HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw – Printer Review

HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw is a four-in-one monochrome laser printer. It allows you to print, copy, scan and fax in one machine. Besides, it features wireless & automatic duplex printing. Just a few clicks will make an easy printing. As a monochrome printer, this printer does great job in printing clear and sharp black & white documents. It’s moderate size and medium printing capacity also makes it extremely perfect for small or medium offices. HP Laserjet Pro MFP 4101fdw wireless black & white printer uses HP 148A and HP 148X laser toner cartridge. With at least 2,900 page yield, one cartridge can last for a long time before replaced. However, obviously, this printer is not able to produce color prints.

A feature-rich printer is really crucial to make productive printing and achieve high efficiency. In addition to standout features and versatile functions of the printer, HP 4101fdw toners are at an affordable price, reasonable for most printer users who want to save money. Notably, HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw is definitely an ideal printer for small businesses, home-based offices or work groups.

Good First Impression

• Black & White Body
• Dimensions – 16.54 x 15.35 x 12.72 inches (WDH)
• Printer Weight – 27.78 lb

In appearance, HP Laserjet Pro MFP 4101fdw printer looks like a high-end and modern machine in the workplace. The whole white body, coupled with black elements like output tray, touch screen and scanning feeder, makes it unremarkable but comfortable in your office or your house. As a multi-function printer with a scanner lid on top, HP MFP 4101fdw is in medium shape. It has a measurement of 16.54 x 15.35 x 12.72 inches (WHD), not so compact for saving space but moderate enough to be put on any desks. It’s similar to the size of a plastic storage box for home-use. But it weights about 27.78 lbs, a bit heavy for a lady to move. There is a small control panel on the let front of the printer, no individual operation buttons. The clear and simple icons on the screen is enough to guide you to print, copy, scan or fax easily and quickly.

The main difference from it’s sibling HP LaserJet Pro 4001dw (also including HP LaserJet Pro 4001n, HP LaserJet Pro 4001dn) is the extra scanner lid on the upper part of the printer on HP 4101fdw. This part makes it bigger and heftier, but also multi-functional. All of these features are designed to work for small and medium businesses.

Shining Points

• Display: 2.7″ color touchscreen
• Paper handling input:
  • 100-sheet tray 1
  • 250-sheet input tray 2
  • 50-sheet Automatic Document Feeder
• Paper handling output:
  • 150-sheet output bin

HP Laserjet Pro MFP 4101fdw printer has the capability of accomplishing medium or large volume of printing. It has two input trays. You can put 150 sheets in the smaller tray and 250 sheets to the main tray. That means, it’s capable of printing total 350 sheets, lasting for a relatively long time before you add new papers. Even the automatic document feeder on top is able to contain 50 sheets of paper at a time. The output bin can handle 150 sheets of paper at maximum. Therefore, it will be a really smooth and worry-free printing process of each printing job,even for a team with up to 10 users. You can focus more on your business.

Besides, it comes with a 2.7” color touchscreen. Compared with the old-style control panel with various bottoms, the compact touchscreen control panel largely simplifies the printing operation. And the color display definitely delivers an intuitive printing experience to you.

The printer looks like a seamlessly sealed box. But if you click the square bottom on the right side of the printer, the front door will automatically be unlocked. Then a gentle pull will open it and have you access to the printer inside.

Make for Business

• Mul-functions – Print, copy, scan, fax
• Auto 2-sided printing
• Black & white prints
• Print Speed Up to 42 ppm
• Resolution – Black Fine Lines (1200 x 1200 dpi)
• Connectivity – USB, Ethernet & Wi-Fi
• Recommended monthly page volume – 750 to 4,000

Printer Functions

As the printer model suggests, HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw is a multi-functional printer with capability of wireless & duplex printing. Here, MFP refers to multi-function printer, typically with the bonus functions including copying, scanning and fax together. And fdw at the end stands for fax, duplex and wireless respectively.

The basic function of a printer is printing. And the print speed of a printer varies with page coverage, document type, drivers, printer setting, etc. HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw is able to print up to 42 pages per minute, superior to most laser printers. After warming up, it only takes 6.1 sec to print the first page. Besides, it allows duplex printing. If you set to print 2-sided documents, it automatically prints the other side after one side of paper is printed. That will help you save some cost on the paper and be environmentally-friendly.

Printing Features

Since this printer is built as a monochrome printer and uses only black laser toner cartridge, the printed pages are all black and white text or graphic. With the latest resolution technology of HP FastRes1200 and HP ProRes1200, it can bring out 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution. The vivid and sharp black and white printouts won’t let you down.

