If the HP LaserJet Pro 100 Color MFP M175nw ($349.99 direct) had nothing else going for it, it would be interesting just for its price, which lowers the entry-level cost for a color laser multifunction printer (MFP) by just a bit. The really good news, though, is that it has more to offer, including suitably high-quality output across the board for business use, support for both wired and WiFi network connections, and support for printing wirelessly through both HP ePrint and Apple AirPrint. The combination, along with a relatively small size, makes it a more than reasonable choice for a home office or as a personal printer in any size office.

The M175nw is built around the same printer engine as the HP LaserJet Pro CP1025nw Color Printer ($229 direct, 3.5 stars), which effectively makes it the MFP version of the CP1025nw. In particular, it shares the same claimed speed, at 17 pages per minute (ppm) for printing in monochrome and 4 ppm for color, and it shares similar output quality across the board. Even better, it turned in faster times than the CP1025nw on our tests. However, it also shares the same limited paper handling, which is one of two main issues that make it a good choice for light-duty printing only—the other is cost per page.

Paper Handling and MFP Features

The M175nw comes with a 150-sheet input tray, no duplexer, and no paper-handling options. The 150 sheets should be adequate for a personal printer. It may also be enough for a micro office, but only for light-duty use. With two or more people sharing the printer, you don't have to print many pages each every day before adding paper becomes an annoying chore.

In addition to printing, the M175nw offers copying and scanning, including scanning to a PC over a network. A 35-page automatic document feeder (ADF) complements the letter-size flatbed, making it easy to scan and copy multipage documents, as well as legal-size paper.

Setup, Speed, and Output Quality

For my tests I connected the M175nw to a wired network and printed from a Windows Vista system. Setup is standard. Note, however, that at 13.3 by 17.4 by 16.6 inches, the M175nw is small enough so you should be comfortable keeping it near your desk, if not on it.

I timed the printer on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing) at an effective 3.3 ppm. This makes the M175nw a touch faster than the CP1025nw’s 2.7 ppm, presumably thanks to its faster processer and additional memory, although differences of only 0.6 ppm on our tests aren't terribly significant. It's also slightly faster than the Konica Minolta magicolor 1690MF ($300 street, 3 stars), at 3.0 ppm, but again, not enough faster for the difference to matter. A more telling comparison is to the Editors' Choice Dell 1355cnw Multifunction Color Printer ($419.99 direct, 4 stars), which is somewhat faster than the M175nw, at 4.5 ppm.

Output quality is more than acceptable. In general, the printer matches the vast majority of color laser MFPs for color graphics, is respectably midrange for text, and is just a touch below par for photos.

The text quality is a tad short of what I'd insist on for serious desktop publishing applications, but easily good enough for any standard business need. Graphics are similarly good enough for essentially any typical business use, up to and including PowerPoint handouts. Depending on how much of a perfectionist you are, you may consider them acceptable for printing your own marketing materials like one-page mailers and handouts.

Colors in photos tend to be a little dark. Here again though, depending on your level of perfectionism, you may consider them good enough for the same sort of marketing materials as well as for client newsletters and the like.

Other Issues

The M175mw supports both HP's own ePrint and Apple AirPrint. The first lets you assign the printer an email address, and then print from anywhere on the planet by sending it an email and attaching the file to print. The second lets you print from various Apple iWhatevers over a local WiFi connection. Both can be handy tools for printing from your mobile devices, although AirPrint obviously isn't any help if you don't have an Apple device.

One potential issue for the M175nw is a high running cost, which HP puts at 4.2 cents per mono page and 21 cents per color page. This fits with the general rule that the less the printer costs, the more you'll pay per page, but both are significantly higher than most of the competition. The Dell 1355cnw, for example, claims a cost of only 2.8 cents per mono page and 14.7 cents per color page, a savings of $1.40 for every hundred mono pages, and $6.30 for every hundred color pages.

With this high a running cost, you really should take the time to consider how many mono and color pages you'll print over the life of the printer, multiply each by the appropriate cost per page, add the total to the initial cost of the printer, and then compare the result with the same calculation for a more expensive printer that costs less to run. Unless you expect to print relatively few pages, it will likely cost you less in the long run to buy the more expensive printer.

If you don't expect to print enough for the running costs to matter, you won't be printing enough for the low paper input capacity to matter either. In that situation, the HP LaserJet Pro 100 Color MFP M175nw has a lot to recommend it. The support for Ethernet and Wi-Fi makes it easy to share, the ADF makes it easy to copy and scan multipage documents, and the small size makes it easy to find room for. For individuals or for micro and home offices with light-duty printing needs, it just might be the right fit.

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