I was once again putting out big bucks for ink cartridges and bemoaning the day I bought into the idea that color printing was a revolution in personal publishing. And a thought struck me: Who said I had to use a color printer for everything?

If you’re like me, it’s possible that color is rarely essential to your work. (In fact, the last time I needed to do color printing, it was because I was in charge of printing out flyers about the neighborhood springtime picnic potluck, and the person who made the flyers used red in the headline.)

HP puts out a slick little laser printer by the name of P1006, which reviewer hugocharmichael calls “an excellent black and white laser printer for the home.”

It connects via USB cable to your computer (Mac or PC), has a compact footprint and is engineered to use the smallest amount of power possible to get the print work done. Plus, it spits out up to 17 pages per minute. The warranty lasts for 12 months. The printer uses the 35A toner cartridge.

Geofreeyz2000 likes how it can produce that first page in “less than 4 seconds” from the time you turn it on.

Be forewarned: Reviewer Fastor says that the starter cartridge you get with the machine is only good for about 700 pages, compared to the 1,500 you’ll get with a replacement cartridge.

Posted on May 21st, 2008 by dian