HP LaserJet Pro M452dw Wireless Color Laser Printer with Duplex Printing (CF394A)

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My HP3505 color laser printer gave up the ghost after about seven years of faithful service, so I had to get a quick replacement. This HP M452dw seemed to fit what I needed, but no reviews for me to see how it all worked out. So let me be the first here on Amazon. The printer showed up in two days in excellent condition. After opening, the only real directions was the orange cover sheet instructing how to pull printer out of the box. I watched a couple unboxing videos on Youtube where they had to pull out the printing cartridges, setting static IP addresses, and a few other steps. That was all quite unnecessary here. Just put size the paper tray and insert paper, then plug the printer in (and plug in the network cable if you are using that), and let er rip. Im using Apple computers, so I selected the "Airprint" function, which avoids the need for specific HP software or drivers. Make sure you select "share" in your computer options for this printer if you want to print from other computers on your network (I did not do this initially and the "Airprint" function was not availing itself on other computers on my network when adding this new printer, but once I selected "share," the "Airprint" option became available to all others on my network). From unboxing to first printed page was less than five minutes. Very easy. Initial setup was on small screen on printer, and that too was very easy. And I also noticed that the printing is even crisper than my HP3505, which surprised me, because I thought that think printed pretty good. Well see how it stands the test of time, but for now, Im quite pleased.

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HP Laserjet Pro M452dw Wireless Color Printer (CF394A#BGJ) After years of saying "Ill never own another #@&^%! HP office printer" Im giving this HP452DW a try. Heres some comparisons to my old OKI c3200 and the features that loured me in for another HP try; Drums and Toners; Though not a "super printer user" I needed a quick color printing solution for flyers and presentations for my business.I have owned the OKI for about 6 years logging 37,000 sheets (about 500 a month), heavy on the color pictures. The OKI worked great, the pictures were just "OK" but it printed allot of pages per toner and did it quickly. But heres were, what I call "the never-ending cycle" comes in - Each toner (color) has a Drum and they only last so long. As your printer gets older, these have to be replaced anywhere from $90 to $160 per drum. You usally notice a Drum is going bad while preparing for that presentation you need done tomorrow.. You see were we are going, keeping extra toners and extra drums on hand add up to be more than the whole printer cost. Then your stuck with a bunch of extra model specific parts when the transfer belt fails or something breaks... The HP452 has the Drum built into each toner - yes, it makes for a more expensive toner replacement (until the copy-cats toners come out) but knowing that I wont have to worry about the Drum is one less burden. This may not make since for higher volume users. Laser vs LED Printer; At the time I purchased my OKI I never gave much though of the differences between the two different technologys beside the cost (LED was cheaper). Here is a issue I discovered - If you want to do any type of water resistant or moisture proof labels, the LED system just wont work. It could be the toner or the LED, but it smears and does not adhere to the label. Maybe the newer ones are different but I wouldnt put my money on a LED again. By the way, I have had no luck with Ink Jet water resistant labels. Build Quality; I do have 2 HP inkjets in my route vans, this printer does seem a little better in the quality department then those. But compared to the OKI its the difference of a trailer home to a brick house. The HP paper tray is light and flimsy. The muli-tray feels "ok" but open the access door and its light and thin. Same with the tray that hold the toners - flimsy. Automatic Duplex and Setup; Software was straightforward - I opted to download the latest version direct from the HP website (about 80MB). I will use my Hp through WIFI and a secured router. Configure the printer Wi-Fi first, the software found it on my network in no time. BAM - it was done! Went to print my first brochure feeling happy that I wont have to manually duplex my own pages (Im lazy that way)... hit the print, started and printed FAST... but wait... the screen says to put in the multi-purpose tray and hit OK - that is not what I spent the extra $$ for! Looked in settings and I did click the two sided option. There is a hidden setting you need to change; * Go to Windows Control Panel - Printers. * Select the Printer; then Printer Properties; Device Settings; change Duplex Unit to "Installed" (Thanks to David C for the info). Your set to go - for brochures make certain you check "Yes, flip over". Test printed through my phone using the "print share" app (through WI-FI) and it worked fine using the "generic" suggested driver. Rants; Discussing the paper tray, why in the heck cant they hold a full ream of paper?? Really, about 50 sheets at a time - come on guys! Same with the "starter Toners" - toner powder cant be that expensive, but we know you cant wait for us to purchase those new toners soon enough... Automatic duplex is only on the wireless model - I would have been happy with the Network unit for almost $100 less. FYI - the letters on the back of the model; M452 dw (Duplex Wireless); M452n (network), ect.. First use and bottom line; My two-sided - three fold mailers came out quick and never looked so good. The pictures were sharp (as a laser can be) and the text is crisp even on regular copy paper. A little issue with some of the logos, but Im certain that can be worked out. It starts quick, clacks a bit but is quieter that the old OKI. I think the biggest issue may be its build quality and how long it will last. The OKI (about $300 at the time) is more of what a true office printer should be; solid and thick plastic, large toners, lots of metal inside, solid tray. The Hp is not even in the same ball field on build feel. Because of this and knowing the dependability of past Hps I opted for the extended warranty through Amazon. I hope I wont have to use it! (6.3.16)

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This printer is fast... very fast. Im also pleased with the quality of the prints. The only drawback thus far is that the printer doesnt come with full software including a specific driver for Mac OSX. To setup this printer you use a program called HP Easy Start which hands off the installation to an online mechanism. At the handoff, HP comes back to say it can not find any software and to contact HP Support. The printer is not installed. The workaround is to just add it using the OSX System Preferences and it will use the Airprint compatible driver. Its just a generic driver though that gets the job done. Im only able to get normal resolution using this scenario and cant select any enhanced DPI functionality. I contacted HP support about this and they were very helpful and even took control of my computer. They went through the same process I did and ran into the exact same walls I ran into. Its almost as if its a bug or oversight that you cant download a specific OSX driver for this printer other than through the HP Easy Start program which simply doesnt find anything. The support representative apologized and said that the printer is new and hopefully a driver will be forthcoming. They were just as surprised as I that there wasnt one available.

