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HPColor Laser 179fnw

Laser with scanner
Colour

£244.99View retailers

Test score

Lowest available prices

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The HP Color Laser 179fnw can copy, scan and fax, as well as print. Like many laser printers, it's fantastic at printing black-text documents and letters, but what's it like at printing colour photos and images? And will this wireless printer cost you a fortune to run? Use our HP Color Laser 179fnw review to see if this printer is worth your money.

pros

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cons

What's included?

What is it?
How much will it cost to print?
How well does it print?
How well does it scan and copy?
Is there anything I should watch out for?
Is there anything else I should know?
Should I buy it?

KEY TEST RESULTS
Print quality and speed
Printing costs

May 2025Last checked by Which?
Nov 2019First reviewed by Which?
Oct 2019Released

The overall Which? test score is made up of the following star ratings, all determined by our rigorous lab tests.

How we test printers

7 May 2025

Print quality and speed

Overall
Print quality
Print speed
Black text quality
Black text speed
Office graphics quality
Office graphics speed
Photo quality
Photo speed
Images with text quality
Images with text speed

How we test print quality and speed

Quality and speed for different types of documents.

Scanning quality and speed

Overall
Speed of text scanning
Quality of scanned photos
Speed of photo scanning

How we test scanning quality and speed

Quality, speed, and ease of scanning different pages, including text, colour pages and photos as well as scanning small objects. A scanner has to scan an A4 photo in 20 seconds or less to score five stars for photo scanning speed.

Copying quality and speed

Overall
Quality of mono copies
Quality of colour copies
Speed of mono copies
Speed of colour copies

How we test copying quality and speed

Speed, quality and ease of copying different types of pages with and without using a computer.

Ease of use

Overall
Ease of copying
Ease of printing
Ease of scanning
Low noise
Ease of networking

How we test ease of use

Ease of use, including printing, copying and scanning where relevant.

Printing costs

How we test printing costs

How cheap or expensive the printer is for ink/toner costs per page. More stars means cheaper prints. Costs are based on our occasional printing test - printing black text and colour pages, leaving time between prints and turning the printer off between uses. Printers with no star rating were tested prior to our occasional printing test.

Power use

How we test power use

For energy, it's based on power use when the printer is turned off, in standby and when idle, just after printing.

General
Type of printer	Laser with scanner
Colour or Mono	Colour
Height	34
Height	34cm
Width	40cm
Depth	43cm
Prints on A3	No
Aimed at photo printing	No
Aimed at home office printing	No
Claimed maximum page weight	220
Print on transparencies	No
Cannot print when black ink out	Yes
Cannot print when colour ink out	Yes
HP Instant Ink	No
Refillable tanks	No
Continuous printing cost
Occasional printing - text and graphics
One year printing cost
Two year printing cost
Three year printing cost
Photo
Ten black text prints
Page of office graphics
Black cartridge	117A BK
Cyan cartridge	117A C
Magenta cartridge	117A M
Yellow cartridge	117A Y
Colour of printer	White

Features
Preview Screen	No
Fax	Yes
Automatic Document Feeder	Yes
Borderless printing	No
Auto duplexing	No
Double sided scan and copy	No
Print via wi-fi direct	Yes

Connections
Ethernet	Yes
Wi-fi	Yes
Memory card support	No
Google CloudPrint	Yes
Print from smartphone	Yes
AirPrint compatible	Yes
Windows 8 compatible	Yes
Windows 10 compatible	Yes
Mac OS full compatiblity	Yes

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Prices updated daily

Prices are ordered from lowest to highest, irrespective of retailer rating or stock, and exclude any potential delivery costs. We are not able to show every possible retailer and cheaper prices may be available.

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HPColor Laser 179fnw

Lowest available prices

Sign up to unlock the full expert review

pros

cons

What's included?

How we test printers

Print quality and speed

Scanning quality and speed

Copying quality and speed

Ease of use

Printing costs

Power use

Compare retailers

How this product's score compares with other printers we've tested

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Canon

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HPColor Laser 179fnw

Lowest available prices

pros

cons

What's included?

Test results

Specifications

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