I remember the moment clearly. Staring at a massive, clunky inkjet all-in-one that dominated a corner of my desk, I felt a wave of frustration. It was always out of ink when I needed it most, the cartridges were expensive, and its sheer size was an affront to my already-cramped home office. I needed professional-quality documents—sharp text for reports, vibrant colour for presentations—but I didn’t have the space for a traditional office beast. The constant cycle of dried-up ink and bulky hardware was killing my productivity. This is a common story for so many of us working from home or running small businesses. We need the reliability and crispness of a laser printer, but we’re constrained by space. The search for a compact, capable, and affordable colour laser printer is a genuine challenge, and finding the wrong one means sacrificing either precious desk real estate or the quality of your work.
- LEGENDARY QUALITY, AFFORDABLE PRICE: This small laser delivers exceptional quality, page after page, producing sharp text, bold blacks, and crisp colour graphics
- PRODUCTIVITY FROM YOUR PHONE: The power of your printer in the palm of your hand, Get simple setup, and print and scan from your phone, with the HP Smart app
What to Consider Before Buying a Colour Laser Printer
A colour laser printer is more than just an item; it’s a key solution for producing professional, durable, and cost-effective documents and graphics. Unlike inkjets that can suffer from smudging or clogged heads if used infrequently, laser printers use toner, which is a dry powder. This means your prints are sharp and smudge-proof from the moment they emerge, and the toner won’t dry out over time, making it perfect for both high-volume and occasional use. The main benefits are speed (especially for black and white text), lower cost-per-page on larger print jobs, and unparalleled text sharpness. It’s the engine of a productive small office, the final step in creating a winning proposal, and the reliable workhorse for any home-based business.
The ideal customer for this type of product is someone running a small business from home, a student who needs to print lengthy reports, or a family that needs a reliable all-in-one for homework, documents, and occasional colour prints. If you need crisp, professional text and don’t want to worry about ink drying out, a laser printer is for you. However, it might not be suitable for those who primarily print high-resolution, gallery-quality photographs, as high-end photo inkjet printers still excel in that specific niche. For casual users who print only a few pages a month and don’t require colour, a simple monochrome laser printer might be a more economical alternative.
Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:
- Dimensions & Space: This is paramount, especially for home offices. Measure your available space carefully. The HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Wireless Printer is marketed as one of the smallest in its class, but you still need to account for the paper tray extending and having enough clearance above for the scanner lid. Always check the full “in-use” dimensions, not just the storage footprint.
- Capacity/Performance: Look beyond just the print speed. Consider the paper tray capacity (150 sheets is standard for compact models) and the output tray capacity (50 sheets here). Also, note the stark difference between monochrome (18 ppm) and colour (4 ppm) speeds on this model; if you print a lot of colour, this slower speed could be a bottleneck. The monthly duty cycle, while often high, gives an indication of the printer’s intended workload.
- Print Quality & Resolution: For most office tasks, a 600 x 600 dpi resolution is perfectly adequate for sharp text and clean business graphics. Don’t get fixated on massive numbers. The key is how the printer processes the image and fuses the toner. We’ve found that HP’s SPL (Samsung Printer Language) rendering produces impressively bold blacks and consistent colours at this resolution.
- Ease of Use & Connectivity: Modern printers live and die by their connectivity. Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and USB are the trifecta of options you should look for. Critically, evaluate the mobile app experience (like the HP Smart app). Can you easily print and scan from your phone? Is the setup process intuitive? Long-term maintenance involves replacing four separate toner cartridges (Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) and potentially a waste toner bottle, so check the accessibility of these components.
Choosing the right laser printer ensures your workflow remains smooth and professional. It’s an investment in efficiency that pays dividends every time you click “print”.
While the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Wireless Printer is an excellent choice for many, it’s always wise to see how it stacks up against the competition. For a broader look at all the top models, we highly recommend checking out our complete, in-depth guide:
- UP TO 30 PPM PRINT SPEED: With fast print speeds, print your professional documents in no time at all without compromising on quality.
