HP Color LaserJet 2600n Printer (Q6455A#ABA) Reviews

• Impressive Achievment for HP - Fantastic Value

  
  By AI5A1BSRLOYJ5 on 2005-12-07
  You know, on paper, the HP 2600n probably makes no sense - not much memory, one-pass engine (speeds for black and color are the same), expensive replacement cartridges, slow black-only speed, average looks, small & unimpressive LCD display.
  
  But.... In the real world, this printer will surprise and even amaze you! If you print ANY color in your documents, this printer will leave it's competition in the dust in terms of performance. Color print-outs are fast and come out instantly - no warm-up, etc. The unusual design allows it to take up minimal space on your desk and provides easy paper retrieval and cartridge replacement. The simple display is incredibly intuitive and features are easily & quickly located.
  
  Instead of lots of memory, the printer makes use of your computer's memory and cpu (read: not post-script) - this may have a very slight performance effect on your computer. But, you never have to worry about purchasing extra printer memory ($$), since your computer probably has plenty of it available and probably more CPU power than you need.
  
  Operating noise is acceptable and the printer never over-heats (common on some other color laser models). The HP support software isn't the flashy kind that populates your tool bars - just a very simple and effective set of utilities, which helps you configure and maintain the printer.
  
  Color text print quality is the best I've seen on any kind of printer, and business graphics are unrivaled. The photo printouts are pretty decent for a laser, but not in the class of inkjets - but they sure come out fast!
  
  While the cartridges are expensive - at least the printer comes with FULL capacity cartridges, which ironically cost more than the printer. (You are literally getting the printer for free!). I have printed several large documents (including many hi-res pictures) and the cartridges are still showing 98% capacity!
  
  So, when should you NOT get this printer? If you mainly print-out reams of black/white documents, then this printer is NOT a good choice; go for a monochrome or 4-pass color laser instead. But, most home users do print some color (ie, web pages) which makes this a much better real-world printer.
  
  They have the more powerful one-pass engine type HP color lasers where I work, and they are impressive; which makes me believe the 2600n should be reliable as well.
  
  

• fantastic

  
  By A3TE4O3A90SP51 on 2005-07-27
  Don't be fooled by the 600 x 600 resolution listed. The printer outputs fantastic quality photo prints and (obviously) great text. If you are considering this instead of an inkjet for photos, be warned that a laser printer will only output as good as the source material. Pics from my 5MP Kodak EasyShare camera look beter than on my (also HQ) HP inkjet. But older lower res (3mp) photos exhibit color inaccuracies. In short, if your photo has a flaw, the 2600n will show it (Laser Printers don't hide flaws by "bleeding" like inkjets do). Laser printers also aren't for novices, you *will* have to play around with the driver menus to get optimal quality and speed- but when you do, you should be quite satisfied.
  
  

• Printer is "Free" But the Toner Is VERY Expensive!

  
  By A1WY8XC4HZ6IW3 on 2006-01-20
  I bought this printer in October, 2005, primarily to print documents with occasional color use. To my surprise, about 3/4 of the way through my second black toner cartridge, the three color cartridges were exhausted. The supply counter reported that I had printed 4800 pages in color! I print VERY LITTLE color, and I just could not understand it. I called HP tech support, and was told that in fact even when you think you are printing black text only, the printer uses "a little" color toner too. I was not happy to hear this, since nowhere in HP's literature that I could find is this mentioned, but OK. . .they told me I could prevent this by printing in "draft" instead of in "normal," and by printing in greyscale. So, I loaded the new color cartridges (THREE of them, at approx. $80 each!!!), and guess what? The page counter CONTINUED to count pages for each of the color cartridges AND for the black cartridges! So, I called tech support back and was THEN informed that there is no way to avoid "using" color (I don't know if the printer actually uses color, or if the counter just "says" it does. The end result is the same. You can't print in black if your color cartridges are "out.") Tech support called this a "cheap" printer and said that the grayscale option isn 't available, no matter what you try to set up. Needless to say, I feel pretty disgusted and cheated. I will use up the remaining toner and then throw this machine away. I think HP should be ashamed. The tech guy seemed to think I should have somehow "known" about this. Phoo! Don't buy it. M. Zashin
  Addendum: To be fair, I called HP tech support a third time and was then told that tech support #2 was wrong. You CAN print in grayscale and by doing so will avoid "using" color toner. It is also important to download and install the latest firmware from the HP site. I am following these suggestions, and will suspend judgment until I find out if this is now accurate information. M. Zashin
  
  

• Cartridge problems can be overcome

  
  By ACUJIL680YHZT on 2006-02-02
  I guess the way the printer is set up is to ASSUME that you are using the color cartridges on an average basis, regardless of whether they are actually being used or not. Thus, it estimates when the cartridges should run out and when that time comes, you are locked out of further printing until the cartridges are replaced even though they may be full of toner. However, reading through the User Guide, there appears to be a solution on using the Color Toner Cartridges beyond the "replacement" time.
  
