HP fuels the war on the cheapest laser printers by introducing the LaserJet 1020 series printer. It’s a direct descendant of the HP 1012 and 1018 printers with a smaller form factor and faster printing speeds.The HP 10XX LaserJet series printers have proven to be a great way to introduce laser printing benefits to home and small businesses. Typically, HP LaserJet printers have been somewhat costly compared to their Brother or Lexmark counterparts.

Reliability: This is borderline “throwaway” printer due to the difficulty or a technician in replacing key parts. From inspection, it appears that the roller and separation pad are the only easily changeable parts (besides the toner and drum). Generally Brother was the first that sold printers in which the consumables costs more than the printer. When the HP 1020 fails, it will probably be easier to purchase a new machine.

Performance: The HP 1020 prints incredibly fast for its size. At 15ppm, it can easily out perform most inkjet printers hands down.

Usability: One of the major downsides to this printer is that only Windows based computers can print to it. Most technicians agree that the Windows based market is prevalent in the computer world, but Macintosh computers along with Linux/Unix machines account for a portion as well. The Windows software does install easily, but it seems HP cut too many corners by only including the Windows family to the compact laser printing world.

Size: You must admit, after looking at this printer first hand, it’s seems that HP has really tried to reduce the size of this little printer. Due to the smaller size, any jam can be quickly removed from the printer, and it does fold up nicely when not in use.