HP Laserjet 5, 5M and 5N

The LaserJet 5 is a monochrome laserprinter aimed at office work. As usual with HP printers it uses a single easy to change cartridge containing the toner, developer and drum.

Basically the LaserJet 5 is an improved LaserJet 4+ built around the same Canon "EXII" engine. Stylistic changes are mainly a matter of more curves in the plastic case - a popular idea when the printer was introduced in spring 1996.

More substantial changes are a doubling of the base memory to 4Mb, a faster processor and a switch to the potentially more powerful PCL 6 language.

With a speed of 12 pages per minute this machine can still meets most office needs. The true 600 dpi resolution gives crisp, clean text for invoices, reports and word-processing.

The printer will struggle with complicated graphics and photos. It does have an enhanced greyscale and HP REt to improve graphic performance - but not to today's standards. The memory just isn't large enough to handle pages with a lot of graphical content.

With the "5" series HP started offering an "N" network option as standard. There are options for an extra tray 3 and a duplex unit as well as an envelope feeder.

LaserJet 5 - C3916A -4MB RAM Base model
LaserJet 5M - C3917A - 6MB RAM Postscript and network version.
LaserJet 5N - C3952A - Network version

The successor to the "5" series is the LaserJet 4000, further redesigned to increase speed and offer more options.

Note: The LaserJet 5 is completely different from the Colour LaserJet 5 - they share nothing except both being laser printers.

Control:

16 character display and six keys with reasonably inuitive navigation.

Print Speed:

12 pages per minute. A 33MHz processor and "Accelerated Printing Technologies" help the printer sustain this performance.

Print Resolution:

True 600x600 dpi, microfine toner, enhanced greyscale with 120 levels and HP REt.

Paper Handling:

Paper Handling: conventional office printer with A4 capability.

Tray 1:A multifunction tray with a straight-through path to the face-up tray at the rear. Accepts manual feed or small stacks to about 100 sheets.

Tray 2:is built in under the printer. The tray 2 cassette holds up to 250 sheets of 75 gsm paper.

Tray 3:is an optional addition. It holds up to 500 sheets of 75 gsm paper.

Face Down:

Default output is to the face-down tray on top of the printer.

Face Up:

At the rear of the printer. Gives a straight-through path for heavy media.

Duplex:

There are also options for a duplex unit and an envelope feeder. Neither were common with this model of printer.

Processor:

33 MHz Intel 80960 RISC.

Memory:

4MB base memory upgradeable to 66MB There are 4 SIMM slots taking 1,2,4,8 and 16MB Industry standard 72 Pin SIMMs (FPM). PostScript is provided on a ROM SIMM reducing the memory space to 52MB.

Interface:

Parallel Interface (IEEE-1284-B bidirectional) and Serial (RS232) There is also a serial infrared port (IrDA) for an optional HP infrared adapter. Network: The 5N and 5M have an MIO network card.

Network:

Network functionality and protocols depend on the MIO card installed.

Print Languages:

PCL 6 as native, intended to offer faster printing. There is automatic fallback to older PCL versions. HP-GL/2 vector graphics are built in to support plotting.

PostScript is an option or installed on the 5M which also has a 6MB base memory and a PostScript driver for Microsoft Windows and for the Apple Macintosh. The PostScript Level 2 implementation will also support most Unix variants.

Fonts: There are 45 scalable True Type fonts built in and 65 on Disk for MS Windows. FontSmart software helped font management under Windows.

System Compatability:

Microsoft Windows. The 5M has Postscript and Apple Mac drivers which will also support Unix. Linux generally has drivers for the HP 5

Consumables:

Single toner / developer / drum cartridge. It's the same engine as the 4+ so it takes the same 92298A cartridge with a 6,800 page life. The printer has an "Economode" feature which reduces consumption by 50% at some cost to print quality. Since most paperwork is used internally and does not need to be correspondence quality this could save costs.

92298A - HP 4, 4+, 5 etc Toner Cartridge. Yield 6,800 pages. - 92298A

SI1002 - Series 92298A Sliver Reed Black Toner Cartridge - SI1002

SI1004 - Series 92298X Sliver Reed Black Toner Cartridge - SI1004

RB1-7911 - Tray 2 Pickup Roller - RB1-7911-000CN

RF5-1076 - Upper Delivery Roller (No Longer Available) - RF5-1076-000CN

RB1-3517 - Lower Fuser Roller - RB1-3517 (possibly Discontinued)

RB1-3516 - Upper Fuser Roller - RB1-3516 (possibly Discontinued)

RF5-0349 - Transfer Roller - RF5-0349

RB1-7983 - Pickup Roller (For Optional Lower Cassette) (No Longer Available) - RB1-7983

RG5-0880 - Refurbished Fuser Unit -RG5-0880-R

Options:

Tray 3 assembly with base and adjustable tray - C3921A

Tray 3 spare cassette - C3923A

Envelope feeder. Power feeder for 75 envelopes - C3927A

Duplex Unit to print both sides of a page - C3920A

MIO JetDirect with 10BaseT - J2550A

Adobe PostScript Level 2 SIMM with extra 2MB RAM - C3918A