  Page 94 of the User Guide has the following instructions for those who would like to use the toner beyond their replacement time:
  
  Configuration
  Cartridge Out Override can only be enabled from the printer's control panel menu.
  1. From the main menu, press (RIGHT ARROW) to System setup and press (SELECT).
  2. Press (RIGHT ARROW) to Print quality and press (SELECT).
  3. Press (RIGHT ARROW) to Replace supplies and press (SELECT).
  4. Press (RIGHT ARROW) to Override out and press (SELECT).
  5. Press (SELECT).
  If Stop at out is selected, the printer will stop printing when a cartridge reaches the recommended replacement point. If Override out is selected, the printer will continue
  printing when a cartridge reaches the recommended replacement point. The factory default setting is Stop at out.
  
  The full story of the trials and tribulations of a hapless 2600N owner can be viewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_196413001348
  
  
  
  

• Great Product - Expensive Cartridges

  
  By A2KF3H5304I4IA on 2006-08-22
  The printer itself is great. very high quality and reasonably quick.
  
  My only qualm is the cost of replacement cartridges. While all printer ink seems way over priced, HP has taken it to a new extreme. You can actually replace the ENTIRE 2600N for LESS than it will cost you to replace the 4 toner cartridges. Something is seriously wrong with this picture both from a cost and an environmental perspective.
  
  
  
• Excellent value, but Do consider toner cost & read manual!
  By A1GQGYROVZVW49 on 2007-03-13
  see update at end of review
  
  ******************
  
  I have had my HP color Laserjet 2600n for about one year. I also have a regular HP monochrome laserjet for the bulk of my printing needs (faster & auto-duplex & lower toner cost), and an Epson color inkjet for printing better quality photos. I use the 2600n for two reasons: color webpage printing and printing the tray inserts for CDs that I produce in my recording studio (I use a special robotic inkjet printer for printing on the CDs themselves, no adhesive labels here!)
  
  I went into this purchase with some trepidation, because the cost of replacing all 4 tomer cartridges exceeds the cost of the whole printer. I initially figured that I might just buy a new one every time the toner ran out, and donate the toner-less printer carcass to schools, etc. Well, nobody wants these as donations, because they would still need to shell out more money for toner than it would cost to buy a new machine WITH toner. I should add, however, that HP claims and independent labs have shown that the toner cartridges that come with this printer are as full as the ones you would buy later - they are NOT half full. It seems to be true that HP is giving the printer away in order to sell toner later on.
  
  I have had nothing but good luck with the 2600n so far. I have not experienced paper feed issues, and the only print quality problem I have seen is when I try to print large areas of a single color; this printer, like most (if not all) laser printers, does a poor job of producing large areas of single color coverage. You get an unevenly printed area when you try. But one rarely has to print such things.
  
  All 4 toner cartridges have been depleting at about the same rate, and are almost ready for replacement. I decided that, since the printer is inexpensive, I would experiment with toner replacement kits. I bought a well-reviewed kit on eBay for $135, including the four bottles of toner, refilling tools and supplies, and a set of new fuseable 'chips' that tell the printer that the cartridges are new after being refilled. If this does not work well for me, I have already purchased a set of new cartridges. The online information I have seen says that the cartridges have internal components that wear out, and one cannot expect them to hold up for more than their original lifespan plus one subsequent refill. So, whether the toner refills work well or not, I have the NEXT toner change already waiting in the closet.
  
  Some reviewers have mentioned that the 2600n does not handle or print well on card stock or heavier papers. The printer does things differently depending on settings you can make in the driver configuration. If I am printing to heavy paper or card stock, I do get poor results if I forget to tell the driver about it ahead of time. With the 'heavy' paper setting, the printer is much slower; I assume that it is keeping the paper in the fuser stage for a longer time to heat the paper more thoroughly, the better to fuse the toner to the paper. This may also inprove print quality and paper handling as well, but I noticed that with heavy paper, unless I use the correct setting, the toner is not well attached to the paper and can rub or fall off.
  
  (Epson told me, regarding my color inkjet printer, that when I change the paper thickness setting there, that it not only changes how much ink is sprayed, but the paper handling pick-up roller accelerations are adjusted to compensate for the different paper handling characteristics. I imagine that this may also be the case with paper handling on the 2600n....this is why I suggest you read the manual and/or study the driver's settings - you might be using the wrong ones and getting poor results).
  
  Overall, I think what HP has provided a good quality, easy to use machine that allows entry level color laser printing. As with any office equipment, you can pay more initially to get lower operating costs. If you don't do a ton of color printing, the 2600n is a pretty good balance between initial afforability and subsequent operating costs. Even if you just bought a new one once a year, you would be getting a pretty good deal. think of it as an installment plan or an annual rent, where you expect to pay $350 each year to have color laser printing available.
  
  ************
  Update, November 2007
  
  The toner refill kit that I mentioned earlier finally came into use recently. The printer had been chugging along for months after the point when its toner cartridge meters read 'empty', but finally the black became truly depleted and I got an error message, "You must replace black toner before proceeding to print". So, I opened that $135 box from Ink Owl, and followed the directions to refill the black cartridge. This included making holes in the cartridge's 'waste toner' bin and removing that excess toner, then plugging the holes, making another hole to fill the 'fresh toner' bin, and finally replacing the 'chip'. By the way, I learned two things doing this:
  
  - you never want to change black toner in a room with white walls, even with lots of extra care to prevent mess...the toner makes a cloud that settles on everything, and is very noticeable on while walls.
  - the 'chip' really is a circuit with tiny integrated circuit and surface mount components...it is not just a fuse as some other printers use.
  
