Adding more memory really helps – and not just in computers…
One of the differences between inkjet printers and laser printers has to do with handling of the data to be printed.
An inkjet printer gets its commands for each printed line, one at a time, from Windows. It prints the line and gets the data for the next line. Sometimes they buffer a little of the data so there’s no hesitation, but Windows is talking to the printer thoughout the whole print job.
That’s not the way that laser printers work. A laser printer has to get all the data for a whole page before it starts to print that page.
What happens if there is so much content, shapes or colors, that the printer’s memory can’t receive the entire page? You can’t print it. You have to add memory.
That happened to me one time with my LaserJet 1200, so I had upgraded its memory a long time ago.
Now, with the new printer, I needed to think about that possibility. Surely it wouldn’t be a problem, but it shouldn’t have ever been a problem with the LaserJet 1200, either.
HP offered extra memory for the Color LaserJet CP1518ni printer, which has an easily accessible side door so the user can pop extra memory into it.
HP’s web page for the CP1518ni has a link near the bottom for memory, which links to memory labelled “HP LaserJet 128MB DDR SDRAM for Color LaserJet 3000, 3800, 4700, 5500, CP4005 Series Printers” — at only $579.99! I can just imagine some purchasing agent buying the printer and then paying $580 for more memory. I doubt that any home user would do that, though.
Well, by searching for memory for those models, I found a much better deal through a third-party merchant selling via Amazon.com.
I bought the 256 MB SODIMM 144-pin DDR2 – 400 MHz / PC2-3200 – unbuffered – non-ECC
I opened the package and found the SODIMM memory module – and it sure looked strange. I expected to see visible memory chips mounted on the small circuit board. However, they were apparently embedded within the board, or at least so tiny that they were covered by the sticker on the module.
Either way, I powered off my new printer, plugged in the new add-on memory module, and turned on the printer.
Normally, you don’t turn off the printer, as its startup process takes about 90 seconds — it’s got a good low–power sleep state, and resumes from sleep very quickly.
When the printer finished its boot process, I logged into it (remember, it’s a network printer) via its built-in webserver that is used for configuration of the printer (similar in concept to the built-in webserver in a router that’s used to configure the router).
YEA! The printer recognized all the new memory. Now, it says it has 352 MBytes total memory installed and 312.39 MBytes available. It reports the DIMM Slot 1 has a memory module in it, with 256MBytes on side 1.
I bought some HP-brand Color LaserJet glossy photo paper from Amazon, too.
I’m set…
and
I just bought this HP CP1518ni and was about ready to drop it out my office window. Not only does it have insufficient memory to print more than a few photos at a time, but it spends more time cleaning itself than my cat. And when its not cleaning itself it’s checking itself out. This is the most self-absorbed printer I’ve ever owned. Anyway, it does do a decent color printing job when it finally gets around to it. I’ve ordered the memory per your recommendation and hope that will at least stop its claims of insufficient memory. Thanks soooo much for your help!