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Oct 15 2024
Hardware

Review: HP LaserJet Enterprise M480f Laser Multifunction Printer Drives Productivity

This fast and reliable device delivers high performance.
Carlos Soto
by

Carlos Soto is an award-winning reviewer and journalist with 20 years of experience covering technology and business within various sectors and industries.

Printing remains an important part of the workday for most federal users, whether they are working onsite at their agency or remotely from a home office. Stats as far back as 2009 show that federal employees on average print about 30 pages per day, totaling thousands of pages per user, per year. Advances in technology have made work more digital, but at least in the federal government there is still a lot to print, from critical items such as contracts to day-to-day office documents.

This has led to a host of new devices designed to meet the need for home and in-office printing, such as the HP LaserJet Enterprise M480f Laser Multifunction Printer. My review reveals a printer that would be ideal for agencies struggling to maintain or increase productivity, streamline printing processes and support hybrid working environments.

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M480f Supports Card Readers, Sustainability Compliance

The M480f is a high-performance, all-in-one printer designed for small to medium-sized agencies. It offers a compact design that is perfect for both shared office space and home use and is speedy enough that multiple users can print at the same time without any lines forming to wait for documents.

In my testing, the M480f was able to print up to 27 pages per minute in color or black and white, and the first page came out of the printer in less than 10 seconds after the print command was sent.

The M480f has features designed specifically for the federal government, such as support for card readers. It also has energy-saving features that power it down when not in use to help agencies meet sustainability goals without compromising productivity.

Of course, speed without accuracy is not very good for government work. Thankfully, that is not a problem here. I printed over 1,000 pages of color documents and photos, and the last one was just as detailed and accurate as the first.

HP LaserJet Enterprise M480f

 

M480f Boasts Advanced Scanning and Copying Features

The HP LaserJet Enterprise M480f is also equipped with a wide range of advanced scanning and copying features, all of which fared well under rigorous testing. For example, I used the flatbed scanner to copy very detailed documents with features such as lightly shaded text boxes and different colors of ink. Printed copies were mostly indistinguishable from the originals.

It was also impressive that the M480f was able to accomplish all of my tests so quickly. It hardly wavered from its maximum speed of 27 pages per minute when printing in either color or black and white and never slowed for large print jobs, thanks to its 1.25 gigabytes of installed RAM.

Selecting the right printer for federal government work is critically important. The HP LaserJet Enterprise M480f Laser Multifunction Printer is both qualified for and ready to serve.

SPECIFICATIONS

MODEL: HP M480f Laser Multifunction Printer
PROCESSOR SPEED: 800 megahertz
PRINTER FUNCTIONS: Print, copy, scan, fax
MAX PRINT SPEED: 27 pages per minute
RAM INSTALLED: 1.25GB
CAPACITY: Up to 55,000 pages per month
INTERFACES: 3 High-Speed USB 2.0 ports; 1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000T network

Two Key Features in Effective Agency Printers

As every federal employee probably knows, printing is the unsung hero of many agencies. It’s an older technology, and one that is almost always out of sight and out of mind — at least until a project needs to be shared, illustrated or studied offline. Printing is also critical when conducting official business, such as signing contracts or publishing new regulations or guidelines. For those reasons and others, the federal government still conducts a lot of business on paper.

According to HP, a big part of this reliance on paper stems from long-standing government laws and regulations that require printing many types of documents. As such, every year federal, state and local governments spend more than $1 billion on printing services — and that demand continues to increase.

What do governments need to ensure their printing needs are met? According to the same HP analysis, which cited numerous surveys, the key requirements for a government printer are the ability to print at a high volume without compromising accuracy, and the ability to sync with the devices and services that drive remote and hybrid government work.

MORE FROM FEDTECH: Use StarTech.com’s guide for your agency’s next laptop refresh.

The HP LaserJet Enterprise M480f fits the bill: It not only prints at an impressive 27 pages per minute but also has a large 55,000 pages-per-month duty cycle, so it can handle high print volumes.

The M480f’s built-in Ethernet and Wi-Fi options make it easy to connect to any network, but more important, they empower multiple users to print, scan and copy from their computers or mobile devices, seamlessly. Additionally, the printer supports a host of mobile printing options, including Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print. This added mobile capability makes it a cinch for new users or visitors to quickly print from smartphones and tablets.

Another key features of the HP LaserJet Enterprise M480f is its built-in security, which is critical for government. The printer features data encryption to bolster security operations center policies, password protection and secure printing. All of that makes the M480f a very well-designed government workhorse.

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