QualityLogic Performance Report
HP LaserJet Printers vs. Laser Competitors
QualityLogic Inc., an independent test firm, recently performed tests to compare the print throughput performance of five monochrome HP LaserJet printers (with Instant-on Technology) against a selection of currently available competitive products without Instant-on Technology. The devices chosen for this test span a broad range of performance and price points from various manufacturers.
Printer specifications may provide PPM rated throughput without indication of the warm-up time required prior to printing. A recent research study by InfoTrends, sponsored by HP, indicated that users will usually be printing from power-save mode. It also reported that over 60 percent of business documents are five pages or less. The study noted that the typical document printed was four pages long.
Our testing included the warm-up time that a typical business user might experience when printing a typical job from the printer power-save mode. Note that some printers in this study enter their power-save mode in as little as five minutes after printing a job. For this test, documents of five pages each were printed 30 minutes after having ensured that each printer entered its power-save mode.
The testing demonstrated the HP printers were much faster than their counterparts in printing from power-save. When printing the first page from power-save, the HP printers with Instant-on Technology are 2.5 times faster on average than the tested competitors without Instant-on Technology. In addition, the HP LaserJets printed the test documents faster from power-save even when compared against printers rated at a higher PPM (Pages-Per-Minute). Usually, the HP printers completed printing an entire five page document before the competitive printer printed its first page.
Enabled by Instant-on Technology, the HP printers delivered, on average, all of the pages in the print jobs sooner than the other printers tested, resulting in faster throughput for the entire job. In addition, in no case was a HP printer slower in completing the print jobs than a competitor with the same or lower list price. Under these test conditions, the HP LaserJets on average outperformed the competitors with similar and higher price/performance points for each of the five pages. In this report we include the average times for each of the five pages.
The following table shows the printers tested, their manufacturer-specified print speed and first page out (FPO) times, if available, compared to the actual performance achieved during testing by QualityLogic. The devices in the test are order ranked from fastest, at the top, to slowest based on the average time to print the first page of the five-page jobs. (This column is highlighted in blue.) The HP printers are highlighted in green and occupy all of the top or fastest positions in the set of test results.
| Printer | List Price |
Published Specifications |
Actual Performance (All times in seconds) |
|||||
| Base Model | Speed (PPM) |
FPO (sec.) |
1/5 |
2/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 |
|
| HP LaserJet P2015 | $3491 |
27 |
8.5 |
8.3 |
10.4 |
12.6 |
14.7 |
16.9 |
| HP LaserJet P1505 | $1991 |
24 |
6.5 |
9.1 |
11.6 |
14.0 |
16.5 |
19.0 |
| HP LaserJet P3005 | $5491 |
35 |
9.5 |
10.9 |
13.2 |
14.9 |
16.6 |
18.5 |
| HP LaserJet P1006 | $1801 |
17 |
8.5 |
11.3 |
14.6 |
18.0 |
21.3 |
24.6 |
| HP LaserJet 4015 | $1,0991 |
52 |
8.5 |
14.8 |
15.9 |
17.0 |
18.1 |
19.3 |
| Xerox 4510 | $8991 |
45 |
8 |
18.2 |
19.5 |
20.9 |
22.2 |
23.5 |
| Lexmark E120n | $1491 |
20 |
8 |
19.6 |
22.7 |
25.7 |
28.7 |
31.6 |
| Kyocera FS-1030 |
$4292 |
23 |
15 |
19.7 |
22.3 |
25.4 |
28.0 |
30.6 |
| Brother HL-5240 |
$2001 |
30 |
8.5 |
20.2 |
22.2 |
24.2 |
26.2 |
28.2 |
| Brother HL-5250 |
$2491 |
30 |
8.5 |
20.4 |
22.4 |
24.4 |
26.3 |
28.3 |
| Brother HL 2140 |
$1201 |
23 |
10 |
21.7 |
24.2 |
26.7 |
29.2 |
31.7 |
| Brother HL 2040 |
$1201 |
20 |
10 |
21.7 |
24.6 |
27.4 |
30.2 |
33.0 |
| Kyocera FS-2000 |
$8952 |
31 |
10 |
22.2 |
24.0 |
26.0 |
27.9 |
29.8 |
| Samsung ML-3471 | $4732 |
35 |
8.5 |
22.5 |
24.2 |
25.9 |
27.6 |
29.3 |
| Kyocera FS-920 | $3992 |
19 |
11 |
23.2 |
26.3 |
30.3 |
33.4 |
36.5 |
| Brother HL-2030 | $2073 |
16 |
10 |
23.3 |
26.8 |
30.4 |
33.9 |
37.5 |
| Lexmark T640 | $5991 |
35 |
6 |
23.8 |
25.5 |
27.3 |
29.0 |
30.7 |
| Konica Minolta 1400 | $1201 |
17 |
13 |
23.8 |
27.3 |
30.8 |
34.2 |
37.7 |
| Samsung ML-2851 | $2262 |
30 |
8.5 |
24.0 |
26.0 |
28.0 |
29.9 |
31.9 |
| Konica Minolta 1350 | $2673 |
21 |
13 |
24.4 |
27.2 |
30.1 |
32.9 |
35.7 |
| Kyocera FS-720 | $3752 |
17 |
11 |
24.7 |
28.1 |
31.6 |
35.1 |
38.6 |
| Samsung ML-2510 | $1252 |
25 |
8.5 |
25.0 |
27.9 |
30.2 |
32.6 |
34.9 |
| Kyocera FS-4000 |
$1,4252 |
47 |
15 |