  Anyway, the refill worked, but I was not happy with the results. Immediately, the printer started laying down a light gray shadow over the entire page, very visible on white (unprinted) areas, and anything that was supposed to be pure black was now dark gray instead. Also, the new black toner seemed to disagree with the other color toners, as the particles seemed to repel each other. Being concerned that the refilled cartridge might be hosing the printer or the other cartridges, I replaced the refilled one with a factory fresh black one, and print quality returned to normal. Based on this experience, I do NOT recommend refilling the cartridges for this printer.
  
  
• Great deal, great output, but a bit slow.
  By A2DXAS3PHVZF1X on 2005-10-23
  Purchased this for only $250 new after special promotional discount at the local office supply superstore. Set up was a breeze, plugged it into our home network via Ethernet into our home router, worked perfectly from the beginning. Very nice output, love the networked feature that let us print from any computer anywhere in the house.(2 desktop G4 towers, 1 iBook, 1 Toshiba laptop). The toner cartridge access is a particularly elegant design in comparison to the prior generation HP SOHO printers.
  
  Replaced/supplemented HP 2610 AiO that used a ridiculous amount of way over-priced ink.
  
  Only real drawback is that this is a relatively slow printer. It takes just as long to print an all BW doc as color. It fast output is important, look elsewhere. As for toner, at this point the depletion rate seems quite slow, and for the price I paid, I could just as well wait for another deal and simply buy a new one for less than the cost of replacing all of the carts in this printer. (It comes with FULL carts, not the silly partials in some printers.) Ridiculous in a green sense, but sadly true.
  
  I had been looking at the previous generation 2550N until this newest printer came on the market. As it happens, my wife's office installed the 2550N in her Windows only LAN. The thing has been a engineering and design disaster from the word go with toner problems, network access problems, and just last week, total failure of the network card. And this in a corporate office with a full IT staff and LAN administrators. I keep looking at our completely satisfactory 2600 and knocking on wood.
  
  Only one other wish - automatic duplexing. The manual duplexing works well enough, but automatic would be wonderful.
  
  
• Top quality prints; front-end bargain; needs care to maximize value
  By AN823S8Z66K5A on 2006-06-23
  I love the speed, print quality, and network and Macintosh friendliness of this printer. The colors are vivid, and the blacks are blacker than any of the dozen laser printers I've used previously. The footprint is amazingly small for a color laser, and the mechanics are much simplified from its predecessor, the 2550N.
  
  I love this printer so much, in fact, that I didn't hesitate to buy a second one when the first shredded its transfer belt after only a few hundred pages. (I searched the web, and this seemed to be a fluke.) You can't replace the transfer belt, but when you can buy a whole new printer for less money than the 4 included toner cartridges would cost separately, the print engine is essentially a "free" disposable. (With $600 invested in toner cartridges, however, I bought the extended warranty on the second unit, just in case the pricing geniuses at HP sober up...)
  
  A few problems:
  
  The "manual" input is nearly useless. If I don't empty the regular paper tray first, the printer inevitably feeds a sheet from there, too, on "top" of the stock I am trying to feed manually. It also may require a little interaction with the front panel to confirm that, yes, I really do want to use the manual input tray I specified when I issued the print command on my computer. It's easier to put special stock on top of the regular stock in the tray, and use that.
  
  It's a small hassle to load envelopes (no more than 5, I think), and they shimmy during feeding in a way that does not inspire confidence. I had been planning to retire my Epson 980ne inkjet, but now I use it exclusively as my envelope printer (for which it's a speed champ); a good complement for this weak spot of the 2600N.
  
  As a thrifty person, I enabled the "cartridge out override" as described in the Amazon review titled "Cartridge problems can be overcome". Before doing so, the printer refused to print more than 2114 pages with the black cartridge, even though it had plenty of toner left. The first symptom of actually running out of toner was a smeary light gray band running down the page, which happened at 2395 pages in my case. Replacing the black cartridge cleared up the printout instantly, as I expected. My pages typically use much less color so I haven't replaced any of those cartridges yet. Although the printer says I've printed 1221 pages that used color, it has increased its estimate of remaining pages in the color cartridges to 2079. That would be nice! (but the estimate must be quite crude)
  
  If you don't enable "cartridge out override", you face the irritation of perhaps avoiding jobs that don't use much toner, or troubling to declare many jobs to be grayscale, because you hate to pay 15 cents per page (for 4 colors of toner) when typical pages don't have much color or toner on them. If you do use the "cartridge out override", of course, you only have to buy new cartridges when you actually use up the toner in each.
  
  The fuser is a little hotter than in my Apple LaserWriter, and it sealed some of the envelopes I printed with it! Purchasing different envelopes solved that problem (as suggested in the manual).
  
  The print dialog has a lot of fine-tuning options for color. Most people will never need them, but I like having them. Benefiting from them does require a certain amount of special knowledge or experimentation, however.
  