Another shining point is that there are three options for you to connect it with your devices, like Wi-Fi, USB or Ethernet. Free to choose the one that is the most convenient and time-saving to your work. HP Laserjet Pro 4101fdw accepts to print various kinds of paper. Envelopes and labels are also acceptable, but will be all in black and white.

With a maximum monthly duty cycle of 80,000 pages and a recommended monthly volume of up to 4,000 pages, HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw can easily get the job done for many robust offices.

Getting the Best from Compatible HP 4101fdw Toner

– HP 4101fdw Toner

The HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw printer uses an HP 148 toner cartridge. There two yield options – standard yield and high yield cartridge. HP 148A is a standard capacity cartridge W1480A that delivers a page yield of 2,900 monochrome pages. HP 148X has more toner powder than A, printing up to 9,500 pages at 5% coverage. They are actually the same toner cartridge but contain different amount of toner powder. Then certainly the high yield one has a higher price.

Even though HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw has all the favorable features that perfectly fit for your offices, it is indeed not an affordable printer, at the price of over $500. Meanwhile, the HP black original laserjet toner will cost you an arm and a Leg in the long run. So we suggest you shop for the lowest toner price for your HP 4101fdw machine so as to bring down your printing costs.

– YB Compatible HP 148 Toner

YB Toner, a specialized compatible toner cartridge manufacturer, offers high-quality HP MFP 4101fdw toner of excellent performance. Our compatible HP 148 toner cartridges have the capacity of printing the same sheets of paper but costs you less. We have ready-to-use HP 4101fdws with chip, and more money-saving ones without chip. Compared with buying a genuine HP W1480A, YB one without chip will save you about $80. While choosing YB no-chip W1480X replacement will save you up to $180. All you need to do is just to do a simple chip transfer modification before installation. But make sure that you have a used OEM chip on hand.

If you are a potential company that needs everyday printing, we suggest you get the high capacity HP 148X. The high yield W1480X prints 6,600 more pages but just doubles the price of standard W1480A. With lower cost per page, it’s definitely a more cost-effective option in the long haul.

HP 148A W1480A Standard Yield Toner Cartridge
Page yield: approx. 2,900 pages

HP 148X W1480X High Yield Toner Cartridge
Page yield: approx. 9,500 pages

Click to know more about compatible HP 148A / 148X toner cartridge:
How to Install HP 148A / 148X Toner Cartridge?
HP 148A vs 148X, Which One Should I Buy?

Pros vs. Cons – Laserjet Pro MFP 4101fdw

➜ Pros

• Solid Multifunction – Print, Copy, Scan, Fax
• Fast Print up to 42 ppm
• Resolution 1200 x 1200 dpi
• Two Paper Trays – Total 350 Sheets
• 2.7” Color Touchscreen
• Wi-Fi, USB, Ethernet Connectivity
• High Toner Capacity
• Low Cost per Page

➜ Cons

• Moderate Printer Price
• Not compact & a bit heavy
• Monochrome, no color prints

FDWE vs FDW

You may get confused by the similar printer models under the same series, like HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw, HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdwe, HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdne and HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdn. These printers looks extremely the same in appearance. It seems their differences lie only on the printer models. The letters on the printer model do tell you something about the printer you buy. They usually describe the functions of a printer.

Here, we take HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw and HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdwe as examples. Both printers have the same appearance & features and the ability of printing, copying, faxing and scanning (MFP). As mentioned above, fdw means that the printer has the functions of faxing, duplex and wireless printing. But what about “e”?

E stands for ePrint. This is a special function that is newly released by HP in recent years. This innovative technology allows you to print remotely, by simply sending the documents to printer’s email address. Therefore, whether you’re out of the offices or traveling, you can send printing request to your printer. For more information, check out our blog HP Printer Model Numbers Explained.

Extra Service for FDWE

Meanwhile, you will enjoy HP Instant Ink service for your fdwe printer. With the subscription, HP requests you to create a HP account and constantly connect the printer to the internet. In this way, it will monitor your printing demand and deliver a new original cartridge to you before the one in use almost runs empty. So you don’t have to worry about preparing backup toner cartridges in advance.

Unfortunately, the printers with “e” are not able to use compatible toner cartridge currently. Because it has a specially-designed recognition system which only accepts HP original toner cartridge with customized chip. Once you install a compatible toner cartridge, it will instantly detect and block the use of the non-original replacement.

Similarities:

– Same Appearance
– Same Printer Features
– Monochrome Laser Prints
– MFP – Print, Copy, Scan, Fax
– Use the Same Toner Cartridge

Differences (of FDWE) :

– Has ePrint Function
– Lower Printer Price
– Work only with HP Toner
– Requires HP account, internet to operate