HP designed the LaserJet 1012 for easy setup and use. The compact LaserJet 1012 measures 14.6 inches wide, 9.1 inches deep, and 8.2 inches high and weighs 13 pounds. This cheap printer arrives with a toner/drum cartridge, a printer-media input tray, a printer-priority input tray, and a power cord. Printer does not contain a USB cable. There are also printed instructions that clearly illustrate how to put the printer together. The installation CD includes a helpful user guide and a customization utility so that you can set network options and features, such as automatic duplex printing.
The printer is compatible with most Microsoft Windows programs (98, Me, 2000, XP, and XP 32-bit) and Mac programs (OS 9.1 and higher, OS X 10.1, and 10.2), but Linux users are out of luck. A simple two-button control panel on the front of the printer helps in printing a demonstration or configuration page, control manual-feed operations, or cancel a print job quickly. The three status lights (Attention, Ready, and Go) are also easy to read.
Most impressive, though, is the LaserJet 1012′s range of software features. The software allows you to print watermarks, such as confidential or draft, on documents and allows N-up printing, which prints up to 16 thumbnails of pages on one sheet of paper. This cheap printer also includes 133MHz processor and 8MB of memory which can’t be upgraded further. The LaserJet 1012 prints 12.42 pages per minute (ppm) of text and 12.49ppm of mixed text and graphics. Printed text is sharp and professional-looking. Test graphics also has even shading with no banding.