PRINTING. The HP Color LaserJet Pro M477FDW prints using laser technology, which picks up powdered 'toner' on a roller and fuses it to the paper with heat. It prints color photos with only Fair quality, which is not unusual for a laser printer. Its text quality is Very Good, though not quite as good as other laser printers. Text printing was very quick, 15.8 pages per minute, costing 2.2 cents per page. Its color graphics printing is Very Good for reports, newsletters and web pages, at 5.5 pages per minute, costing 22.5 cents per page. It has auto-duplex printing to print both on sides of the page, with no loss of quality. If the black ink runs out, it stops printing—it can't be set to just use the remaining color ink. The capacity of the main paper tray is 250 sheets, a generous size. There's a second tray for full-size paper, allowing you to load letterhead paper, for instance.
SCANNING and COPYING. Scanning performance was Very Good, fine for general-purpose scanning. It can scan or copy an area up to 11.7 x 8.5 inches (letter size). Copying performance was Very Good, suitable for most purposes. It has an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) for easily scanning/copying a stack of pages. The ADF can duplex—it's a DADF—which can scan/copy both sides of each page. Includes OCR (optical character recognition) software, useful for making scanned documents editable in a word processor program.
CONTROLS and DISPLAY. The printer has a large, 4.2-inch display screen with a touchscreen that can preview each photo in a 3.1-inch window.
CONNECTIVITY and NETWORKING. You can connect directly to a PC with a USB cable, or to your network router either wirelessly with WiFi or with an Ethernet cable. Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print are built-in, to print wirelessly from smartphones, tablets and PCs. You can also install HP's app on your smart phone or tablet, as another option for printing over your WiFi network. You can also print an email remotely by forwarding it directly to this printer. This model has built-in faxing, can store incoming faxes if the paper runs out, and can send faxes from an attached PC. The printer can access the Internet directly using downloadable 'apps', letting you print information from news and entertainment services.
COST OF OWNERSHIP AND TONER. When this section was last updated, the printer's purchase price was about $430, expensive for an all-in-one color laser printer. Printing uses up toner. Over time, as you print, the costs add up. This printer uses 4 cartridges. The HP toner cartridges used in testing were the 410X BK, 410X C, 410X M and 410X Y. At the time, their prices were $142 for black and $190 (each) for the other three. We estimate the toner cartridges to last an extraordinarily long time — around 9 years — following a typical printing schedule. After 2 years of typical use, we estimate the total cost to be $663, high for a color laser. The estimated yearly cost is $116, typical for this printer type. So the 3-, 4- and 5-year estimates are $779, $896 and $1012 respectively.
NOTE. The printer takes up a lot of space and might be more suitable for an office than a small desktop.
PRINTER FIRMWARE. Firmware is software that exists inside the printer. All models are evaluated using the latest firmware version available at the time of testing. The firmware version of the HP Color LaserJet Pro M477FDW was 20151102.
SOFTWARE. The collection of software accompanying the printer may include: the printer driver, printer applications, electronic user manual, (and for all-in-ones:) scanning, faxing, and OCR apps. These get installed on your personal computer. All models are evaluated with a Windows 10 PC using the latest version of printer driver and printer support apps available at the time of testing. The software version was 8.10.1320.2845.
ABOUT THE TONER CARTRIDGES, SOFTWARE AND FIRMWARE. Our test results are valid only for the HP-brand toner cartridges, and the software and firmware versions indicated. If your printer's software or firmware differ from the ones shown you either have an older or a newer version of these. Manufacturers may periodically upgrade the printer's firmware to enhance operation, fix bugs, or add features. Firmware updates are downloadable directly to your printer via a wired or wireless network (if internet capable). You can check your printer's firmware version, or upgrade to the latest firmware by either (1) running the HP printer-update app installed on the PC, or (2) accessing the "Settings" section of the printer menu and navigating to the firmware update option. Consult the user manual or HP's website for further guidance. Try searching online.