- UP TO 32 PPM PRINT SPEED:With fast print speeds, print your professional documents in no time at all without compromising on quality.
- Professional Quality, Compact Design：Achieve sharp, laser-quality black and white documents for forms, reports, and business correspondence. This surprisingly small laser printer delivers...
Unboxing and First Impressions of the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw
Upon arrival, the first thing that struck us was the compact nature of the box. HP isn’t exaggerating when they call this their “smallest in-class” MFP. Pulling the 12.94 kg unit from its packaging, we were greeted by a clean, modern design in a crisp white finish. It feels dense and well-built, not flimsy. Setup involved removing a series of orange packing tapes and installing the four starter toner cartridges, which come pre-installed but need to be prepped. The process is straightforward, guided by clear diagrams. The top houses the flatbed scanner, and the front panel has a simple two-line LCD and touch controls. While not a fancy colour touchscreen, it’s functional for basic copy tasks and status checks. Our primary method for setup was via the HP Smart app on a smartphone, which is clearly the path HP wants users to take. It guides you through connecting the printer to your Wi-Fi network step-by-step. For those who prefer a more traditional setup, connecting via Ethernet or USB is also an option and, as some users noted, can be more reliable if your Wi-Fi is spotty. The printer’s footprint is genuinely impressive, making it an immediate contender for any space-starved desk. You can see its full feature set and compact dimensions online.
What We Like
- Extremely compact design, one of the smallest colour laser MFPs available.
- Excellent text quality with sharp, bold blacks and crisp graphics.
- Versatile connectivity with Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and USB options.
- HP Smart app provides powerful mobile printing and scanning capabilities.
Limitations
- Very slow colour print speed at only 4 pages per minute.
- No automatic duplex (two-sided) printing feature.
A Deep Dive into the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw’s Performance
A printer’s value is ultimately decided by its real-world performance. We put the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Wireless Printer through its paces over several weeks, testing everything from multi-page reports to full-colour presentations and mobile scanning, to see if its performance lives up to its compact promise.
The Setup Experience: Navigating Wireless and the HP Smart App
Getting a printer onto a network can often be the first major hurdle, and our experience with the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw was a tale of two paths. Following HP’s strong recommendation, we first used the HP Smart app on an Android phone. The app successfully located the printer and guided us through connecting it to our office Wi-Fi network. The entire process took about 10 minutes, including a firmware update. Once connected, the app becomes a powerful command centre, allowing you to print photos and documents directly from your phone, check toner levels, and initiate scans to your device. This is a huge win for mobile-first workflows. However, we also noted feedback from users who struggled with this wireless setup. Some found the connection would drop or that the app failed to find the printer. In these cases, we found that connecting the printer via an Ethernet cable first provided an almost foolproof setup. Once it’s on the network via LAN, configuring the Wi-Fi is much more stable. A user comment we saw echoed our findings: “The printer is very difficult to install in w-lan, with a lan cable it worked immediately.” This confirms our expert advice: if you encounter Wi-Fi setup issues, use a physical Ethernet cable to establish the initial connection. It’s also important to note that using the HP Smart app does encourage creating an HP account, which some users dislike, but we found it unlocks the full feature set, including remote printing.
Print Quality and Speed: A Game of Two Halves
Here’s where the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Wireless Printer truly reveals its character. Let’s start with the good: monochrome text quality is outstanding. At 600 x 600 dpi, text is razor-sharp, with deep, solid blacks that rival much larger and more expensive office machines. For reports, invoices, and any text-heavy documents, it performs brilliantly. The print speed of up to 18 pages per minute (ppm) for black and white is respectable for a compact unit and more than adequate for most home office or small business needs. We printed a 20-page document, and it handled the job swiftly and without issue.
