HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e review: fast and efficient

HP’s OfficeJet Pro 9015e is a compact all-in-one printer for the home office or small business that promises high print speeds, top quality and several advanced options that will get the job done reliably day after day.

I went hands-on with this workhorse to see if it offers good value compared to less expensive models. It’s not perfect, but with its fast and high-quality printing, I can see why it’s become such a popular option.

Design

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e is an attractive printer with a footprint of just 17.3 inches x 13.5 inches x 10.5 inches. That’s small, considering it’s a rugged all-in-one inkjet that carries HP’s pro moniker. With medium and dark gray accents on a white body, it looks great with modern decor or in a work environment.

The 2.7-inch color touch screen makes it easy to access copying, scanning and printing without the need for another device. There’s even a USB port on the side to connect a memory stick to load and save documents and photos. You can use all the basic functions of the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e with nothing more than a pocketable USB drive.

The generous paper tray can hold up to 250 sheets at a time, so you’ll make fewer trips to the printer to refill, but since it’s the only one, it makes one-off printing more complicated. If you change media type and paper size infrequently, it may not be so important.

HP estimates that the XL ink cartridges can print up to 2,000 pages in black and white and 1,600 pages in color before they need to be replaced. The standard cartridges hold up to 1,000 black-and-white and 700 color pages.

HP labels paper guides with friendly icons that indicate the correct way to load blank paper for printing. The flatbed scanner and document feeder have similar markings to help you align images or documents for scanning.

Print performance

The print speed is immediately apparent from the first use. Warm-up takes just a few seconds, and the first page rolls out in about 10 seconds. It can print up to 22 pages per minute (ppm) in black and white, and only slightly reduces to 18 ppm in full colour.

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e’s color prints shoot out faster than some inkjet printers can print monochrome. That makes this inkjet printer competitive with low-cost laser printers when comparing print speeds, especially for small and medium-sized jobs.

The quality is outstanding for both monochrome and color printing. Borderless printing is possible even on letter-sized paper. Most impressive is knowing that performance and quality should continue even with a long and heavy workload. HP rates the OfficeJet Pro 9015e to have a duty cycle of up to 25,000 pages each month.

Such a huge amount of printing would empty a full paper tray 100 times. Realistically, few people print that much, but it’s nice to know that HP says you can push the printer that hard without affecting performance.

Special functions

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e includes a flatbed scanner and automatic document feeder that can process 35 sheets at a time. You can scan both sides of a page when using the feeder. The sharpness looks good and the colors are accurate. Output can be saved as PDF, JPEG and other formats.

Scans can be sent to a computer, a smartphone or a memory stick. There are even advanced options for scanning to email, a network folder and the cloud via SharePoint.

The copy controls are easy to use directly from the touch screen of the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e. Simply place photos or documents on the glass or in the feeder, then press the copy button. You can reduce documents to as small as 25% of their original size or scale up to 400%.

Software and compatibility

HP printers work with all devices. The OfficeJet Pro 9015e is instantly recognized by Windows, macOS and even ChromeOS. If a driver is needed, the operating system handles it painlessly since HP is such a well-known brand. HP says it’s compatible with Linux, but I don’t have a computer with that operating system for testing.

It only takes a few minutes to set up the printer, and the quick start guide included in the box makes it easy. Turn it on, plug in the four ink cartridges, and match each color to the corresponding slot inside the printer. The HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e prints an alignment sheet, then prompts you to place it in the scanner. It automatically scans and adjusts the print heads if necessary to ensure optimal quality.

You can install the HP Smart app to use all the features of the OfficeJet Pro 9015e with an iPhone or Android phone. Using a smartphone is recommended as it makes Wi-Fi setup effortless. Wireless is so convenient that I can’t imagine having to run cables or have the printer near the computer anymore. However, you can connect the OfficeJet Pro directly to a computer with USB or Ethernet cables if you like.

The mobile app has an optical character recognition (OCR) function to convert to text, and an automatic cropping function allows multiple images to be scanned at once. Unfortunately, these additional scanning features do not always provide the best results at the moment. Borderless printing is easy to select from a computer, but I could only get it to work from a smartphone by selecting photo paper on the printer’s touchscreen after loading paper in the tray.

HP is aware of the mobile app issues and is working on an update to fix these issues.

Low cost and economical printing

For a fast and robust printer, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e has a friendly price. It retails for $290, but is often discounted to just over $200. It’s hard to beat such a durable and fast all-in-one printer.

It comes with six months of free ink if you sign up for HP+ with Instant Ink. HP will email you before your paid subscription begins so you can cancel and manage your supplies yourself. The Instant Ink plan takes all the work out of the process and also offers discounted pricing.

With any printer, supply costs can significantly affect long-term value. In the case of the OfficeJet Pro, ink costs are quite low, even without an HP+ subscription. That means the total cost of ownership for an HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e can be less than cheaper printers that have a lower starting price but more expensive ink.

Based on HP’s estimated number of pages per cartridge, the ink cost for black-and-white printing can be as low as two cents per page. If you buy standard capacity cartridges, an average color page can use 10 cents worth of ink to print. When you use XL color ink cartridges, it will drop to seven cents. Paper costs are not included in this calculation.

It’s very affordable and makes the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e a good choice if other aspects of this all-in-one work well with its intended use.

Is this the printer for you?

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e offers outstanding speed at a low price. Print and scan quality is excellent. From a technical standpoint, HP nailed it. It may not be the right choice for everyone.

If you frequently switch between printing documents, envelopes and photos, the paper tray must be emptied and refilled between each media change. Then select the correct paper from the touch screen menu. Many printers, including the slightly more expensive HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e, have a secondary input tray that takes the hassle out of printing envelopes and photos.

That might be enough to put you off the otherwise excellent HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e. But if you want a home printer that can do it all, including scanning, copying and quickly knocking out large print jobs without breaking a sweat, it’s hard to beat this solid all-in-one printer from HP.

The editors’ recommendations