HP LaserJet Pro M255dw Wireless Color Laser Printer

It is borderline unusable over wifi.

Easy to setup, easy to use, print quality is fine as well. Plug it in, connect it to wifi, add it to your laptop or phone, print. Easy. Everything works fine the first time.

However next time you try to print anything from the laptop or the phone nothing will work. It will say “printer is offline” and after that, no matter what you do to it, there is no reliable way to refresh its status and force it to print anything. Reboot the printer – doesn’t matter, says “offline”, reboot the laptop – doesn’t matter, “offline”. Re-connect the printer to wifi, doesn’t matter – “offline”.

The stupidest thing is that when you open the HP app on the same laptop the app does see the printer and recognizes it as online. Shows you the status, the toner level. But you can’t print anything, print queue and print dialogs say it’s offline.

Then randomly after a few minutes (or a lot of minutes, it’s random) it would get recognized as online again and you would be able to print. Until you pause for some period and it becomes offline again. Repeat.

There are “troubleshooting” steps like making a default printer, some other similar suggestions. They help maybe once, after the period of inactivity you will be back at square one, everything will say it’s offline. And at that point it’s already a default printer and all troubleshooting steps performed. Nothing helps.

Same when printing from the phone. Trying to add it from the print dialog works the first time. Next times it would say offline. Sometimes it would randomly recognize it as online after a few minutes of staring at the print dialog. But sometimes it wouldn’t. When you try to add it over wifi direct it would work the first time. But then again, next time it’s offline. And if you remove and attempt to add it again – good luck, the phone would find it but you won’t be able to install it.

Or you can install HP smart app and whatever other apps it requires to print from the phone. It won’t see the printer. But then after you lose the patience and go back to the print dialog, it would be available in the dialog using the HP plugin. What is going on…..

Doesn’t matter the OS either. MacOS, Windows, Android – same things. Doesn’t matter the wifi quality, gone through multiple routers, different bands, through other different settings, and currently sitting right next to it on the same network, unable to print anything but able to do everything else over the same wifi.

I dread the next time I need to print anything, I will need to go over all possible combinations of random actions that I think are related. I feel like I am following a cargo cult, where I need to perform some weird dance and press random things in hope that the pinter gods will allow me to send the PDF over and I would get it on a paper by some magic.

How hard it is to implement a reliable working wifi printer driver?

Tl;dr: Printer will not stay connected to wifi. One print job in three works, the others require lengthy troubleshooting. Comes back online for no clear reason, then fails next time you want to use it. Read on if you want more details.

I used HP printers exclusively for many years, then some years ago switched to Brother machines. When I decided to get a color laser printer, this one had great reviews, so I went with HP again. Mostly this has reminded me why I stopped using them in the first place.

Print quality is fine. But I don’t understand why after decades in the printer business HP still makes machines that are incredibly noisy, that churn meaninglessly for no reason, and that frequently, randomly go offline. Why after all these years is it still so hard and slow to cancel a print job that isn’t printing? Why does the printer’s WiFi symbol show it’s online when Windows says it’s offline? Why put a hugely bright FLASHING light on the front of the printer that needlessly strobes your bedroom all night long? Why do HP machines continue to experience paper jams–or to report a paper jam when there isn’t one–when these have all but disappeared from other brands?

Maybe my [original] two star rating is a little harsh. The print quality is very good, and speed is decent. But I just don’t see why HP can’t deal with the numerous annoyances in their consumer machines. I don’t appreciate having to troubleshoot a network problem when I’m trying to print a document 5 minutes before a Zoom call. And you know, I paid $300 for a printer, not a nightlight.

UPDATE: Lowered my two star rating to one. I plain hate this thing; it will not stay on line. Every attempt to print feels like a crap shoot. Constantly having to do sudden unexpected debugging when I just want to print something. My advice: get a different printer.

UPDATE #2: After a year of constant frustration, I’m giving this thing to Goodwill. I hate wasting the money but constant troubleshooting just keeps jacking up the effective cost without any lasting improvement.

