HP Color Laserjet Enterprise M480f Multifunction Duplex Printer (Renewed Premium)

I have always liked the quality of HP printers, and this one is no exception. Installation was mostly easy; print quality is very good and the Copy function works well. However, the Scan function is a real problem. After two days of trying, I still cannot get the scanner to scan to a file folder on my computer. Despite many attempts, using the HP Smart App on my computer always returns a "Scanner not currently available" , which then refers me to the HP website where there is a full page of instructions on how to correct this problem (none of which works). I downloaded the HP Owner's Manual for the printer (253 pages!!) which provided no help. Why the Print function instantly connected to my computer but the Scan function will not is beyond me. All of HP's "solutions" appear to be written by technical nerds who have no idea how to communicate with the rest of us. I can always scan to a USB thumb drive and then transfer the scans to my computer, but that is an annoying waste of time. So I give the printer a "5" for print quality and copying and a "2" for unresolved scanning issues. Extremely frustrating!!Addendum 12-31-24. I've used this printer for seven months, and I am now even more frustrated. Frequently my computer (also HP) says that the printer is "offline" even though it is actually on. The only way to correct the problem is to unplug the data cable from the printer and then plug it back in again. This problem even happens when a document was just printed a few minutes ago. Print and copy quality are very good, but functionally this printer is really annoying. I originally rated the printer are 3-Stars, but I now consider it 2-Stars.Addendum 09-06-25I give up!! Top quality HP printing is not enough to offset the annoying characteristics of this printer. 1) Windows 11 very frequently disconnects the printer, 2) I have never been able to scan directly to my computer, and 3) the start-up process when the printer is turned on is ridiculously slow. For the first time in many years, I have purchased a competitor's A-I-O (Canon).A-I-O to replace this printer.

The scanner functionality of the M480f we received had significant flaws. First, the ADF frequently fed pages in crooked, no matter how carefully we inserted the pages or adjusted the page guides, so scanned images ended up askew. This is a problem that I see some other reviews have mentioned about the M480f and similar M479 model. Second, the scan-to-file as a PDF created very low-quality images, looking worse than even a fax at 150 dpi despite having set the PDF output to 300 dpi (default is 200), with the high compression mode disabled (default is enabled), and the base compression rate set to low (default is medium). We frequently use other brands of scanners that generate very clean, crisp scans to PDF at 300 dpi with a medium compression rate, so we know what we are doing and what to expect in terms of PDF creation. We even made sure to run a scanner calibration, but it did not improve.Interestingly, a copy operation (internal scan-to-print) would generate a much cleaner printed image, although strangely regular non bold text on the original would come out bold on the copy, presumably as part of the HP image enhancement in the copy program. Among other documents, we used the first page of the printer’s own configuration report as a test original. One would expect the copy defaults to produce as close to a one-for-one match as possible, but even with various tweaks to the settings we were unable to get a suitable “copy” that one can generally expect from units doing internal scan-to-print as a copy function. It seems there are multiple issues with the internal scanning and output firmware.The printer side was a much better experience. The color output was excellent for this class of laser printer. Both business graphics and photos printed with good detail, no banding, and accurate colors on plain paper with the default “Normal” quality setting of the Windows print driver. In testing the “Enhanced” quality setting, which causes slower output with supposedly a higher interpolated resolution a la HP ImageREt, we perceived a reduction in photo detail and more washout of contrasting lighter colors. In this regard there seems to be no point in opting for the slower, reportedly higher quality setting.So, in summary, I’m rating the M480f as 1 star due to the horrible scanning behavior, which is a key part of an MFP. I’d give it 4 stars for the printer functionally alone. Because of the scanner issues we returned the M480f and plan to replace it with an M455dn print only unit which is the equivalent bottom half of the MFP. For scanning we will be sticking with other brands that we know work much better and will avoid buying HP MFPs.