[DNA man]

I local PC store is selling off a bunch of second hand HP LaserJet 4M/plus printers (sourced from a firm I would guess) for approx £30/ $50

My question is can I hook up the HP LaserJet 4M printer straight to my Mac via the ethernet connection or do I need some kind of network?

Plus I know that the LaserJet 4M printer is Mac ready (according to HP) but is there anything I should watch out for here? Do I need anything extra? PS files etc?

Finally, I think the LaserJet 4M printer was ok at the time they were made but you'd might figure it would be better to buy a new one, as a well used second hand printer might be at the end of it's useful life span? Input as always, welcome.

Cheers

[solitere]

Originally posted by DNA man:
I local PC store is selling off a bunch of second hand HP LaserJet 4M/plus printers (sourced from a firm I would guess) for approx £30/ $50

My question is can I hook up the HP LaserJet 4M printer straight to my Mac via the ethernet connection or do I need some kind of network?

Plus I know that the LaserJet 4M printer is Mac ready (according to HP) but is there anything I should watch out for here? Do I need anything extra? PS files etc?

Finally, I think the LaserJet 4M printer was ok at the time they were made but you'd might figure it would be better to buy a new one, as a well used second hand printer might be at the end of it's useful life span? Input as always, welcome.

Cheers

HP 4M+ is a great printer. However it´s a PS level II printer. Which could cause problems from certain OS X applications (in combination with osx printing) That incist to send info to the level II printers in PS level III format. This problem is solved by tampering with the ppd file a bit! But other than that you should have no problems with the HP 4m+ printer. They are solid workhorses that just keeps going. I wish HP would make their inkjets as good as they make their older laserprinters.

Refills and spareparts are also resonable cheap!

You shoeld take out or request a testpage from the seller and check the "milage" on the printer. How many pages it has printed! if the printer has run over 80000-100000 copies you should check if the heatdrum has been replaced. If not you should replace the drum! If testprint and the papers is clean of powderstains and black fields is solid and clean the drum should be OK!

You should connect to the printer via a ethernet hub, the HP 4m+ printer should have a RJ45 Jetdirect netcard on it and after that it should be plug and play (and print avay)

[Back up 15 and punt]

Originally posted by DNA man:
I local PC store is selling off a bunch of second hand HP LaserJet 4M/plus printers (sourced from a firm I would guess) for approx £30/ $50

My question is can I hook up the HP LaserJet 4M printer straight to my Mac via the ethernet connection or do I need some kind of network?

Plus I know that the LaserJet 4M printer is Mac ready (according to HP) but is there anything I should watch out for here? Do I need anything extra? PS files etc?

Finally, I think the LaserJet 4M printer was ok at the time they were made but you'd might figure it would be better to buy a new one, as a well used second hand printer might be at the end of it's useful life span? Input as always, welcome.

Cheers

If you can find one of these printers with a built in print server then buy it because the cost looks just about right. I would advise you to stay clear of the appletalk port that this unit might have. This will force you to buy another piece of hardware, such as the Asante talk bridge.

[DNA man]

Thank you for your input. Appreciated. I have one quick question regarding the ethernet hub. Would a cross-over cable to the same job?

[satchmo]

I had a 4MP connected to a external Jet Direct Box via a parallel cable. An ethernet cable to the a hub which was connected to my iMac.
This worked extremely well in 9.2 and so so in 10.14.
I eventually got rid of this because it was just so cumbersome with all the power cables and boxes.

Got myself a simple inkjet USB which serves my purpose where I rarely print more than 10 pages a week.
Consider your needs and then consider whether you actually need a laser printer.

[DNA man]

Originally posted by satchmo:
I had a 4MP connected to a external Jet Direct Box via a parallel cable. An ethernet cable to the a hub which was connected to my iMac.
This worked extremely well in 9.2 and so so in 10.14.
I eventually got rid of this because it was just so cumbersome with all the power cables and boxes.

Got myself a simple inkjet USB which serves my purpose where I rarely print more than 10 pages a week.
Consider your needs and then consider whether you actually need a laser printer.

Thanks for the input. I have an inkjet (Epson 870 photo) but I figured it would be cheaper to run a laser at home. I print out a lot of articles and write quite a few manuscripts per year.

[ranga]

Originally posted by DNA man:
I have one quick question regarding the ethernet hub. Would
a cross-over cable to the same job?

Provided the LaserJet has a ethernet card a crossover cable will work
just as well as a hub.

One thing to keep in mind about the LaserJets is that HP doesn't
seem to have ported the LaserJet config program from Classic to OS X
yet.

--ranga

[solitere]

Originally posted by ranga:


Provided the LaserJet has a ethernet card a crossover cable will work
just as well as a hub.

One thing to keep in mind about the LaserJets is that HP doesn't
seem to have ported the LaserJet config program from Classic to OS X
yet.

--ranga

Just want to add:
You dont need the Laserjet Config program to run or Config the HP printer. All setup is also available true the setup menu on the printer!

[oranjdisc]

I own a LaserJet 4MP and have it plugged in to my PowerMac via a simple, cheap Belkin USB --> Parallel adapter cable. Works great. Also using it for usb printer sharing so you can print wirelessly from the ibook. I'd highly recommend buying it. You'll not only save on the printer, but toner replacements too.

[Timothy Maxwell]

I have owned the laserjet 4MPlus for many years now and have had almost not problems with it. I use it in an office environment so it gets a lot of abuse. It really is a very sturdy workhorse. I print to it through an ethernet network but I believe you can connect to it directly if it has a built in Jet Direct Card. I believe it does. At least mine has one.

Anyway, at $50 bucks a pop, I would buy them withour hesitation. Let me know how I can get my hands on a few. I could use one or two more for my office.

[warnergt]

The original question was about HP 4M+ printers; not HP 4MP. They are different. The 'P' is for personal. These are smaller and vastly different printers.

The HP 4M+ is a workhorse. These are great printers. I believe they came with an AppleTalk/LocalTalk interfaces as well as the standard (Wintel-type) printer interface. They are PostScript Level II and 600 dpi.

These printers need (and may have already been upgraded to) an Ethernet interface. HP makes (made?) an internal JetDirect card with Ethernet interface that replaced the stock LocalTalk card in these printers.

[warnergt]

If you want to network an HP LaserJet 4M Plus, you will want what HP calls an internal "MIO" print server. This is an interface card that will plug into the back of the printer. You will need to factor this into the cost of ownership for the printer but, if you can get the printer for $50, you will still be getting an excellent networked, 600 dpi laser printing workhorse that will work with anything.

I have one of the printers and love it.

Some Ethernet cards that will work with this printer are:
J2550B (Ethernet)
J2552B (Ethernet, thin Ethernet, LocalTalk)

You can search around for these (like on ebay).