1200dpi

1m 36s

Single 35mm negative at 2400dpi

N/A

Tested Copy Speeds

Time for single A4 mono copy 1.0

23s

Time for single A4 colour copy 1.0

51s

Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.0

1m 16s

Copy Features

Maximum number of copies

99

Copier zoom range

25-400%

Max mono copy resolution

600dpi

Max colour copy resolution

600dpi

Fax Features

Fax modem speed

33.6Kbit/s

Max mono fax resolution

203x196dpi

Fax memory (maximum mono pages)

250

Basic Specifications

Quoted Speeds

Tested Print Speeds

Physical and Environmental

Paper Handling

General

Buying Information

Tested Scan Speeds

Tested Copy Speeds

Copy Features

Fax Features

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