27.5 |
28.7 |
29.9 |
31.2 |
32.4 |
| Lexmark T644 | $8991 |
50 |
8.5 |
27.8 |
29.0 |
30.2 |
31.4 |
32.6 |
| Kyocera FS-3900 |
$1,2902 |
37 |
10.5 |
28.1 |
29.6 |
31.2 |
32.8 |
34.4 |
| Lexmark T642 | $7991 |
45 |
8.5 |
28.2 |
29.4 |
30.6 |
31.8 |
33.0 |
| Brother HL-6050 | $4001 |
25 |
11 |
29.6 |
32.8 |
35.1 |
37.3 |
39.6 |
| Dell 5210 | $7991 |
40 |
* |
29.8 |
31.3 |
32.8 |
34.3 |
35.8 |
| Xerox 3500 | $5491 |
35 |
10 |
32.0 |
33.6 |
35.3 |
36.9 |
38.6 |
| Dell 5310 | $9991 |
50 |
* |
33.0 |
34.2 |
35.4 |
36.6 |
37.8 |
| Samsung ML-3561 | $8452 |
35 |
9 |
33.0 |
34.7 |
36.3 |
38.0 |
39.7 |
| Samsung ML-4050 | $7342 |
40 |
9 |
33.1 |
34.6 |
36.0 |
37.5 |
39.4 |
| Samsung ML-4551 | $9842 |
45 |
8.5 |
33.7 |
35.0 |
36.3 |
37.6 |
39.0 |
| Samsung ML-1610 | $1052 |
17 |
10 |
34.1 |
38.4 |
41.8 |
45.2 |
48.7 |
| Dell 1110 | $991 |
17 |
* |
34.3 |
38.5 |
42.0 |
45.4 |
48.8 |
| Samsung ML-2010 | $1432 |
22 |
10 |
36.8 |
40.0 |
43.0 |
45.5 |
48.5 |
| Samsung ML-3051 | $3112 |
30 |
9 |
40.5 |
42.4 |
44.4 |
46.4 |
48.4 |
| Samsung ML-2250 | $2302 |
22 |
10 |
46.3 |
48.4 |
51.6 |
53.7 |
56.8 |
Notes:
| 1 | Price obtained from manufacturers web site for base model in series. |
| 2 | Price obtained from retailer in US. |
| 3 | Price obtained from UK web site price and converted to US Dollars. |
| All pricing is from original purchase data and is subject to change | |
* Manufacturer does not provide this information on their web site
or in accompanying manuals.
Summary
The average time to first page out for the Hewlett-Packard printers with Instant-on Technology in this study was 10.9 seconds compared to an average time for the competitors without Instant-on Technology of 27.5 seconds. In printing the first page out, the Hewlett-Packard printers with Instant-on Technology were 2.5 times faster on average than the tested competitors without Instant-on Technology.
Test Platform
Testing was performed using the QualityLogic PageSense 4.2 automated performance test tool, connected to a desktop personal computer with an AMD Athlon 2GHz processor with 256Mb of memory, using the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition operating system. All printers were connected to the test computer using a USB connection.
Test Approach
All print drivers were installed using the Plug-n-Play method and tested using the default settings. Printing was done on letter size paper. All products were selected by HP and purchased by QualityLogic from various vendors.
Each printer was tested using the default settings as delivered from the manufacturer. No modifications were made to the printer or driver settings.
Based on HP’s belief that typical print jobs for the business environment are between one and five pages, documents of five pages in length were chosen for this test. This belief is supported by a recent InfoTrends study sponsored by HP which found that over 60% of users print an average of 5 pages or less per document.
For all printers, each test file was printed 30 minutes after having ensured that the printer entered the power-save state. PageSense was used to automate the testing and provide consistent timing between tests. All files were printed twice. Any files logging a five percent deviation between test runs were retested.
QualityLogic selected test files that it considered typical of a small/medium business environment from PageSense’s suite of performance test files. The test included files from Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, Microsoft Office 2000 Suite, and Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0. Standard PageSense test files were modified to fit the five-page document length requirements of this test.
PageSense uses application test files and an automated process for printing and recording time measurements using a smart paper sensing unit. Performance data is logged into a database automatically. Many leading printer manufacturers and industry publications, such as PC Magazine, use PageSense to automate testing and provide comparable results between printers. PageSense is a standard, automated approach to performance testing.
This study was commissioned by HP.About QualityLogic
QualityLogic is a leading Software Quality Services Company offering a variety of testing services and related tools focused on the conformance, performance, and interoperability testing needs, from low level firmware testing, to high level multi-tier application testing. QualityLogic has over 21 years' experience, both in developing specialized test tools and providing comprehensive testing services for top industry manufacturers.
Test results provided by QualityLogic. Tests
were performed under laboratory conditions and your results may vary.
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