Video quality was also typical for a monochrome laser, which means it is easily great for interior business use. The text was well-formed and easy to read at 4 factors in most of the font styles we test, 5 factors in just about one font style, and 10 factors in one highly stylized, hard-to-print font style. Text quality misses out on being the best available, which means 1018 can handle any text you want to publish. Output quality, at the very least, is fully up to laser requirements. However – there are no food selections or switches and just a USB 2 port on the back. We’re used to budget lasers setting you back about 2p for each web page, which is slightly better than usual. Printer toner cartridges cost £36 – almost fifty per cent as long as the whole printer – but will publish 2,000 web pages (1,000 from the beginner drum included), equating to 1.8p each web page (presuming 5% printer toner coverage). The output tray holds 100 sheets, although the plastic tongue designed to maintain sheets from drooping over the front of the machine is lightweight.
The input tray can hold 150 sheets, while a concern feeder on the front will handle envelopes one at a time. HP claims that 1018 is in shape for up to 3,000 web pages monthly, although its development quality underlines that it isn’t built for bigger workplaces.
Our business video published slightly too dark, and there are too a couple of options in the publish drivers to correct problems with pictures. Dark spots published with recognisable dithering but overlaid text stayed understandable. We saw sharp personalities, no ghosting and great clarity despite small or light-coloured text – 1018 is just comparable to a printer setting you back 10 times as a lot.
The published engine offers a resolution of 600 x 600dpi. Our video tests were much more outstanding – a complex 24-page DTP document took 2mins 9secs to publish: 12.5ppm. A 50-page mono text document published in 4mins 17secs – 12ppm, once you deduct the 13-second processing time. That is almost exactly the speed we saw in our technological tests too.