My HP 1200 is working it's way through it's third ream of paper since I purchased it. It is still using the original cartridge the printer came with.

*Print Quality Has Been Flawless*...even the ones I print in Econo Mode!

First print out in 10 seconds is *Great* and there have been No Paper Jams!

The only reason I didn't give this printer 5 stars is because it was slow printing big documents or complex graphics BUT that was easily fixed...$$$!!! bought me 32 megs of additional RAM. Now my printer shoots out my documents.

"Excellent Value, Easy to Use", I am a graduate student, which means I print constantly. My husband and I invested in this printer this summer, and it is by far one of the best purchases we have made for our computer. It's fast, reliable, and the print quality is outstanding. If you do a lot of writing, if you need to print documents for school or work, or if you print from the internet, this printer will serve you very well. (The ink cartridges seem to last a lot longer than our previous printer's cartridges did; I've been using this same cartridge since July and have seen no change in print quality. And that's just with the "starter" cartridge, which HP says is good for about 500 pages. I've printed WELL over 500 pages so far...) All this and easy set-up, too... this printer is a workhorse.

"Fast and dependable printer", I have bought 2 of these printers, one for my home office and one for my small workgroup at work. Both hang off of a server via a USB cable and are shared with multiple users. Fast, clear output, and no jams. Only problem we have had is that the copier function sometimes stops on the upgraded office model and we need to unplug the machine to reset it. Other than that, we are extremely pleased.

"DO NOT BUY IT if you use USB", The driver can be installed if connect through usb. (window 2000) I called HP customer services and they walk through the set up with me for 4 hurs-- still a failure. Plus, the customer telephone number is not toll free. THEY ADMITED THIS PRINTER DOES NOT REALLY WORK FOR USB COMPUTERS. I do not know why do they still mark this product as usb compatable. I am really frustrated!! Do not buy it. I do not want anyone go through the same thing as I do.

"DO NOT BUY IT if you use USB", The driver can be installed if connect through usb. (window 2000) I called HP customer services and they walk through the set up with me for 4 hurs-- still a failure. Plus, the customer telephone number is not toll free. THEY ADMITED THIS PRINTER DOES NOT REALLY WORK FOR USB COMPUTERS. I do not know why do they still mark this product as usb compatable. I am really frustrated!! Do not buy it. I do not want anyone go through the same thing as I do.

The quality of the print is excellent. The paper tray allows sheets to go in straight and the manual feed dependable too.

If the price wasn't reason enough to buy this printer, I read in my latest issue of Consumer Reports that this their top-rated laser printer!

Thus far, I've had no need to call tech-support. I'm more than satisfied with this printer.

"Chintzy plastic", This printer does a disservice to the rest of the HP line. The feed trays are flimsy to the point of being annoying. Manual feed of paper requires jiggling the top cover of the paper tray into a hidden slot above. Worst of all, the print quality is questionable. Vertical lines show a distinct edginess that is not found even on less expensive lasers from other manufacturers.

Take a look at the brother HP-1250. 12ppm, better feed, better quality print, longer toner life, and the RAM is exapandable with standard, cheap 72-pin simms.

"Don't buy this if you own a MAC", After 9 hours of trying to get this "plug and play" printer to work with my MAC G4, System 9.1, gave up. The minimal instructions for hook up that were included with the printer are simply wrong. Go to the HP web site, and you'll find pages of instructions on how to get this to work with a MAC, many of which are contradictory. Could get it to print an occasional page, but then it spit out pages with code until it had to be unplugged to stop. Returned it today.

"1 Day old, but very impressed thus far", Just picked it up and everything seems great. Tested various output and it's both crisp and speedy.

Strongly recommended.

"Brand, Output, Cost, Comparisons", If you need a high-quality, low-cost laser printer then go with HP. The only exception is if they are between releases and the new one isn't out yet; then the HP models are sometimes not as competitive. That was the case somewhat until the 1200 came out. I consider Lexmark as a relative equal. Other brands are one or two notches lower. That's my bias. I bought the 1200 a few weeks ago. Output is great, setup was easy, and speed is incredible. 5 stars so far.

Do your homework, but right now there's no recent complete mainstream comparison source that I could find with the 1200. The ZDNet gang haven't done a full roundup in 2 years! PC World has recently, rating the 1200 about sixth, but best on speed (by far), text quality, and photo quality with good media options. They slam the documentation, flimsy tray cover, and cost per page. If you discount those factors, then the 1200 is really the best.

Older reviews look at the 1100 models, and the 1200 is far better for the same price. HP made minor improvements all over and upped the memory to an awesome 8 MB memory. Skip the optional scan/copy for $100 more (or $150 if you decide later). It only does sheet-fed paper. If you want scan/copy, spend $200-$250 on a flatbed model and be able to do non-sheet tasks and do them better.

I chose between the 1200 and Lexmark Optra E312/E312L. Neither includes a cable. Both have latest PCL/PS and software goodies. The E312L may seem like a bargain, but it is not! It comes with a only a 1500-page starter toner cartridge and only 2 MB of memory. The E312 has 4 MB and a 6000-page cartridge. That's a $40 and $90 difference that completely wipes out the savings and you get less functionality.

Final notes... If you have a few more bucks, consider the HP 3200se multifunction. Again, I'm not a fan of this type of scan/copy functionality. The only reasons I would spend more on a personal or home office laser printer is for dual paper trays and duplex printing. Also, I would never use an inkjet for documents over a few pages or printing text pages in bulk or often. Add a $200-$350 inkjet for that with photo options based on your needs. Lastly, if you are willing to hunt locally or online, you can get refurbished HPs (III-VI, even 1100s) for a few hundred less.