HP LaserJet P1102 in 2026: Still Worth Buying?

Ask anyone in Rawalpindi or Islamabad which used printer to buy and the answer is usually the HP LaserJet P1102. It is small, it is cheap, every toner shop in the country refills its 85A cartridge, and there are thousands of them around. But the P1102 launched in 2010 — the units on OLX today are twelve to fifteen years old. This guide is the honest answer to whether it is still worth buying, and what to check if you do.

What the P1102 actually is

• Personal mono laser: 18 pages per minute, 600 dpi (FastRes 1200), 150-sheet input tray, USB only. The P1102w variant adds Wi-Fi.
• Toner: HP 85A (CE285A), rated for about 1,600 pages. One of the cheapest and most widely refilled cartridges in Pakistan.
• No automatic duplex, no Ethernet, no scanner. Two-sided printing means flipping the stack by hand.
• Rated duty cycle of roughly 5,000 pages a month, but HP recommends only 250–1,500 — it is a light-use printer.

Why it stayed popular for so long

The P1102 earned its reputation honestly: it is tiny, quiet, starts printing in seconds, and the 85A cartridge is cheap to buy and easy to refill. Its drivers are built into Windows, so it just works. For a student printing assignments or a shop printing a handful of receipts a day, it was for years the best-value laser in Pakistan, and many of the units we see on the repair bench still print perfectly after well over 50,000 pages.

When a P1102 is still a good buy

If you print under about 300 pages a month, only need black text, will use it over USB from one PC, and the unit in front of you prints cleanly with a known page count — yes, a P1102 is still a perfectly good printer. Its running cost is low, and when something does wear out (pickup roller, separation pad, fuser) the parts are cheap and every technician knows the machine.

When you should buy something else

• You print a thesis, coursework packs or anything long: no duplex and a 150-sheet tray make it tedious, and the small 85A cartridge runs out fast.
• More than one person needs it: no Ethernet, and the P1102w's old-generation Wi-Fi is fiddly on modern routers.
• You want a warranty and driver support on a new laptop or Mac. HP no longer updates P1102 drivers, and macOS support on recent versions is patchy — see our driver install guide.
• The seller cannot show a test print and a configuration page. A fifteen-year-old printer with an unknown history is a gamble, not a bargain.

What beats the P1102 for the same money

In short: for the price of a good used P1102 you can usually get a certified P1606dn or P2035, both of which are faster, take a bigger cartridge and — in the P1606dn's case — print double-sided and share over a network. If you want new with a warranty, the 107a/108a family is the modern equivalent. Our best printers by budget guide has more options.

Checklist if you still buy a used P1102

• Print a configuration page: hold the Go/Resume button for about five seconds. It shows the total page count — under 30,000 is good, over 80,000 means the fuser and rollers are due.
• Print a full page of text and a page with a solid black block. Look for faded bands, a repeating line down the page (drum) or grey background (worn cartridge or fuser).
• Feed ten pages in a row. Hesitation or double-feeds mean the pickup roller and separation pad need replacing — cheap, but it should be reflected in the price.
• Check the toner cartridge is real 85A and not a leaking refill; look for toner dust inside the cover.
• Ask for the power and USB cables, and test it on your own laptop before paying. The full used printer checklist covers the rest.