HP Color LaserJet Pro 400 M451dw Printer Review

Designed For Duplex

What distinguishes the M451dw from other HP Laserjet Pro 400 models is its ability to duplex print. As one M451dw owner notes, the HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color Printer M451dw is one of the few laser printers that allows duplex printing on legal size paper.

The way the HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color Printer M451dw isn’t intimidated by big jobs and deftly handles graphics makes it ideal for producing office presentations and marking materials.

Network Ready

Most users find the M451dw a fairly simple machine to set up, but Amazon reviewer user D. Vine took a deep dive into installing the M451dw on a network.

“I can see how others who aren’t familiar with networking would have problems setting up this printer. It’s not completely obvious unless you’ve done this before,” D. Vine writes.

“My recommendation: connect the printer by USB or ethernet to your computer and set it up that way, following all the instructions on the CD. If you are on Windows, use the smart installer. If you are on a Mac, I recommend using the add a printer under System Preferences.

If you are tech savvy, the easiest way to get to the printer is to access its web-enabled printer menu by typing in its IP address in a browser window. That will give you full access to all the printers features in one easy and well-designed menu.

Once everything is set up, all your iDevices will automatically print wirelessly as will your desktop or laptop — no need to keep it plugged in to your computer by ethernet or USB.”

Fast, But Not Speedy

The HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color M451dw Printer prints up to 21 pages per minute in both black-and-white and color. While not as fast as the similarly priced Brother HL-4570CDW, the HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color M451dw makes up for its lack of speed with print quality and paper handling abilities.

The M451dw offers a 250-sheet drawer, a 50-sheet multipurpose tray, and a built-in duplexer (for two-sided printing).

Safe And Secure

The M451dw offers full wireless printing as well as advanced security features. Amazon reviewer Firewater 231 was pleased with the M451DW’s security design.

“You can turn on HTTPS for the web server, setup your own certificates and CA, disable every network protocol you don’t need, turn on Wireless Direct so guests don’t need access to your home network, and disable PJL.

This was pretty easy to do after updating the firmware: one pass through all the settings, then saving them as an XML file to my computer. The only thing I have to do when I have guests is turn on Wireless Direct, they can handle the rest.”

Achilles Heel

The biggest complaint about this printer (other than its nearly 60 lbs. girth), are the “starter” toner cartridges HP ships with the machine … and the high cost of replacement toner ordered through HP.

“I think HP has some nerve including only demonstration cartridges in the printer,” user Frank M complains. “At these prices, it should be a full toner cartridge!”

On the positive side, reviewer Kevn W. says you can “ignore the low toner warning” on the M451dw.

“I literally went a few thousand pages past the initial warning before I decided to replace it, and I still wasn’t seeing any fading. I guess HP wants you to replace those 4x$100 cartridges faster than you need to.”

The editors at TechSpot.com called the high cost of genuine HP replacement toner this printer’s “Achilles’ heel.”

“The standard black toner cartridge costs $79 and lasts 2200 pages, or 3.6 cents per page. A high-yield black cartridge, available for $102, lasts for 4000 pages, reducing black costs to 2.5 cents per page”

TechSpot reports. “The costs are a little higher than average compared with those of other color lasers we’ve tested.”

Toner Buzz To The Rescue

Fortunately, HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color M451dw owners have a quick fix for their genuine HP toner blues. Toner Buzz offers brand name OEM HP toner at a fraction of the price of office superstores and online retailers.

The HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color M451dw uses HP 305A toners, including black (CE410A), cyan (CE411A), magenta (CE413A), and yellow (CE412A). Toner Buzz is an independent dealer, not directly affiliated with HP or any other manufacturer.

This frees us from the price restrictions imposed on other printing supply retailers, allowing Toner Buzz to offer the absolute lowest prices on brand name toner and ink cartridges.

FREE ground shipping, a vast product selection, and award-winning customer service makes Toner Buzz the number one online seller of OEM toners, inks, fuser kits, drums, and maintenance kits.

Heal your HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color M451dw’s Achilles heel, and lower your cost-per-page. Buy bargain-priced, brand name HP replacement toner from Toner Buzz!

➜ Get your genuine HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color Printer M451dw toner cartridges here!