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My first review was glowing. For months this printer was exactly what I wanted: efficient, easy to use, gorgeous job. Now? Drivers keep reporting as corrupted, wont connect to any network or recognize a wired connection. Have been having trouble since it hit its "one year" setup date. At this point, I am desperately searching for a new printer. HP support has been absolutely no help. In short- great printer but unreliable over time.

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This solution is for Mac OS X. Like everyone else on here, I tried to connect this printer through wireless and wired ethernet and within minutes, I get "printer not connected" message. Only thing that worked is turning the printer off/on again. Once it goes into sleep mode, it wont come out of sleep mode till you power it off/on. Even during setup, it lost connection before I was able to print a test page. Dont bother calling HP support. They will tell you to do stuff you probably already did: turn printer off then on, reset your router, delete the printer and add it again, etc. They all wont work, or will work temporarily till the printer goes to sleep. Same issues if you try to print from any iOS devices using AirPrint, "no AirPrint printers found". I am still within the Amazon 30 day return period so I thought about returning it and getting a different model. However, all other HP wireless printers seem to have the same problem according to the reviews. So then I decided to look online for a solution and I found that this is the only solution that worked: Adding printer using HP JetDirect protocol under the IP tab. If you are using wireless or wired, you have to first find your printers IP address either from the printer itself or from the web interface. After entering the IP address, change the name in the NAME field from the IP address to whatever you want (preferably the name of your printer). If the USE field is already filled out with the name of your printer, then your printer has been detected and is likely online. I waited till the printer went into sleep mode and tested the printer from the computer and from my iPhone using AirPrint. Everything works fine! Just to be sure, I tried it again in the morning after the printer has been in sleep mode all night and everything prints fine. Even though the printer works fine and speed is great, I think the one star is deserved due to the horrible wireless/wired. I hope this helps those who are having the same problem.

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In the interest of helping provide some help to others, wanted to share a few thoughts. First, this printer will only work on a 2.4ghz networks. If you are using a single band router that optimizes your signal, you are out of luck. HP specs dont tell you this, and I only found out after 5 hours of pretty horrible trouble shooting with HP. HP is not what it used to be - plug and play was the standard. Now a bit different. Also, the website for HP list services at 24 hours 7 days a week via phone; they have changed that and now I believe that is 6 am to 6 pm CST. If you are outside those hours your only choice is chat - a pretty miserable experience. After I switched my router to dual-band and got it set up with both 2.4 and 5ghz, I did network setup and connected to 2.4 ghz network. Worked fine. Hope this review helps save you some pain.

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ive had this printer for about 9 months now and it connects to Wi-Fi beautifully and prints and duplexes as smooth as butter. the toner cartridges last as long as they say they do (well, the demo cartridges i got a lot more mileage out of than initially posted), but the main caveat is that if youre going through a ream of paper a semester like i am printing color slides and the like, that essentially means a new set of HP410x toner cartridges every semester, which at a low price estimate (if you time it strategically on amazon) of ~155/cartridge x 4 ends up being a healthy $620 in toner each semester. given that the printer is currently at $250, id love to see some third party cartridges that actually work and dont brick the printer. i tried one version of third-party toner cartridges when i initially bought the printer and they performed extremely poorly (big sheets of black ink in lieu of what i was trying to print), so i returned them. so 4 stars for build, print quality, essentially no paper jams (unless the printer pauses due to needing more paper when its duplexing -- you have to remove the existing half-printed paper and let it start over at that page, which it will. and its not that hard to remove paper), and ease of use. if i could get the toner cartridges for say...350 or less every term, id be giddy. if you know of an amazing workhorse color laser that can do that, drop me a line. thanks! also, as others have commented, the colors print out but a bit darker than you might see on a screen, which i feel is common to many color lasers. there may be a way to adjust the RGB/etc profile to accommodate this.

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HP M452dw functions very well with one serious exception: it simply will not print documents that have significant graphic content (images, illustrations, etc.). It especially refuses to print PDFs, MS Word, or MS PowerPoint documents with images in them (esp. PNG files). Nothing suggested by HP Support helps. FYI, Im using the printer in with Macs running on El Capitan.

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Printer has been in constant operation for just under 4 years. It is on a LAN with 10 workstations that all use it as there only printing device. 3 are Windows 10, 2 are Mac Book Air. All print nice draft as well as final copies. Prints 8 1/2 x 11” and 8 1/2 x 14” pages. Also has WiFi capability which is handy for printing from iPhones. We generally use HP refill cartridges rather than buy new HP. Color is excellent. Black is very black. Would buy again although I don’t think HP makes this exact model anymore. When paired with quality refilled HP cartridges this printer is a real work horse. In 3 years of operation in a small office this printer has never failed.

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This printer works great. The wireless setup was a breeze as the reviews said. It is fast and prints good looking images. I will not rate the photo quality of it in that we are not using it for that purpose. we print handouts for classes that we teach and it has save many dollars in ink jet costs and time with its speed. the starter cartridges are as everyone has stated, they barely have enough toner to run a couple hundred sheets. Do go for the extra capacity cartridges, ie, the "X" version as they will last a lot longer due to the larger capacity. I am running compatible cartridges and they work great. Compared to an ink jet this is a Ferrari.

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