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Review
Created: December, 1999
Hewlett Packard's Laserjet 2100 line is really a continuation of its old Laserjet 6 series, offering the same reliable printing options with some cool refinements.
Those include an impressive increase in speed -- 10 pages per minute -- and true 1200x1200 dot-per-inch resolution, with very dark blacks.
The standard Laserjet 2100 has a 16x16.5-inch footprint, typical for a desktop laser printer. At nine inches high, it is a tall machine. The main paper tray holds only 100 sheets, but an optional paper tray (which adds another three inches in height) boosts the paper capacity by another 250 sheets. The optional tray also allows you to use two types of paper: you can stock one tray with regular paper for draft copies and stock the other with letterhead for invoices.
The Laserjet 2100M model is HP's newest offering for the Macintosh market, being a Postscript capable printer. A networking port is included with all models, for those with the need. The network card, as well as the Postscript capability, comes standard with the Laserjet 2100TN.
With the help of a large plastic chart, setting up these printers will take only minutes.
As befits HP's long experience with printers, the user guide is a substantive, but easy-to-use tome, containing many hints for using the printer and for troubleshooting.
Drivers and software are included for Macintosh, DOS and Windows operating systems. Drivers for OS/2 can be found on the newest version of the printer CD or on the HP Web site.
Installation of the software and drivers went flawlessly during testing, with one exception. Installation onto a Windows NT 4 machine proved problematic. The first reboot after installation caused a fatal error and printing a test page invariably produced an error message, with no printers accessible. This could be cleared up only by restarting the machine. Troubleshooting later showed that this was due to the wrong port being installed on the NT 4 -- although the printer still printed, for some unfathomable reason.
Note: interface designers at HP could use some lessons in communicating with each other. It's annoying to find options in different spots, even to the point of being on different tabs within the same operating system.
A problem also exists with the N-UP feature, which is designed to allow multiple pages to be printed onto one sheet of paper in a very small font size -- very useful for page layout. This feature never tested properly under Win98 or NT's Postscript driver, however. Tests always printed as regular, single pages.
Variants of this feature are supposed to be able to enable printing of four, nine or 16 pages on one page, on three different tabs called finishing, paper and advanced. The documentation is contradictory, however. The introduction cites a one-page printout of a maximum of nine pages through the N-UP feature, while a maximum of 16 pages is cited for two of the drivers. It's hard to imagine how anything on those 16 pages could be legible, in any case, if squeezed onto one page.
Three DIMM (dual in-line memory module) slots are provided for expansion purposes. Memory can be added in 4, 8 or 16-megabyte increments. Postscript capability, when present, will take up one of these slots.
More memory is useful for speeding up print jobs, especially within Postscript environments. Unfortunately, the choice of DIMMs in the Laserjet 2100 series denies those upgrading from a previous HP laser printer the ability to reuse the memory from the old printers, as the old printers used SIMMs (single in-line memory modules).
A final, neat refinement: the printer offers a limited ability to clean itself, with options to clean the toner cartridge and the engine. These would come in handy clearing up problems that crop up with continuing usage.
With the cheapest model starting at $700 US, the Laserjet 2100 printers are not easy on the pocket, although much cheaper than the big boys sold specifically for network use. But any of the models from this series would be a solid, reliable addition to a small business in search of a workhorse.
Reviewer's rating: 4.25 / 5
Comments: It's tough to go wrong with HP laser printers. They're expensive, but worth it.
Prices:
Laserjet 2100M: $799 US, $1,149 Canadian
Laserjet 2100: $699 US, $1,021 Canadian
Laserjet 2100TN: $999 US, $1,480 Canadian
Extra paper tray: $170 US, $260 Canadian
Cartridges: $110 US, $149 Canadian, rated for 5,000 sheets.
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Adding RAM is easy, 
