HP LaserJet 1100

Overview

The HP LaserJet 1100 is a monochrome desktop laser printer that Hewlett-Packard introduced in 1998 for personal and small-office use. It prints at a rated eight pages per minute at 600 x 600 dpi, enhanced by HP's Resolution Enhancement technology (REt), and interprets the HP PCL 5e page-description language. HP placed it in the value segment of the LaserJet family and, in its launch datasheet, described it as "the new, improved personal laser printer standard."

Print engine and technology

The 1100 uses dry-type electrophotographic (laser) printing. A Motorola ColdFire 5202 processor clocked at 35 MHz drives the formatter, and instant-on fusing removes the warm-up delay of earlier laser printers, contributing to a first page out in about 18 seconds. Pages are rendered at 600 x 600 dpi, with REt smoothing edges and the HP UltraPrecise toner cartridge aimed at improving gray-scale reproduction. The printer includes 26 built-in Intellifont scalable typefaces.

Memory, connectivity and paper handling

The printer ships with 2 MB of RAM, augmented by HP's Memory Enhancement technology (MEt) and expandable to 18 MB using an industry-standard DIMM. Its only data interface is an IEEE 1284-compliant bi-directional parallel port with a C-type connector; a parallel cable was included in the box, and USB is not provided. Paper handling comprises a 125-sheet input bin with a single-sheet priority feed slot and a 100-sheet output bin, plus a straight-through output path for envelopes and heavier media. The bundled driver adds manual duplexing and N-up printing of up to nine pages per sheet. Supported media range from A4, Letter and Legal down to custom sizes as small as 3 x 5 in, with a rated duty cycle of up to 7,000 pages per month.

Operating-system support

At launch the LaserJet 1100 supported the common PC operating systems of the late 1990s: MS-DOS, Windows 3.1 and 3.11, Windows 95 and 98, Windows NT 4.0, and OS/2, with DOS and OS/2 supported for printing only. It had no built-in networking; network use was possible through optional HP JetDirect external print servers.

The 1100A and JetPath: adding copy and scan

HP paired the printer with what it called JetPath technology, a design approach that let the base 1100 be upgraded into an all-in-one device without separate stand-alone peripherals. Adding the copier/scanner module (C4221A) — or buying the integrated unit outright — produced the HP LaserJet 1100A, a print/copy/scan machine that could make laser copies at the touch of a button even with the PC switched off, and could scan documents (600 dpi enhanced, 300 dpi optical, 256 levels of gray; TWAIN 1.6 compliant). The 1100A is deeper and heavier than the printer alone, at 19.2 lb (8.7 kg) versus 16.1 lb (7.3 kg).

Consumables

The 1100 uses a single-piece HP UltraPrecise toner cartridge, part number C4092A, rated for roughly 2,500 pages at 5% page coverage. An EconoMode draft setting reduced toner consumption by up to about 50%. Optional memory upgrades were sold as HP DIMMs in 4, 8 and 16 MB capacities.

Place in HP's line and legacy

The LaserJet 1100 occupied the entry level of HP's laser range as a personal and small-office printer, and HP promoted it as a faster, higher-quality step in that segment while offering the JetPath upgrade path to the 1100A for buyers who later needed copying and scanning. As a parallel-only, PCL 5e machine designed for MS-DOS and Windows 3.1-through-NT 4.0 era systems, it is long obsolete for everyday use and now stands as a representative example of the affordable personal laser printers that brought 600-dpi laser output to home and small offices at the close of the 1990s.