New HP LaserJet can install its own drivers

 

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Posted on 13 Apr 2010 at 15:44

HP has released its first "plug and print" laser printers, capable of installing their own drivers via USB, rather than relying on you to install drivers from a CD.

This eliminates a number of common printer driver installation problems – lost discs, working out exactly at what point during installation you're supposed to plug in the USB lead, and the difficulty of connecting the printer to ultra-portables and netbooks that lack a disc drive.

"Our customers demand easy printing and we're giving it to them – no clumsy CD-ROMs to install, no drivers to download," said Ron Coughlin, HP's senior vice president of LaserJet and Enterprise Solutions.

We're slightly more sceptical of Coughlin's exuberant comment that "HP Smart Install offers the future of printing, today" but we've seen this sort of USB driver auto-installation before and it is actually pretty cool.

HP's compact photo printers have been using it for a while, starting with the Photosmart A636. If the HP Smart Install system used by the new LaserJets works in the same way, the printer appears as a virtual CD-ROM drive as soon you connect it to a USB port, and autorun a wizard to install the drivers for you.

Most 3G mobile broadband dongles also use a similar system. In the past, we've found that this can potentially cause conflicts on non-Windows operating systems. However, a quick look at the specifications of one of the new printers, the LaserJet Pro P1102W (PDF) reveals that it supports the Mac OS X and Linux operating systems, although "HP Smart Install works with Windows only" – not a major problem as both the POSIX-based operating systems use their own printer driver systems.

The first mono laser printers to come with the Smart Installer built in will be the HP LaserJet Pro P1100range, the HP LaserJet Pro M1130/M1210 MFP series and the HP LaserJet Pro P1566/P1606dn series.

Author: Kat Orphanides