Colour laserjet Mode and Toner query

Color Printers require that all toner cartridges be installed and working in order to print at all. But that's okay, because laser printers are so much better than inkjet printers; the toner doesn't dry out and print heads don't clog up like they so often do with inkjet designs.

If you go with a color laser printer, for any given print job you can designate that job as BW rather than 'automatic' though the auto mode seems to work pretty well. I always specify my boarding passes in BW since I don't want to waste color for the miscellaneous bits that way.

Also, be aware that modern HP printers have some proprietary features that may create an issue. For example, some of them require you to install only new, genuine HP cartridges, so you can't use aftermarket ones or ones that have been refilled.

Obviously there are other players in this market as well, so you're not locked in to HP. I have a Canon AIO (all in one) printer/fax/scanner that works very well.

Good luck and happy holidays to you.

 

Mine is a Color Laserjet Pro M254MW - USB/Ethernet/WiFi Colour Laser printer (no scanner). It's old enough to use refilled toner carts and the colour out[put is superb, arguably better (less saturated/bright) than some inkjets. It has HP's older solid build quality - on a par with the Laserjet 5 office workhorse. And they're cheap.