However, when it comes to colour, the story changes. The quality itself is very good—colours are vibrant, well-saturated, and graphics are crisp. We printed several charts and presentations, and the results were professional and impressive. One user happily noted, “It makes super great photos, even on normal paper it looks great!” which we can confirm for business graphics. The significant drawback is the speed. At a mere 4 ppm, printing in colour feels painstakingly slow. A 10-page colour presentation took over two and a half minutes to complete. This makes the printer ideal for documents that are primarily text with occasional spot colour, but a poor choice for anyone needing to print high-volume colour documents regularly. This performance trade-off is the price you pay for the printer’s compact size and affordable entry point. It’s a compromise you must be willing to make. You can check the latest price and availability on this model to see if the value proposition works for you.
Scanning, Copying, and the Duplex Question
As a Multi-Function Printer (MFP), printing is only part of its job. The flatbed scanner on top provides colour scanning up to 600 dpi. We found it worked flawlessly, both when initiated from the printer itself and via the HP Smart app. Scanning a document directly to a smartphone is incredibly convenient for creating digital archives on the fly. Copying is similarly straightforward. Placing a document on the glass and pressing the copy button produces a quick, sharp duplicate. Mono copy speed is a decent 14 ppm, aligning with its print performance.
Now, we must address a critical point of confusion: duplex printing. Many product listings have historically and incorrectly stated this printer has automatic duplexing. Let us be crystal clear: the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Wireless Printer does NOT have an automatic duplexer for two-sided printing. It supports manual duplexing, where the printer prints all the odd pages, then prompts you to take the stack of paper, flip it over, and re-insert it into the tray to print the even pages. This is functional for occasional two-sided jobs but cumbersome for anything more. One user review captured the frustration perfectly: “CONTRARY to the quite clear product information… it is not suitable for double-sided printing.” This is not a defect, but a feature limitation inherent to its design, and it is crucial for potential buyers to understand this before purchasing.
Reliability and Long-Term Considerations
While our initial testing period was largely positive, the collected user feedback reveals a concerning pattern regarding long-term reliability and quality control. Several users reported issues like paper jams leading to catastrophic failure, streaking or smudging appearing after a few months of use, and even devices arriving defective. One user detailed a frustrating experience: “Less than a year using this printer with one paper jam and the printer no longer able to print any more.” Others mentioned receiving faulty replacement units from support. This suggests that while a properly functioning unit performs well, there may be a higher-than-average chance of encountering a lemon. We also noticed a few complaints about a loud grinding noise during startup, which we also experienced. It lasts for about 30 seconds as the printer warms up and calibrates, and while startling, it does seem to be normal operational noise for this model. For anyone considering this printer, we recommend purchasing from a reputable retailer with a solid return policy to mitigate the risk of receiving a faulty unit. The reliability of this model is a key consideration that its attractive price point must be weighed against.
What Other Users Are Saying
Sifting through a wide range of user feedback, a mixed but clear picture of the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Wireless Printer emerges. On the positive side, many users echo our findings about its core strengths. One satisfied customer stated, “It works flawlessly and does what it’s supposed to do. For this price, the part is absolutely TOP,” highlighting its excellent value proposition. Another praised its suitability for infrequent use, a key benefit of laser technology: “I don’t need it very often, so it was important to me that the cartridges don’t dry out right away… I can definitely recommend it.” The compact size and ease of mobile printing via the HP Smart app are also frequently cited as major wins.
However, the negative feedback points to significant concerns about quality control and longevity. A recurring theme involves technical failures and print quality degradation. “After a short time it started to print black shadows,” one user reported, “Cleaning the roller only brings a clean printout for a short time.” Another detailed a more severe experience with both the product and support service, receiving multiple faulty units in a row. These accounts suggest that while a good unit is very capable, there is a tangible risk of encountering hardware problems that are difficult to resolve, making a solid warranty and purchase protection essential.
How Does the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Compare to the Alternatives?