  I recommend this printer to all my friends, despite the hassle of its telling you to buy new cartridges even when they are not empty.
  
  
• Total Ink Rip Off
  By A3IBIS8P8BR0JP on 2007-10-13
  If you don't print primarily COLOR documents, DO NOT BUY THIS PRINTER. I purchased the HP Color Laserjet 2600n as an alternative to cheap inkjet printers which use way too much ink. I knew the cartridges were expensive ($85.00 per) but with the yield of each cartridge I thought it was worth it. I also made the assumption that because I used the printer primarily for black ink documents that my color cartridges would last a lot longer than my black cartridge...WRONG. I called HP Technical support for a minor issue. I spoke with Tania. Tania told me that this is primarily a color printer, therefore, when you print a document which only uses black ink, the printer assumes you're also using the color cartridges, so it is using up the color cartridges at the same rate. There's only one catch, when the printer tells you that you have to replace the color cartridges, most likely there is still a LOT of toner left in the cartridge. When I became incredulous, she laughed at me. Eventually I was transferred to Gali, in Customer Care. I was also on the phone at the same time with another woman but they wouldn't give me her name. They confirmed MANY TIMES exactly what Tania told me. So many times during my conversation I said "I just have such a hard time believing that I will be forced to replace FULL CARTRIDGES!" and every time there reply was something to the effect of, I understand Ma'am, but there's nothing we can do, the machine is not defective. If I were you I WOULD NOT BUY THIS PRINTER.
  
  
• Decent entry-level color laser
  By A31MFTFJTNTTP6 on 2006-03-03
  Overall, the printer is simple and easy to use. Text looks great, and photos are acceptable. The printer has a lot of trouble with standard cardstock, though.
  
  One bonus is that this printer ships with full toner cartridges, not "starter cartridges." This could save you a few hundred dollars in the long term.
  
  
  SPEED
  While it can't keep up with most business lasers, it's more than fast enough for home or small business use. It also has very little warm-up time, which is great for home users.
  
  
  EASE OF USE
  The printer is very easy to set up. Both the menus on the printer LCD and in the driver are simple and easy to use. On the other hand, the networking feature is mostly undocumented, with no wizards or setup guides.
  
  
  TEXT QUALITY
  Text is clear and sharp, what you'd expect from a laser printer. Color text looks good too, as long as it is fairly saturated. Some light colors like baby blue or pink show the pattern of dots too clearly.
  
  If you use laser foil (for shiny gold lettering on certificates and such), you'll be pleased to know that the foil sticks to color toner about as well as it does to black toner. This lets you use a toner color similar to the foil color.
  
  
  PHOTO QUALITY
  This is a decent printer, but not photo quality. One coworker remarked that photos printed on my 2600N looked like "1970s magazine prints." Another mistook a printed photo for a print of a painting. Unfortunately, the low resolution leads to color flattening and visible dot patterns.
  
  On the other hand, the printer works wonderfully for my wife's anime-style art.
  
  
  NOT FOR CARDSTOCK
  I've never had a problem with standard paper. It prints fine every time.
  
  On the other hand, the printer has a lot of trouble with standard cardstock. When my wife needs to print a run of 20 or thirty cards, we have to baby-sit the printer because about every third piece of cardstock jams. Luckily, the jams are in the paper tray, and are very easy to pull out.
  
  Additionally, prints on cardstock often have color registration problems, and sometimes even smears of toner.
  
  
• small size = smaller toners
  By AT6CZDCP4TRGA on 2006-05-29
  Do the math, folks: this printer comes with 2,000 page toner cartridges and runs around three to four hundred bucks. Each toner cartridge (there are 4) costs around eighty bucks so by the time you use 4,000 pages you've added a whopping three hundred fifty bucks (with tax) to the price.
  
  I did some research and found a Dell 3100cn laser for three hundred direct from Dell, which costs about the same and comes with full toners for a whopping 4,000 pages!!!
  
  The HP printer is smaller and prettier, though its print quality is not quite as good. Its color output is slightly faster but its black and white output is super slow in comparison. But bottom line is that 4,000 pages and another set of toners later, I would've had to pay TWICE as much as the Dell.
  
  Needless to say, I made a beeline to Dell's website. Got the 3100cn for only three hundred clams with shipping, in fact. Shweeeeeeet!
  
  
• Perfect for small office
  By A2B2VWJH7IWE7M on 2006-08-16
  Bought this printer based on reviews I had read. Although some reviews were slightly negative , on the whole the bulk were glowing, and after having had mine for 3 months now I have to concur.
  
  For the price , I am very pleased with the print quality. Not top end quality, but certainly very good. If you wanted absouloutely pristine, razor sharp print quality, then this isn't the prniter for you. But then again, you would be paying 3 times the price for that.
  
  Speed is more than good enough for home office use. But again, if you were after a fast , high throughput printer, you should be spending more money and going for one built for speed.
  
  Set-up was literally 5 minutes. Have not yet had to replace the cartridges (but then I am not a high volume printer), but would investigate the costs for this if you are (then again , if you are, see my earlier note about high throughput...)
  
