HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw review

The colour MFP most small offices should actually buy, and the running cost that decides whether it was the right call.

The verdict: A Pro-class colour laser multifunction that prints, scans, copies and faxes, with HP Wolf Pro Security built into the hardware and firmware, Wi-Fi Direct for network-free printing and saved workflow automation. Buy it if a small office needs colour documents, scanning and copying in one machine. Watch the colour toner cost, because four cartridges is four things to replace and it is where colour laser ownership actually hurts.

Best small office colour MFP

HP Color LaserJet Pro Multifunction M479fdw Wireless Laser Printer

~$799

A Pro-class colour laser multifunction printer with print, scan, copy and fax, HP Wolf Pro Security in hardware and firmware, Wi-Fi Direct and saved workflow automation.

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Specifications

Spec	Detail
Functions	Print, scan, copy and fax
Security	HP Wolf Pro Security, built into printer hardware and firmware
Connectivity	Wireless, plus Wi-Fi Direct for connecting a phone with no network
Workflow	Automates multi-step workflows with saved settings
Class	Pro, for small and medium businesses
Warranty	One-year next-business-day support included, per HP

Specifications above come from HP's published specifications. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.

What it does well

It is the right class of machine for a small office, which is a rarer thing than it sounds in a category where people routinely overbuy.
Wolf Pro Security gives firmware-level protection without Enterprise pricing, which matters because printers do sit on the network.
Wi-Fi Direct is genuinely useful in small offices and shared spaces where guests need to print without joining the network.
Workflow automation with saved settings removes repeated setup for recurring scan-to-folder and scan-to-email tasks.
Colour laser output is consistent and fast in a way inkjet colour is not, which suits documents, reports and presentations.

Where it falls short

Four toner cartridges. Colour laser running costs are dominated by that, and buying a full set at once is a painful invoice. Model it in our toner yield estimator before deciding colour is necessary.
Colour laser is not photo printing. It produces excellent business graphics and does not produce photographs. Our inkjet versus laser test comparison shows exactly what the difference looks like.
Colour toner ages in a machine that prints mostly black, so an office that rarely uses colour pays for cartridges it barely uses.
Pro-class duty cycles are lower than Enterprise, so an office that grows into high volume will feel it.
It is physically substantial and needs a proper surface, which small offices often solve badly. Our printer stand versus desk space comparison is worth reading before it arrives.

What owners report

Owner reports on this machine are consistently positive on print quality, speed and the scanner, and consistently negative on the price of a full set of toner. That combination is the definitive account of colour laser ownership and it applies across brands.

The other recurring theme is that offices printing mostly black wish they had bought monochrome. If your colour printing is a few pages a week, that is worth taking seriously before you buy four cartridges you will barely use.

Who it suits

Small and medium offices needing colour documents plus scanning and copying.
Shared workspaces where Wi-Fi Direct removes a network onboarding problem.
Anyone replacing an ageing colour inkjet that cannot keep up with document volume.

Who should skip it

Offices printing almost entirely black text, who should buy monochrome and save on three cartridges. Our mono versus colour laser comparison is the page to read.
Photo printing, which needs an inkjet.
High-volume operations, which need Enterprise duty cycles.

Alternatives worth considering

Cheaper Colour MFP

Brother MFC-L3780CDW Wireless Digital Color All-in-One Printer

~$570

Colour laser-quality output at up to 31ppm with a full MFP feature set, for meaningfully less. Brother offers standard, high and super high-yield toner tiers, which gives you a lever on running cost that not every brand does.

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Better Scanner

Brother MFC-L8930CDW Business Color Laser All-in-One Printer

~$700

33ppm colour, dual-band wireless, gigabit ethernet, and single-pass two-sided scanning up to 104ipm with an 80-page feeder. If scanning is a real part of your workload, the document feeder alone justifies looking here.

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If Colour Is Optional

Brother MFC-L5710DW Business Monochrome Laser All-in-One Printer

~$500

Monochrome, with an 11,000-page super high-yield cartridge and fast duplex scanning. If you print colour a handful of times a month, this saves the purchase price and three cartridges, and colour work goes to a print shop.

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Common questions

Do I need a colour laser or will mono do?

Count your colour pages for a month before deciding. Most offices print far less colour than they assume, and a mono laser is cheaper to buy, cheaper to run and has one cartridge instead of four. Our mono versus colour laser comparison sets out the cost difference over a realistic three-year period.

How much does colour laser toner cost per page?

Divide each cartridge price by its rated yield and add the four together for a full-colour page. That figure is usually several times the mono cost per page, which is why colour volume matters so much to the decision. Our toner yield estimator does the arithmetic for you.

Can a colour laser print photos?

It prints images, and they will not look like photographs. Laser toner is fused powder, so it cannot produce the continuous tone and fine gradation an inkjet can on photo paper. For business graphics it is excellent; for photographs it is the wrong technology.

What is Wi-Fi Direct and why does it matter?

It lets a phone or laptop connect straight to the printer without joining the office network. In shared workspaces, or anywhere guests print, it removes a support conversation entirely. It is also useful when the network is down and the printing is not optional.

Is toner or ink cheaper for a small office?

Toner, for text volume, and it does not dry out between uses, which is the hidden cost of an inkjet that sits idle. Ink wins for photos and for very low volume, where a tank printer's cheap refills beat a laser's cartridge price. Our toner versus ink cost per page comparison covers where the crossover falls.

Keep reading

This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.