Love this printer! I’ve been using the HP Color LaserJet Pro for several weeks now, and I am absolutely thrilled with its performance and print quality. I did a lot of research and found this one to be the most reliable and best bang for the budk. This printer has exceeded all my expectations in every way possible.

First and foremost, the print quality is truly outstanding. The colors are vibrant, crisp, and true to life. Whether I’m printing photos, presentations, or documents with colorful graphics, the LaserJet Pro consistently delivers exceptional results.

Another standout feature is the speed at which this printer operates. It handles large print jobs with ease, and I’m always impressed by how quickly it prints multiple pages. I love how it prints on both sides of a page of paper.

Setup was a breeze thanks to the user-friendly interface and clear instructions. I had the printer up and running in no time, and connecting it to my devices was seamless. The wireless printing feature is incredibly convenient, enabling me to print from my laptop, smartphone, and tablet without any hassle.

I’ve experienced virtually no paper jams, misprints, or other technical issues. This level of dependability is crucial for my work, as I can’t afford disruptions or delays.

Not only does this printer excel in performance, but it’s also surprisingly compact and sleek in design. It fits perfectly in my home office setup without taking up too much space.

Overall, I can confidently say that the HP Color LaserJet Pro is a top-notch printer that delivers exceptional print quality, impressive speed, and hassle-free operation. I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone in need of high-quality color printing. HP has truly hit a home run with this printer!

i never write reviews but since this saved me from a lot of money, stress, and time, i had too! i used to have a inkjet printer that took me hours to set up and connect. this printer took me 15 minutes! i have a small business where i print a bunch of decals, stickers, etc. for my customers. customers would complain of the low quality the inkjet printed, (i compared it and oooof it was such bad quality on inkjet and so glad i’m done with it) inkjet requires you to spray 3 times every 30 mins, and inkjet made me buy a new ink cartridge every 2 weeks… this printer gave me amazing results the first hour. i can’t wait to use this for when i start university! the price is so worth it! my inkjet was 200… ☹️

After weeks of researching printers, I finally decided to buy this one. It finally arrived today and I set it up. The full review is below but here are the short notes: Noisy, poor quality printing, unresponsive touch screen, not worth the cost or hassle. Returned.
Bad sign #1:
– Something as simple as putting paper in the paper tray and closing it did not work—this was before I had even turned the machine on. I put the paper in the tray, set the guides, and the tray would not go back into the printer. I was afraid to force it since it’s made of plastic. Eventually it went in.
Bad sign #2:
– As soon as I turned the printer on to begin the setup process, the machine made a loud noise that literally sounded like something inside had broken. Then it took forever to “initialize.”
Bad sign #3:
– I used the touch screen to look through the settings, toner capacity, etc. The screen got stuck at the toner capacity page and became unresponsive. I tried pressing the soft keys on the side (back, home, etc.) but none of them worked. So I had to turn the machine off and back on. Again, all this before the machine was even set up.
– Set up itself was somewhat confusing but I got it to work once I connected the printer to my Wifi network and Apple’s Bonjour/Airprint setting immediately recognized it.
– I printed out a few test pages, some with color, some black and white only on the “Normal” setting. The quality was NOT at all what I expect for a laser printer. The type was not crisp, colors were muddled and the registration was off on color graphics. I tried changing the setting to “Best” quality but the software would not allow it. Apparently this is a setting that Mac users are not able to change according to another review. At this point I was fed up. For a $300 color laser printer I expected more, and sent it back.

I got tired of replacing ink-jet cartridges that just dry out between infrequent uses, so I decided to get this laser printer. So far, so good, on the highest settings this works very well for text and graphics. It does just OK for photo printing, but it’s not really intended for that.