  In summary , for personal or home office use and for the price, I really don't think you can find a better printer. I researched most of the printers within this price range and relied heavily on user reviews. If you are doing the same, add my vote to the yays.
  
  
  John McGeechan.
  
  
• Great printer - easy to use, network plugable, great quality
  By A2U4DTH6RHDJDX on 2006-03-25
  This is a wonderful printer, and I think easily the best at this price point. In fact, I would stack it up against anything under $1k in terms of quality and ease of use. The only difference is the 2600n takes a few seconds longer to print, but for SOHO or workgroup use this is a non-issue. The setup is simple. I took mine out of the box and plugged it into the router - it was immediately available on the network and within minutes I was printing from both windons and mac PCs - great - and much better than messing with USB and locally attached printers. Getting the right paper will really make this shine - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000099O2W/ref=cm_rev_emailcr_p1_c2020190_dp_1_h/103-8358517-9512640?n=1064954 - is wonderful. Also the 2600n comes with full toner cartridges, whereas most others come with "starter" sets which almost double the price since you have to buy new ones immediately. I have been using the 2600n for 2 months and have printed a fair amount of stuff (500-ish pages) and all my cartridges show full. Great printer.
  
  
• Poor paper handling
  By A2VKQW0ZY32J6Z on 2006-03-26
  I've just had to return this printer due to its constant failure to feed paper correctly. The paper either fails to feed up from the tray or jams half-way through printing. This was already a replacement printer for another with similar problems so I think it's either a design flaw or a bad batch. The type of paper doesn't make a difference - light grade through heavy presentation types all jam in exactly the same way.
  
  On the plus side, when it does print the quality is outstanding. I may have just been unlucky twice in a row, but the mechanical problems mean that I can't recommend this printer.
  
  
• Terrible color ink use
  By A29CWVBEY37YHV on 2006-05-11
  I have burned through all three color ink cartidges after printing B&W documents. I became concerned when I realized that I was at less than half remaining ink after having printed only several dozen color pages. As I was more aware of color use, I watched the color cartridges slowly empty while printing ONLY black and white documents! These cartridges aren't cheap. Now I have to replace all four cartidges at as much as cost as nearly the cost of the dang printer. (Yes, I have the software set to print greyscale only.) This printer was purchased as a work printer, which was to be used mostly as a B&W printer with the ability to print color when necessary. I cannot complain much about its print quality as B&W and color documents came out great. Occasionally there was a 'ghost' image printed on the first page of a document, but as that copy always goes in my file, it is not a big deal. I would NOT recommend this as any sort of 'workhorse' printer. I also think that HP has set bad ink management for this printer on purpose so we have to buy more ink.
  
  
• Great Buy for Moderate Printing on a Mac Network
  By A24QXVVOWQ9KIG on 2006-07-24
  We are an all Mac company and have some research about laser printers to replace our all-of-the-sudden dead inkjet. I have read all kind of reviews on CNET, Amazon, etc and it's very difficult to decide what to get. We did know that our budget is $400 for any new printer.
  
  The final two contenders were the HP 2600N and the Minolta 2430DL. We went to a specialized printer shop where we were able to compared them side by side. The final word given by the certified technician was: "You want great print quality? get the Minolta / You want good prints and a wokhorse? get the HP.
  
  We decided for the HP. It took us five minutes to set it up on a Mac network, then called HP to make sure we were doing things right from the start and they adviced to download the latest driver and "not" to install the software that came with the printer. By the end of the conversation and 5 minutes later, we had all our office Macs working with the printer! No hiccups!
  
  Keep in mind that we do not do any heavy printing, just the basic letters, invoices, envelopes, etc. Very few times we print color graphics that do not need to be of excellent quality. Coming from the inkjet world, a laser printer is outstanding and this one fits right with our printing volume and purchase budget.
  
  Maybe in a few weeks we will find something wrong with it, who knows. So far, I am extremely happy with its performance, quality and easy set up.
  
  Also, about the bad reviews... lets think about the price, lets not ask too much of a $400 laser printer. I know that I could have spend $1000 for one with top ratings all across, but the budget was $400. This printer so far is GREAT! Hope my review helps....
  
  Update:
  It is 2008 and it's been almost 2 1/2 years since we bought our HP laser printer. We still print at low volume, maybe some hundred pages manual here and there, and the printer still works like brand new. Believe it or not we haven't even finished the color films that came with the printer. We are about 10% from buying our fist color films, and that is 2 years later!!! I have 100% NO COMPLAINTS about this HP laser printer. This is definitely one of the best business purchases I have ever made.
  
  
• Excellent color for a modest price.
  By A3Q4TYJVAM4IRM on 2006-12-07
  After owning many monochrome laser printers, I recently bought one of these as my first color laser. Especially for the price, I'm very impressed!
  
  As others indicated, this model is not aimed at printing large amounts of color all the time (eg photos), but rather at users who print monochrome with some color sporadically (eg web pages). Even so, I tested printing high quality color images. On plain paper, the image quality was average for a full-page photograph printed from Windows XP's bundled photo viewing/printing software, resembling a first generation color photocopier. However, switching to the HP high-gloss paper provided as a sample (and setting printer preferences to that kind of paper) provided a beautiful glossy 8.5"x11" photo. Very nice! It's still not dye-sublimation quality, of course, but with that paper it could compete with higher-end color inkjets.
  
