HP LaserJet Pro M227fdw MFP

By Adeesh Sharma

We really appreciate the switch to white shades with the new HP MFPs and this one, specifically target at the SME segment, looks equally elegant. Also, there has been a significant reduction in weight and this one at 9.4 kg is extremely compact to handle. The MFP features an intuitive 2.7 inch color LCD touch screen with a scan-to-drive option that allows users to send digital files direct to a USB drive, email or network folders. We’ve worked on MFPs with 3-inch color screens, so this one feels a tad too small for big fingers. Sometimes we even slid the screen around instead of the intended press of an icon. The recommended monthly page volume in output is between 250-2500 pages, to optimise device performance. However, the monthly duty cycle can be as high as 30,000 pages, which indicates the robustness of this MFP.

The right mix of features for an SME

The HP LaserJet Pro M227fdw MFP serves up plenty of features to assist in an SME’s workload in addition to HP’s standard array of print, copy, scan, and fax functions. This device bundles in triple connectivity options by way of Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and mobile print capability, as well as double-sided printing, a 35 sheet automatic document feeder for hands-free scanning. The touch screen does a good job of providing a simple and easy way to navigate through various functions. The 250 sheet input tray is decent enough to handle light to moderate duty workloads as a shared printer in a small office environment. The supported media types include paper (laser, plain, photo, rough, vellum), envelopes, labels, cardstock, and postcards.

Excellent print quality

Setting up the MFP is easy with both USB or Ethernet and the installation took only a few minutes. It printed 23 B/W A4 pages in a minute with first page out in just 8 seconds, post warmup. The text looked sharp, crisp and highly readable even at small font sizes. The output quality of documents is good enough for any business use. There were issues with pages curling very slightly at the edges, so maybe this aspect needs a bit of an improvement. It copied 22 B/W A4 pages in a minute giving the first page out in 8 seconds. The print quality in copying is also good. You can take a maximum of 99 copies at a time with size adjustable from 25 to 400%. The copy resolution is 600x600 dpi. The USB print feature also worked fine and readable formats such as .jpeg, .pdf, .doc, .tiff, and .png.

You can directly scan to USB drive from this MFP, the format being restricted to pdf and jpeg.  Scanning a B/W A4 page to a USB drive took 12 seconds and scanning to a desired network folder took 15 seconds in pdf format. The touch screen is quite responsive and registering the desired input is does not take much of an effort.

We tried the HP AirPrint feature to print from an iOS device without an additional application and it worked fine. The proprietary HP ePrint feature also worked well. You can also print directly through your smartphone without being connected to a network, through the Wi-Fi Direct printing feature. The MFP also has the NFC touch-to-print enabled, so you can simply tap the smartphone to the MFP at the specified sensor spot and get the job done.