Despite some of the other comments, setup for wireless printing worked perfectly on the first attempt, using Mac OS 10.14.xxx. All options were available and it prints at the highest resolution. The touchscreen interface it typically HP, convoluted, but I was able to find the necessary settings immediately. One issue is that the instructions refer to menus that don’t exist! But it was very obvious which settings need to be set just from looking at the menu. I use HP printers all the time at work, so I might speak HPese better than most, but it’s pretty easy to figure out. The touchscreen buttons themselves are tiny but I only had a few missed keys.

Otherwise it works just fine, the hardest part was pulling it out of the box, which took both hands!

P.S. In fairness to some of the other reviewers, I did later have to contact that legendary HP Customer Service – legendary for being *utterly useless* for about the last 20 years. They couldn’t address the issues but the usual HP print driver issues were fixed in the usual way -fiddling around with various options and old PCL drivers. The standard “Airprint” driver only goes to “medium” quality” but that is the max resolution of this printer – the reason that “best” does not work is that “best” as defined by Airprint is better than what this printer can produce, not hat you are losing anything. Airprint is an OS X thing – they allow for higher-resolution printers. I verified this by using a much more sophistcated graphics program were I could access the individual settings and verified that when you select “medium” in airprint you are getting the full 600 dpi resolution possible.

Good printer BUT HP has crippled it with a software update that makes it so you can only use HP supplies which cost more than Han the printer

The Color Laser Jet Pro M255dw is not supported for wireless according to the HP Smart app that is recommended by HP on their website. The funny thing is that it works wirelessly SOMETIMES. You’ll spend hours every time you want to print something just trying to get it to work. I’m an IT specialist and I have trouble setting the ports and working with the drivers, so I’ll never buy another HP product after this experience. It “works with Alexa” yeah, Alexa will tell you when the cartridges are low. They’re chipped cartridges, so you have to buy the EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE HP branded cartridges. Even when you do that, the replacement cartridges print with streaks, and you have to get a new developer cartridge too. The whole color and B/W replacement costs more than a new printer. So this printer is on my “Do not recommend” list for sure. It definitely does not print from anywhere and also doesn’t work from my phone.

I admit, I was concerned about ordering the factory certified refurbished LaserJet M255dw printer. I shouldn’t have worried. It was packaged extremely well. (I am very thankful for that considering it went on a detour to another State after it arrived at the hub 1 hour away!) Unpacking was easy. They even had a sheet on the top indicating where to pull. The toner cartridges were already installed. (I don’t know if they are the introductory size.) Included paperwork was very basic. If you need help with installing or maintenance, you need to go to HP web site. Initial start-up was VERY noisy and clunky, but it seems to print fine now and is much more quiet. Connecting to wireless network went smooth. Adding the M255dw to one Win10 Pro Upgrade & one Win10 Home Upgrade computers was extremely simple, as well as adding the M255dw to an iMac. Adding the M255dw to a Win10 Pro ThinkPad was a nightmare. It refused to install drivers no matter what connection method I used, or the HP install & troubleshooting apps. I had to resort installing the Universal Print PCL 6 driver on that laptop. The color print quality is very nice and the manual sheet feed tray worked well even on a small envelope.
FOLLOW-UP: This printer would go OFFLINE on all the Windows-related computers whether connected via Wireless or ethernet cable. Reinstalling would not resolve the problem. The Mac using AirPrint was fine. THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH MANY PRINTERS. Once I manually changed the printer settings to use Google DNS Servers, the problems were resolved.

I’ve owned this printer for a little over two years and have been quite happy with it. It’s operating as a network printer in a small home office environment and is hard-wired to that network using its built-in ethernet connection.

I’ve printed flawlessly from both Windows and iOS devices.

To be clear: this is a DOCUMENT printer. If you’re looking for a printer to produce lots of photos or proofs for commercial printing services, I’d look elsewhere. That said: I’ve been quite happy with its color performance. I’ve printed everything from work presentations to boardgame play tokens on a variety of paper stocks and have yet to be let down.

The built-in touch screen seems superfluous to me, but your mileage may vary.

As with all color laser printers, familiarize yourself with the cost of replacement toner cartridges prior to purchasing.