  The printer is fast and easy to set up physically. It feels solid and well made. USB setup is a breeze (cable not included). Network setup for Windows was another story and required "manual" installation of the network printer and drivers...the process was onerous for me (an experienced IT professional) so I can imagine the average user's frustration with the process.
  
  There are four toner cartridges (black plus 3 colors) and this design is a lot of what gives the printer its substantial size. I'm scared to think of what it will cost to replace all four cartridges, but it appears that printing black-only (via software interface) is an option to save toner. The toner that comes with the printer is rated at 2500 pages for black and 2000 pages for each of the color cartridges.
  
  Printing is quite loud (sounds like an office printer), but the printer is silent otherwise. Printer configuration can be done via a web interface (launched by a configuration utility if connected by USB).
  
  Highly recommended with the caveat that network printer installation is harder than it should be (otherwise I'd rate it 5 stars).
  
  
• Worth Buying
  By A3U9P0E0FM159N on 2006-05-18
  I have had this printer for about a year now. Unlike a previous reviewer, I have found no decrease in the color toner when I print the majority of my documents in black and white. I use this printer in a small real estate office and it does a wonderful job of both black and white and color printing. I have replaced the black toner only once in that time period, and the yellow toner only once.
  
  The only negative comment I have regarding this printer - and it might just be "operator headspace" - is that about three times a day it goes through a calibration routine that lasts about one minute. During its calibration, it will not print. On the positive side, it remembers everything you ask it to print while it performs its tests, so when it is finished calibrating, it will print what you asked it to. However, I find it mildly inconvenient when it does its calibrating - seems like those are the times I'm in a desperate hurry. This is the only reason I gave it four stars instead of five.
  
  Other than that minor inconvenience, I am very pleased with the quality and speed of this printer.
  
  
• Unhappy
  By A2ERF9K8F2U95B on 2007-06-25
  Although I have been satisfied with this printer (HP 2600N) over the last year and 1 month, today's experiences have caused me to NEVER EVERY buy another HP product for as long as I LIVE.
  
  Issue # 1 - Toner cartridge ran dry, so I bought a new one and it wasn't recognized by printer. After many attempts it was finally recognized but does not print properly. The coloring for the first 2 inches is very faded and then is okay after that.
  
  Issue # 2 - Since my printer is out of warranty HP Support wants $25 with no guarentee that they can solve the problem. Was not allowed to speak to a supervisor.
  
  Issue # 3 - I cannot continue to use my printer if any of the cartridges are missing. Meaning if I want to print in Black I must have all cartridges present and recognizable by the printer.
  
  Issue # 4 - at $90 per cartridge (roughly) thats $360 per year on average for consumables. A brand new printer costs $260. Competitors can cost less. Hmmm.
  
  What just happened today put a very sour taste in my mouth and gave me the determination to NEVER buy any HP product EVER.
  
  Sorry, I am doing the only thing I can and that is voting with my $$$$.
  
  
• This printer is a steal
  By A155GENGJ7837S on 2006-06-11
  I just installed our new 2600N Laserjet and I am very happy with the purchase. This printer is a steal, if you consider that it is a COLOR laser and comes with a network card built-in. This is the cheapest networked color laser printer on the market that actually has a good quality. It comes with toner cartridges, which is not the case with most others and the $0.15 estimated cost per page (pcmag.com) is cheap enough to make the trip to a copy shop obsolete if you need multiple copies of your printouts. I wanted this printer, because I am sick of constant paper jams, paper not being pulled in or ink cartridges being dried up and costing $50 a pop. If you consider cost of inket cartridges, this printer will amortize itself in no time, not even counting the agony of "yet another dried up cartridge needs cleaning".
  
  Quality is very crisp and sharp for text and I was pleasantly surprised about the color print quality. This is clearly not a photo printer, large areas of uniform colors (blue sky) show some banding, but overall, the photo quality on plain paper beats the quality of my Epson 1280 photo printer hands-down at a much lower cost (and higher speed!). Printouts on plain paper actually have a nice satin sheen to it, which an inkjet won't do without photo paper coating. Even though it doesn't match the speed that I am used to from our full-blown office color jets, it is fast enough, does its printing in one pass (i.e. all 4 colors are applied in one step, instead of 4 steps) and will suffice for any home or small office printing needs.
  
  I didn't bother to run the installation CD, simply downloaded the latest driver from HP.com and installed it that way. Nice features of the print driver, such as fit-to-page, color presets and manual duplexing (via front-load sheet feeder). I had it installed, warmed up and calibrated as well as configured on all 3 of our computers in a matter of 30 minutes. It fetched its own IP address automatically once plugged in and the only annoyance was that its settings default to an A4 paper size, instead of letter-size. Other than that, it's working without a hitch and I am looking forward to many printouts. Highly recommended!
  
