Hp Colorjet Pro M479fdw Color Laser Multi-function Printer Review

Competing direct with our recent Editors' Option from Lexmark, the MC2535adwe, HP'south Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw ($599.99) is a midrange all-in-one color laser printer designed for utilise in a small-to-midsize office or workgroup. Similar most HP lasers, this one churns out good-looking documents, though information technology's non the fastest and its running costs are a scrap on the high side. The M479fdw is a solid performer overall, just there'southward nothing unique or exciting plenty about it to set information technology autonomously in today's broad and highly competitive market for midrange colour AIOs. All the same, if your monthly print and re-create volume is moderate—say a 1000 pages or fewer—this surprisingly compact LaserJet should serve you well.

The M479fdw measures 15.7 by 16.four past 18.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 51.6 pounds. It'southward far from featherweight, just that's somewhat smaller and lighter than most competing laser AIOs. The Lexmark MC2535adwe mentioned in a higher place, for case, is a few inches wider and longer and weighs about 8 pounds more. Canon's Color imageClass MF746Cdw and MF741Cdw are both taller and wider, every bit well equally a few pounds heavier. In contrast, though, Epson's 2019 WorkForce Pro WF-C5790 Color MFP Supertank, an inkjet-based laser alternative, has a similar footprint and weighs about 10 pounds less.

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With printers in this class and price range, you get not only a adequately robust machine but also a potent feature gear up. For example, the HP comes with a l-canvass unmarried-laissez passer motorcar-duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF) for sending two-sided multipage documents to the scanner. Of the four competitors listed in the previous paragraph, only the Canon MF741Cdw lacks an automobile-duplexing ADF. Instead, its feeder requires you to flip two-sided documents by hand to capture the second sides.

Lexmark's MC2535adwe, by dissimilarity, has a contrary-duplexing ADF, meaning that later scanning the outset side, the ADF pulls the sheet back into the mechanism, flips it, and and so scans the second side. Then it starts the process over again for the adjacent sheet. Granted, this method involves a few more steps and allows for a few more points of possible misfeed, but I've tested many AIOs with both types of duplexers and and so far I haven't constitute ane method to be more reliable than the other.

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Another characteristic common on AIOs in this price range is a relatively large color touch-screen control panel. In this case, we're talking a spacious four.iii-inch display with enough of room for navigating with your fingers. Like nigh HP printers nowadays, this one supports HP's Smart App for automating specific functions. (We'll expect a little closer at Smart App in a moment.)

Yous'll also find nearly tasks and configuration options, such equally monitoring consumables, generating usage reports, and admission to security settings, on the M479fdw's congenital-in web portal, accessible from nearly whatever browser, including those on your smartphone or tablet.

Paper input chapters out of the box is 300 sheets, split between a 250-sheet main drawer and a 50-canvass override tray. If that'southward not enough, you can add a 550-sheet tray ($199.99), increasing the capacity to 850. The HP'due south maximum monthly duty cycle is fifty,000 pages, with a suggested monthly volume of 4,000 prints.

The two Catechism machines mentioned in a higher place as well come with 250-sail principal drawers and 50-sheet override trays. You tin expand both machines to 800 sheets, and their duty cycles and suggested monthly book ratings are the same every bit the M479fdw's. The Lexmark features one 250-sheet drawer and a ane-sheet override tray; you can expand it to 1,451 sheets, and its monthly maximum duty cycle is a whopping 85,000 prints, though with a suggested monthly volume one-tenth of that. Finally, the Epson WF-C5790 defaults to 330 sheets and is expandable to 830. Its monthly duty bicycle is 45,000 pages, with a recommended peak monthly book of 2,500 prints.

Connections, Software, and Security

The M479fdw'southward standard connectivity consists of Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/grand/north Wi-Fi, USB, and Wi-Fi Direct, the last being a peer-to-peer protocol that allows you to connect mobile devices to the printer without either them or it being office of the same network. In addition to Wi-Fi Direct, other mobile connectivity options include Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, HP ePrint, HP Smart App, Mobile Apps, and Mopria.

Smart App is HP's cross-platform combination driver/value-added interface. One way it attempts to streamline your interaction with the AIO is by providing a similar interface across the Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows platforms it runs on. You as well get HP Smart Tasks, a collection of customizable workflow profiles—such as for scanning with your smartphone or printing from specific cloud sites—that you admission from customizable shortcuts inside HP Smart App.

Security is fairly straightforward, consisting of the standard network authentication and encryption protocols, in addition to Secure Impress for assigning personal identification numbers (PINs) to sensitive documents to lock out prying eyes. You likewise get department ID authentication for controlling which features, such every bit colour printing, are allowed for which users.

A suite of embedded security features helps protect the Color LaserJet Pro MFP from being an entry point for attacks, and the optional HP JetAdvantage Security Manager lets you fix configuration parameters and thwart potential attacks, taking immediate activity with instant notifications of security issues.

