W2020A black · standard

W2020A is the standard black toner in HP's 414A set, and in our catalogue it fits the Color LaserJet Pro M454dw and the Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw. These are workgroup machines rather than desk printers, and the cartridge sizes reflect it.

At 2400 rated pages for $90.00 the W2020A prints at 3.75c a page. Its high yield counterpart, the W2020X, is rated 7500 pages for $165.00, which is 2.20c, so the standard cartridge costs about 41 percent more for every page it produces. That is the widest gap between sizes anywhere in HP's small colour laser range, and it leaves little reason to buy the standard black for a machine that is being used as intended.

There are two situations where it still makes sense: a printer that prints a few pages a week, where the toner will age before it empties, and a machine you are keeping alive cheaply until it is replaced. Otherwise the money is in the larger cartridge.

HP publishes its dynamic security notice across the M454 and M479 series, and compatible toner that had been working can stop after a firmware update. Because the imaging drum is built into each of these cartridges, our listing shows four toners and no separate drum part, and a defect appearing in black alone travels out of the printer with the black cartridge.