  
• really nice printer
  By A3KTWUXXB8KKC7 on 2006-08-11
  the text is crisp and the graphics is crisp... i can't ask for more... maybe just that the printer can include the 4000 page toner instead of the 2000 one... but oh well.
  
  if you have paper jam all the time, it could be due to the orange thingy in the paper tray.... i don't know why but i don't see any paper in the package saying that the orange thingy should be removed. so i had paper jam all the time. after i suspect that the orange things are all supposed to be "pulled out", then i removed it and then no more paper jam any more!
  
  
• Expensive as all get out.
  By AXUZG3DRG553R on 2007-01-04
  OK, this printer does print exceptionally well. I purchased it to use in pharmacy school. However, in my opinion, it ends up being a very expensive product to maintain. The main problem I have with the printer is that it will not print at all (not even in grayscale) if one of the cartridges "needs" to be replaced. With 4 cartridges at $80-90 each, it adds up. I have had the printer for 4 months and have replaced 6 cartridges thus far. So, buyer beware.
  
  
• Good Home Business Unit
  By AME27QJ6QJ7EE on 2006-01-25
  Easily set up, used both USB and 10/100 network off of my router. Network use is simple and straightforward for Windows 2000/XP Operating Systems. Good crisp text, average color output, but for charts and forms it's perfectfully functional. For photo printing this printer isn't up to HP photo printer standards. Toner cassettes easily changed, but toners are expensive (as are all color toners).
  
  
• Fast color copies with outstanding quality
  By A12V68JCXPLIQI on 2005-10-14
  After getting my printer set up (which HP makes very easy to do) and the software loaded, I printed out beautiful color copies in just a few minutes. I was worried before ordering that this copier would be slow, but it delivers copies quickly and then shuts down to a "quiet mode" (power saver) after a short while. For a small business - at home - I could not ask for a better color laser printer!
  
  
• Good Product
  By A1E3DJHWDMEICN on 2005-10-15
  Easy set up, great print quality. Hooked right up to my home wireless network. Speed is ok but not great. Same speed for b&W as color
  
  
• Better than my magicolor
  By A4OFJM65KWUSN on 2006-02-24
  I also own a 2-3 year old Minolta magicolor 2300 (networkable) and thought that all low priced, home office color laser printers were the same... extremely high power consumption (dims household lights even with 200 amp home service), extremely long warm-up time (4 minutes), extremely long time before the first page comes out, extremely noisy while in ready mode, extremely long time before it goes into stand-by mode (when it finally goes quiet), extremely slow between pages and extremely heavy.
  
  What a pleasant change this HP 2600N is. I bought it for my office at work because the price was unpassable. I haven't expensed it yet because I might take it home. The first page comes out almost instantly and doesn't make any noise when ready, and never goes into a stand-by mode.
  
  Definitely not a high production machine, a little slow for that... but a lot faster than the magicolor.
  
  Quality and color is excellent. We have a Xerox 6060 12 X 18" double sided color printer at work that does not out perform this machine in quality of color reproduction, though it might in resolution.
  
  I'm very pleased with the value/performance ratio.
  
  EXCELLENT BUY!
  
  
• Not really a network printer for Macs
  By ADLJZQPOB2EBU on 2007-02-25
  I can't speak to how well it functions as a network printer for Windows users or as a local printer. When I could get it to work, the print quality was pretty good (for the price). But I had constant problems getting the Macs on my network to find the printer. You have to use Bonjour (at least if you just want to configure the printer with the OS X printer setup utility). I downloaded the latest driver from HP. The first computer to print had no problems, but after that it was very hit-or-miss. The print job would try to start, and I'd get a message "Trying to find printer 'HP LaserJet 2600n'" - the printer never would be found. The printer has a control panel accessible via a web browser, but the built-in web server would often not respond when the printers IP address was entered. The printer uses DHCP. I also tried giving it a static IP address (both via configuring the printer itself with a static IP, and with configuring the router to assign it a static IP via DHCP) - none of this worked. I finally took it back. I'm still looking for a reasonably priced color network laser for Macs - maybe such a beast doesn't exist. This definitely isn't one.
  
  
• good value for the money
  By A3NKDE23FP05GV on 2007-11-27
  I have been putting off buying a coloured laser for a long time. I have been waiting for them to come down in price. I was also worried about the quality of pictures (as compared to inkjet printers).
  
  However, after trying it out, I loved the quality of the printouts. Hi-resolution pictures come out pretty good. Definitely not as good as an inkjet printing on photo paper, but I would say the quality is somewhat similar to an inkjet printing on plain paper.
  
  The colors are quite vibrant but certain lighter shades end up dithered and you can notice the patterns. I was disappointed when my officemates tried to print on textured paper as it started flaking. Then I read on the internet that you needed to set the paper setting using the printer driver to a thicker paper. After doing that, it works without problems although some textured paper produced a lighter shade of color on the areas near the textures (the rises have a darker shade while the dips have a lighter one).
  
  I got one for my house which rarely gets used, but the one in our office gets used a lot. We print a tremendous amount of colored and black only pages and currently, after about a month of printing, only the black is near empty. The rest of the colors are about one fourth. I hear this is one of the few laser printers that come with full cartridges which shows with our current ink levels.
  
