Which toner fits the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M28a?

The scanner doubles the recommended volume

Here is the figure worth knowing before buying. For the M15a, the printer on its own, HP recommends up to 1,000 pages a month. For the M28a, which adds scanning and copying, the range rises to 250 to 2,000 pages — double, with the same 1,000-page cartridge.

That is no contradiction: HP simply anticipates that copying will be added to printing. A multifunction placed in a corridor serves more people, and every original laid on the glass uses exactly as much as a print. The consequence is arithmetic: at the 2,000-page ceiling, this machine calls for two toners a month, with no option at all for spacing out orders.

If your use sits durably at the top of that range, it is not the cartridge that needs questioning, it is the choice of machine.

Scanning, the one free function

The M28a prints, copies and scans. Of those three uses, only one costs nothing: scanning, which produces a file without printing anything. It is the simplest lever on a machine whose cartridge holds only 1,000 pages — sending a document by email rather than running off five copies saves 5% of a toner every time.

A standby machine, and unashamedly so

18 pages per minute, a 150-sheet tray, a USB-only connection — no Wi-Fi, no networking — and an LED for a display. The maximum cycle is 8,000 pages, the lowest in the laser range. The toner level is visible only from the workstation connected over USB, on which the HP software has to be installed: without it, no warning reaches anyone anywhere.