auto duplex vs. one pass printing

[KB-KB]

I want to purchase a new MFP.  I have a 5 year old MFP M475dn.  When I was looking for a replacement I came across the Pagewide MFP 477dw.  I liked the fast printing (although not a necessity) as well as the smaller ink cartridges that still had high capacity.  I was especially intrigued by the one pass double sided printing and scanning.  If you are unfamiliar with this, it means that instead of printing side A and the automatically turning the page over to print side B (auto duplex), the printer prints both sides at the same time (in one pass).  In addition, for scanning or copying a 2 sided document, the printer runs the paper through one time (doesn't need to flip the page over) and prints or scans both sides at the same time.  These are great features.  Unfortunately, the printer I received was defective and I will be sending it back (defective nozzles leaving streaks).  So I decided to re-think my purchase and I looked into the two laserjer printers ... M477dfw and M570dn.   I'm assuming the one-pass double sided printing is just with the PageWide line, but when I asked HP, one of the techs told me that in fact the two laser printers can do the same thing.  Can anyone confirm this?  The M477dfw is all I need, unless the M570 has this capability like the PageWide.  Otherwise, I don't see the need for the difference in price between the M477dfw and the M570 (both laserjets).  I can also re-order the M477dw PageWide printer, but I really like the laserjet output.  Anyone have any first hand experience with any of these printers?  Thank you!

[dansdaduk]

I think that some devices may offer 'single-pass duplex-scanning' where both sides are scanned at the same time.

But I don't think (I could be proved wrong, of course) that these devices offer 'single-pass duplex-printing' in the way that your question describes.

As far as I'm aware, the PageWide printers have a fixed print head, which can only generate output on one side of paper at a time, so for duplex-printing, one side is printed, then the paper is sent through the internal duplexer, then the second side is printed.

With the LaserJet 475dn, paper passes through the duplex unit after partially exiting into the output tray, then being drawn back in.

With the PageWide printers, I think that the paper path is different, so that diversion through the duplex unit is not visible in the same way.

As an aside, I also think that the term 'single-pass' was (in the past) used to distinguish those (colour) printers which laid down all four 'colours' (CYMK) in one pass of the paper, compared to those which sent the paper back through the mechanism once for each colour.

[dansdaduk · Accepted solution]

From this HP document on PageWide technology:

[KB-KB]

Thank you!  I understand that you are saying the paper in both the laserjet printer and the pagewide printer does get flipped over in duplex printing.  But with the PageWide, the "flip" is internal, and therefore not noticeable, whereas with the laser printer the "flip" is partially external.  Thank you for that explanation.  Very helpful 🙂  I went ahead and ordered the HP Laserjet 477fdw as the replacement printer.  I really loved the speed of the PageWide, but wasn't sure I would be happy with the inkjet printing long term.  I could not get an answer from anyone I spoke with about why I would spend the extra $300 for the Laserjet 570dn, so I decided to try the less expensive option first 🙂

[dansdaduk]

According to this HP document (dated November 2017), there does not seem to be a great deal of difference between the LaserJet Pro M477 Series, and the LaserJet Pro M570 Series printers.

The only differences I can see immediately are:

• Speed (up to) page-per-minute: 27 against 30
• Expected number of users: 3-10 against 5-15
• Recommended Monthly Print Volume (RMPV😞 750-4000 against 1500-4000
• Black cartridge yields (standard / high capacity): 2300 / 6500 against 5500 / 11000
• Colour cartridge yields (standard / high capacity): 2300 / 5000 against 6000

I'd guess that the M570 cartridges are somewhat more expensive than the M477 ones, but I haven't checked.

EDIT: When I posted this reply originally, I managed to transcribe the wrong cartridge yield figures for the M570; I've now put in the correct figures (somewhat lower than the original post, but still higher than the M477 values).