  Also, unlike other laser printers which require you to change the drum and fuser along with the inks, this one does not require you to. The only consumables are the 4 ink colors. I think the drum is included with the ink cartridges? (unsure about that one) So changing the ink, gets you a new drum if the quality goes bad.
  
  And for those of you worried about the printer using ALL colors for black printing, there is a firmware available for download that fixes that. As for the toner stopping printing after 2000 pages even if it isn't empty, setting the printer setting to "override out" in the printer settings on the printer (not software driver) fixes that. (I did my research before buying the one for the house) :)
  
  So....unless one of our printers decides to die on me...I'm quite happy with it.
  
  
  
  
  
• Excellent Printer for the $200-$500 Price Range
  By A2UFU6G952YN9 on 2006-02-16
  I would like to first say a quick reply to Nunya, who seemed to be slightly technophobic. I have been a professional computer technician for over 8 years, and supported Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. I have to be brutally honest with you and tell you that your problem installing the HP Color LaserJet 2600N Printer is that antiquated system of yours. Honestly, your system is ancient, man. When Windows 98 was released, a $300 laser color printer was a dream. You have to accept the fact that technology moves forward and a PC only has a 5 year life span. It's 2006!
  
  Now, this printer for its price range, is amazing. I have two of them and use them heavily for home usage. Of course I would recommend something in the $1K or above range if you wanted an office printer for anything larger than a small mom & pop shop.
  
  It's an investment in your business, and with technology you always get what you pay for in one way or another. If you buy cheap or discounted you run the risk of paying high repairs because you may not have a warranty. If you buy new your covered in the worse case scenario. Always pay the extra money for the warranty people, I CAN NOT stress this enough. Repairs on anything nowadays are often more than the cost of purchase. Just do it, ok?
  
  ...and in case anyone thinks I sell printers, I don't. I've got 8 years of experience, and with that comes 8 years of screw-ups.
  Ciao.
  
  
• HP 2605dn vs HP 2600n - Features vs Toner Consumption
  By A2KS3MVX1PVEHP on 2008-05-05
  When it comes to purchasing a printer, I look for three things: reliability, features and toner consumption. I have had both 2605dn and 2600n for a year now and I can say that when it comes down to features and memory, the 2605dn comes out shining, but in toner consumption, the 2600n is the king. Both printers have Toner Limit Override, which allows you to keep printing after the cartridge reaches its "limit" giving you hundreds of extra prints. But only the 2600n has the option of printing color in 600dpi and true black without using some color in the prints. The 2605dn prints color only in 2400dpi and always uses a bit of color on its black prints even for you set it for 600dpi (600dpi applies only for black prints in the 2605n). I can honestly tell you that the difference in toner consumption is INSANE. I can print FOUR TIMES more color prints with the 2600n than with the 2605dn, and you cannot tell the deference in quality between the two. Yes the 2605dn is faster, has more memory, can print both sides of the paper automatically and handle heavy paper better, but for me toner consumption is too much of a deference to not notice it. Oh, and my 2605dn burned down on its first birthday. Here are some more details if you are interested:
  
  2605dn -
  Pros: Fast, excellent quality. The automatic two-side printing feature is awesome and saves you a lot of time. Can print on transparencies, and cardboard paper. Easy to load toners. Can upgrade memory. It is HP Solution Center compatible, which gives you a run down on how many prints are left, etc. without the need of accessing the internet.
  
  Cons - Costs $200 more that its 2600n sister. No low quality color printing option available. Black prints will always use color. When printing pictures this printer will burn even the HP Photo Color Laser quality papers, believe me, it's a mess.
  
  2600n -
  Pros - Cheaper than the 2605dn. Excellent quality. Fast and reliable. Over the top toner consumption when using the low quality color option, which in fact prints as good as the higher quality option. This option has given me over two thousand more prints per cartridge which is incredible. Can also print on transparencies and cardboard. Just be sure to set the printer correctly or it will smudge. It can print both sides of the paper manually.
  
  Cons - A bit slower than its sister and less memory. After using the automatic two-side printing feature this printer seems outdated. It's not HP Solution Center compatible, so you get no nice software with it. Will also burn photo quality paper even if it is made from HP.
  
  Bottom line - The features on 2605dn may be cool but when it comes to saving 75% more toner on the 2600n, I go with the underdog. Too bad the 2605dn does not have the option to print low res in color. Both are bad for photo printing. Well there it is; the table is set and you as the customer must make your move.
  
  
  

• Cables To Go - 13400 - 3M (9.8ft) USB 2.0 A/B Cable (White)
• Cables To Go - 06091 - 10ft 1284 DB25M C36M Parallel Printer
• PDF Converter Professional 5.0
• Filemaker Pro 9
• Adobe Acrobat Standard 8.0 [OLD VERSION]

• HP Q6000A Printer Toner Cartridge for HP CLJ2600N (Black)
• HP Q6001A Laser Printer Toner Cartridge (Cyan)
• HP Q6003A Color Laserjet Printer Toner Cartridge (Magenta)
• HP Q6002A Color Laserjet Printer Toner Cartridge (Yellow)
• Belkin F3U133-10 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Cable (10 Feet)