Testing the M479fdw: Midrange Operation

HP rates the M479fdw at 28 pages per infinitesimal (ppm), a middle-of-road print speed for this level of AIO and the same rating as the Canon MF741Cdw and MF746Cdw. The Lexmark MB2535adwe, on the other manus, is rated at 35ppm, and the Epson WF-C5790 at 24ppm. I tested this HP (and all these other machines) over an Ethernet connection from our standard Intel Core i5 testbed running Windows 10 Pro. (See how nosotros test printers.)

Like the Lexmark and Canon machines discussed here, the M479fdw comes out of the box configured to impress two-sided (duplex) pages. In these scenarios, we time and record both the printer's one-sided (simplex) and 2-sided performance. With that said, the M479fdw printed our first test, a 12-page Microsoft Word certificate, at the rate of 22.1 images per minute (or ipm, where each folio side counts as an image) and 31.4ppm—3.4ppm quicker than its rating.

The Lexmark MB2535adwe's duplex score is most 5ipm slower, while its simplex showing is 8.4ppm faster. The two Canons' scores were similar to the LaserJet's. The Epson does not default to duplex, so we recorded only its simplex scores: It came in about 5ppm behind the HP.

For the next office of my tests, I clocked the M479fdw every bit it cranked out our collection of Adobe Acrobat PDFs, Excel spreadsheets and corresponding full-folio graphics, and PowerPoint handouts containing complex concern graphics and fonts in varying sizes and colors. Combining these scores with those from the text document yielded average speeds of 10.8ipm and 17.7ppm.

In sum? Taking this HP, the Lexmark, the two Canon AIOs, and even the Epson inkjet model together, at that place'southward but non very much speed difference here. These scores are within an ipm here or a ppm there, hardly plenty variance to warrant much give-and-take.

The M479fdw is not a photograph printer, but I also timed it every bit it printed our exam 4-by-vi-inch snapshots. Information technology averaged about x seconds per image, which is about boilerplate for virtually color laser printers.

An Eye on Quality: Undecayed LaserJet Output

Most laser printers produce virtually-typesetter-quality text, and the M479fdw is no exception. Your text documents should be suitable for most business scenarios. Where some light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation AIOs don't excel, however, is in press pristine-looking business graphics and photos. The PowerPoint handouts and Excel charts with gradients and solid fills I printed were nearly faultless, with smoothen gradations from one colour to the next and no noticeable toner distribution issues. Blacks and other dark fills and backgrounds came out compatible, and colors were accurate, brilliant, and vibrant for colour laser output.

Photos, too, looked good, with brilliant and accurate colors and splendid detail. The drawback versus inkjet output is that laser printers can't print borderless pages, and photos (and some other types of documents) look more finished and professional when the content bleeds to the edges of the paper.

The Consumables: Somewhat Expensive Functioning

The M479fdw's biggest drawback is its cost of operation. When you buy its highest-volume toner replacement cartridges (7,500 black pages and half-dozen,000 color), your running costs should be about 2.two cents per monochrome folio and 14.2 cents per color page. If yous impress a lot, shut to this machine's suggested four,000-page monthly output book, you'll find these numbers are relatively high and could wind upwardly costing you plenty over the life of the printer.

In comparing, the Lexmark MC2535adwe's per-folio costs are ane.8 cents per monochrome folio and eleven.vii cents per color one, while the 2 Canon machines volition set you dorsum two.5 cents per blackness page and thirteen.3 cents per colour page. Epson'due south WF-C5790 inkjet tells a much different story, delivers running costs of about 1.vi cents for monochrome pages and 6.4 cents for colour.

If you shop around, you lot can find midrange and high-book printers with slightly lower running costs. HP's own PageWide Pro 750dw, all the same another inkjet-based laser culling, delivers monochrome pages for as footling equally 1.1 cents. When shopping for a higher-volume printer, go along in mind that for every 100,000 pages you print, a 1-cent difference volition cost y'all $1,000. If over the life of the motorcar you lot print, say, one-half a million pages...you get the thought. That'southward a lot more than money than the initial printer cost.

A Color Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation AIO Running With the Pack

Overall, I liked this AIO, only there's no reason to pay loftier running costs if y'all don't have to. And that's where the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw falls short. It prints well at respectable speeds, and it's got all the necessary productivity and convenience features. But if yous program to print thousands of pages each month, close to HP's recommended performance ceiling, Lexmark's more than robust MC2535adwe is a meliorate value.

Still, if you don't mind shelling out slightly more for Toner for a more pocket-sized usage situation, I tin can't think of a skillful reason not to consider the M479fdw every bit your daily folio churner.

HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw

Cons

The Bottom Line

HP's Color LaserJet Pro M479fdw is a midrange color light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation all-in-i with a strong feature set and solid output, making it a good pick for moderate-to-medium-volume businesses and workgroups.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/hp-color-laserjet-pro-mfp-m479fdw

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