The History of HP LaserJet Printers, From 1984 to Today

Hewlett-Packard introduced the first LaserJet printer in 1984. It brought laser-quality printing to the desktop for businesses that previously relied on noisy impact printers or very large, expensive laser systems.

HP LaserJet is the brand name Hewlett-Packard has used for its laser printers and laser multifunction printers since that first model; this encyclopedia entry on HP LaserJet tracks the line's long history. The name has since covered hundreds of models, from personal printers to department machines.

Laser printing itself did not start with HP. The technology was pioneered at Xerox, and early laser printers were large machines built for data centers and print rooms rather than for individual offices. What made the LaserJet significant was bringing that quality to a machine that could sit on or beside a desk.

The timing mattered. The LaserJet arrived as personal computers were spreading through offices, and businesses suddenly had far more documents to print. A printer that produced clean, professional-looking pages quietly and quickly was exactly what many of them needed.

The original LaserJet mattered because it made sharp, quiet, fast printing practical for ordinary offices, and because HP's printer language set a standard that much of the industry adopted. Together, those two factors shaped office printing for decades.

The first LaserJet was built around a print engine from Canon, combined with HP's own electronics and controller. That partnership between the two companies became a long-running feature of LaserJet history.

PCL (Printer Command Language) is the page description language HP developed to tell its printers how to lay out text and graphics on a page. Because LaserJets were so widely used, many software developers built PCL support into their programs, and many other printer makers added PCL compatibility to their own machines.

• Print quality: crisp text that impact printers could not match.
• Quiet operation: a welcome change in busy offices.
• Desktop size: laser printing without a dedicated print room.
• Compatibility: a printer language that software makers widely supported.

The LaserJet's success also encouraged competition, and laser printers from many manufacturers followed, which helped bring prices and sizes down over time.

A LaserJet prints by using a laser to draw an electrical image of the page on a light-sensitive drum, attracting toner to that image, transferring the toner onto paper and fusing it in place with heat and pressure. The core process has stayed the same since the first model, even as speed and reliability have improved.

This process is a form of xerography, the dry, electrostatic copying method also used in office copiers; this overview of laser printing walks through each stage. In simple terms:

• The drum receives an even electrical charge.
• A laser beam changes the charge wherever text or images should appear.
• Toner, a fine powder of plastic and pigment, sticks to those areas.
• The toner is transferred onto the paper.
• The fuser melts the toner so it bonds to the page.

Combining the toner and drum into a single replaceable cartridge on many models made laser printers much easier for non-technical users to maintain. Today you can find cartridges for current and many older models in our toners and drums collection.

Understanding this process also explains common maintenance advice, such as letting the fuser cool before clearing a jam and handling cartridges carefully to avoid scratching the drum.

Over the decades after its launch, the LaserJet line grew from a single desktop printer into a broad family that includes networked workgroup printers, automatic duplex models, color lasers and multifunction devices. HP also organized the line into ranges aimed at different sizes of business.

Several broad developments shaped the range:

Today, HP's lineup is broadly divided into entry-level models, LaserJet Pro models for small businesses and LaserJet Enterprise models for higher-volume, security-focused environments. Our HP LaserJet buyer's guide explains how to choose between them.

LaserJets moved into home offices as laser printers became smaller, more affordable and easier to connect, especially once wireless and mobile printing became common. For people who mainly print text, a compact mono laser offered the same crisp output that offices relied on.

Home users have long weighed laser against inkjet printing. Inkjet printing sprays tiny droplets of liquid ink onto paper, as this overview of inkjet printing explains, while lasers fuse powdered toner. Each has its strengths:

• Laser: fast, sharp text, and toner does not dry out between occasional uses.
• Inkjet: strong photo printing and often a smaller upfront cost.
• Remote workers: often choose a compact laser for contracts, invoices and school paperwork.

The growth of working from home has kept small laser printers relevant. Many home offices now use a compact LaserJet or laser multifunction printer as a smaller version of the equipment they use at work. Browse our HP printers to see current options.

Each step made the LaserJet useful to a wider group of buyers, from a single professional at home to a department sharing one high-volume machine.

Modern LaserJets still use the same basic laser process as the original, but they now focus heavily on connectivity, security, energy efficiency and remote management. The printer has become a networked device that IT teams manage like any other computer on the network.

Several changes stand out when you compare a current business LaserJet with the desktop printers of earlier decades:

• Wireless and mobile printing: many models print directly from phones, tablets and laptops without a cable.
• Security features: business models increasingly include protections such as secure boot, firmware checks and user authentication, because a networked printer can be a target like any other device.
• Energy-saving modes: printers spend most of their time idle, so fast wake-up from low-power sleep has become a design priority.
• Fleet management: Enterprise models can be monitored and configured remotely, which helps organizations with many devices.
• Touchscreen control panels: multifunction models now offer menus that resemble a tablet more than a calculator.

These improvements are a big reason businesses replace older printers even when the old ones still print well. If your office needs scanning to the cloud, user tracking or modern security controls, a current model may be the better fit, while a classic reconditioned LaserJet can still serve simple print-only workloads. The multifunction printers collection shows how current devices combine these features.

Older LaserJet models are still in use because many were built for heavy office workloads, their supplies and parts remain widely available, and they work with standard printer languages that modern computers still support. For businesses that just need dependable printing, a proven older model can still make sense.

Workhorse models, such as the LaserJet 4000-series printers compared in our article on the HP 4100n and HP 4200n, earned a reputation for durability in busy offices. That reputation has kept them popular on the secondary market.

A reconditioned printer is a used machine that has been inspected, cleaned, tested and had worn parts replaced as needed before resale. Browse reconditioned printers if a classic LaserJet suits your office. Before buying any older model, confirm that toner is easy to get and that drivers or a compatible generic driver will work with your computers.

Keep in mind that older models were designed for the networks and computers of their time. They may lack wireless connectivity, mobile printing or current security features, so they suit straightforward printing better than complex shared workflows.

Whether you want a classic workhorse or a current model, these steps will help you choose a LaserJet that fits your office.

1. Estimate how many pages you print each month and compare it with the model's recommended monthly volume.
2. Decide between monochrome and color based on what you actually print.
3. Choose a single-function printer or a multifunction model if you also copy, scan or fax.
4. Check connectivity: USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and mobile printing.
5. Confirm drivers are available for your operating systems.
6. Check toner availability and cost per page for the exact model.
7. For older models, ask about condition, page count and what was replaced during reconditioning.

Our specialist team can help you compare classic reconditioned LaserJets with current HP models based on your page volume and features. Try the machine finder, contact our team with your requirements, or read our guide to printer specs explained simply before you shortlist models.