HP’s latest four-in-one laser printer is not only the smallest, but also one of the most affordable in its category, which is great news for anyone working from home or a small office who needs all the functionality of a business-oriented device. The 18ppm print speed is fairly fast and the 150-page paper capacity makes it suitable to serve a small workgroup. It comes with security features to suit a shared office environment and compatibility with Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print for easy wireless operation via a smartphone.
Design and build
While that was easily the smallest mono laser printer, the new HP Color LaserJet MFP 179fnw claims to be the smallest colour laser printer in its class. In the flesh, it doesn’t look any smaller than your average laser MFD although its footprint is more compact.
It looks rather smart when all of the extending flaps are folded away and the scanner levers open smoothly. The top-mounted ADF holds 40 sheets of A4 paper and the main paper tray holds 150 sheets, which is a good amount for a small printer.
Review
Being a four-in-one device means that you can print, scan, copy and fax documents in black and white, or color. There’s a 40-sheet ADF on top of the machine for lining up these jobs and an A4 size scanner bed below that. The paper capacity is adequate at 150 sheets. The print resolution and scan resolution are acceptable at 600 dpi each.
Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct are built in and the HP Color Laser MFP 179fnw is compatible with AirPrint and Google Cloud Print for easy smartphone control. The companion app called AP Smart Print is very helpful for printing and scanning via the cloud.