No product exists in a vacuum. To give you the full picture, we’ve compared the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Wireless Printer against three notable competitors in the market. Each serves a slightly different need, and understanding these differences is key to making the right choice.
1. HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4302dw Multifunction Laser Printer
- MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY IN FULL COLOUR: Support your business with this compact, high-performing, colour printer, ideal for up to 10 users, step up your workflow with blazing fast speed to meet...
- SEAMLESS MANAGEMENT: Centralise your print management, HP Web Jetadmin easily adds and updates devices and solutions, set up your printers quickly so you can focus more on your business, make it easy...
The HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4302dw is a significant step up, aimed at small to medium businesses rather than just a home office. Its biggest advantages are speed and efficiency. With colour print speeds vastly superior to the 178nw and the inclusion of an automatic document feeder (ADF) for multi-page scanning and copying, it’s built for higher volume and productivity. Crucially, it features automatic duplex printing, a key feature missing from the 178nw. If your workflow involves frequent two-sided printing or scanning of multi-page documents, and you can accommodate its larger size and higher price tag, the 4302dw is a far more capable machine.
2. Brother DCP-L3550CDW Colour Wireless Multifunction Printer
- PRINTER, SCANNER, COPIER: This 3-in-1 multi-function compact devices features a range of document handling functions. Use the LCD touchscreen to simply carry out your print, copy and scan tasks.
- PRINT SPEEDS OF UP TO 18PPM: With fast print speeds, you can print your documents in no time without comprimising on quality.
The Brother DCP-L3550CDW is arguably the most direct competitor to the HP 178nw. It offers a compelling balance of features, including print speeds of up to 18 ppm for both colour and monochrome, making it significantly faster for colour jobs than the HP. It also includes automatic duplex printing and a 50-sheet ADF, features that add tremendous value. While slightly larger than the ultra-compact HP, it’s still reasonably sized for a small office. Users often praise Brother printers for their reliability and straightforward setup. If you print colour documents regularly and need duplexing, the Brother DCP-L3550CDW is an incredibly strong alternative, often for a similar price.
3. HP LaserJet Enterprise M480f Colour Multifunction Printer
- Easy to use
- Good product for use
This is a different class of machine entirely. The HP LaserJet Enterprise M480f is a full-fledged enterprise-grade MFP designed for workgroups and demanding office environments. It boasts faster print speeds, advanced security features, a much larger paper capacity, a more robust ADF, and fax functionality. Its build quality and duty cycle are designed for heavy, constant use. This printer is overkill for a typical home office but is the right choice for a busy office that needs uncompromising performance, security, and reliability. It represents the top-end of the spectrum, where the HP 178nw sits firmly at the compact, budget-friendly entry point.
Our Final Verdict on the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Wireless Printer
After extensive testing and analysis, our verdict on the HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw Wireless Printer is one of qualified recommendation. Its greatest strength is delivering vibrant colour laser printing, scanning, and copying in one of the smallest footprints available on the market. For users in tight spaces who primarily print black-and-white documents but need the option of high-quality colour for occasional graphics and presentations, it’s a compelling and affordable choice. The text quality is superb, and the HP Smart app adds a layer of modern, mobile-friendly convenience that is genuinely useful.
However, this recommendation comes with significant caveats. The painfully slow colour print speed of 4 ppm makes it unsuitable for high-volume colour tasks. The lack of automatic duplex printing is a major omission for any serious office work, and the mixed user feedback on long-term reliability is a genuine concern. This is a printer for a specific user: someone who prioritizes space above all else, has modest printing needs, and is willing to accept performance compromises. If that describes you, and you’re prepared for the potential quirks, the HP 178nw offers excellent value. For those needing more speed, duplexing, and proven reliability, looking at alternatives like the Brother DCP-L3550CDW is highly advised. If you’ve weighed the pros and cons and its unique profile fits your needs, you can find the best price and order your HP Colour Laser MFP 178nw today.
Last update on 2025-11-06 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API