Problems with HP Laserjet 4MP

Hello,
I have a problem with a HP Laserjet 4MP printer, which has performed adequately for the past 9 years. This amounts to printing the odd page or two every couple of days.

I now need to download 40-50 pages from the Internet every two or three days.

I print 6 pages to a sheet, often with each page being a photograph, drawing or sketch. It can take up to 15-20 minutes to transfer the data from the computer to the printer, and then about 15 seconds to print the sheet.

Is the time taken to transfer the data normal?

Is the long data transfer time due to the content or the age of the printer or something else?

Would it all be heaps quicker if I bought a new printer (eg HP Laserjet 1000)?

This sounds like a memory issue... my 4l goes very slowly when I am asking it to do graphics. I have found that it works better if I send to print from another pc on the network and let windows networking handle it. If you don't have a network then the only thing I can suggest is try changing the graphics settings in the printer properties.

How much memory is installed in the printer? Typically HP shipped these with 2 or 4 mb, which will crap out very quickly on graphics. I would recommend taking it up to 8 or 10 mb. I used to hoard simms from dead 486s for this very purpose when I worked in an office with loads of laserjet 4's and 5's. Also check that your port is configured as ECP and that windows recognizes it as such (and that your cable supports it).

That said, I recently went from a laserjet 4 Plus to a 2200 and there was a huge increase in speed.

As stated above, it does sound like a memory issue.

Go here for product specs for the LJ 4M & 4MP. Basically, it says that it comes with 2MB RAM standard and towards to bottom of the page it says it has two SIMMs slot for additional RAM. It also explains "The optional memory required for the HP LaserJet printers is directly influenced by the complexity of the graphics and soft fonts being used." It then talks about the type of SIMMs required: "SIMM specifications for the HP LaserJet 4p/4mp printers are 72-pin, 32-bit, and 80 ns. Presence Detect must also be available on the SIMM. (The HP LaserJet 4p/4mp printers can use 36-bit memory from the HP LaserJet 4 printer.)"

The other factors limiting print speed is that the parallel port can only transfer so much data at a time...complex pictures, graphs, spreadsheets, etc. do take quite a while to download.

EDIT: I just checked the Service Manual for this...I have it here...and it looks like the the 4MP comes with 6MB standard and has two slots for additional RAM. You can use two 8MB SIMMs to max out at 22MB.