This is the model in HP's M438 range where the specification needs stating plainly rather than summarised, because two things buyers assume are missing.

Automatic two-sided printing is not fitted on the M438n. It is standard on the M438dn and M438nda. Separately, HP states that the reversing automatic document feeder is not available for the M438n at all. It is not an option you can add later. On the M438dn the feeder can be added, but it requires a separate purchase and installation by HP authorised service. Only the M438nda arrives with the feeder fitted, and only the M438nda offers automatic two-sided copying.

So the ladder is: M438n prints single-sided and copies from the glass. M438dn adds automatic duplex printing. M438nda adds the feeder and duplex copying as standard.

Buy the M438n only if your office genuinely copies from the glass a few pages at a time and prints single-sided by choice. For anything else the M438dn or M438nda is the honest recommendation, and we would rather tell you now than have the machine returned.

A note on consumables: this series ships with an introductory toner cartridge rated at roughly 4,000 pages rather than a full one, alongside an imaging drum rated at roughly 80,000 pages. Budget for a replacement cartridge earlier than you would on a machine supplied with standard toner, and ask us to quote one alongside the machine.

The M438n suits a small shared office that needs A3 on the network and copies rarely: a site or branch office, a society office, a small trading firm, or a back room where a handful of people print from their own computers.

It is the wrong machine if anyone copies multi-page documents, because there is no feeder and none can be added. It is also the wrong machine if paper cost matters, because every sheet prints on one side. Tell us roughly how much of your work is copying rather than printing and we will point you to the right model in the range.