HP Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw overview: small, quick and awkward

HP Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw

MSRP $339.00

“The HP Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw is a compact and quick printer, but it surely has a sluggish, awkward consumer interface.”

Execs

• Quick print pace
• Nice shade doc high quality
• Compact dimension
• Duplex printing
• Media slot for envelopes and labels

Cons

• Too costly
• Awkward consumer interface
• Photograph prints lack element in shadows
• Starter cartridges run low shortly

HP is likely one of the greatest printer manufacturers in the marketplace, so that you already know the Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw has good construct high quality and buyer assist. Nevertheless, we check every new mannequin to gauge its print efficiency, shade accuracy, ease of use, and long-term worth.

I put the Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw by means of its paces to determine any troublesome particulars and discover out if it deserves a spot on our checklist of the perfect shade laser printers.

Design

HP’s Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw is a compact printer, measuring 15.4 by 16.5 inches and standing 10 inches tall. Meaning it’d match higher in a small workspace than many shade laser printers. It’s additionally lighter than most, weighing somewhat over 30 kilos.

It has a minimalist design with a white physique and darkish grey accents that can assist it mix in with any decor. A two-inch monochrome show is ready at a hard and fast 30-degree angle on the highest proper. That makes it handy to be used whereas standing or sitting. As a substitute of a touchscreen, HP gave the Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw push-button navigation.

The underside paper tray holds 250 sheets and has clearly labeled guides. A single-sheet media slot gives easy accessibility for labels and envelopes. It’s not as handy as a tray that may maintain a stack of labels directly.

Easier designs are frequent with low-cost printers. Efficiency, high quality, and provide prices are extra vital while you’re searching for a finances resolution.

Printing efficiency

The HP Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw is quick, rolling by means of as much as 26 pages per minute when printing lengthy paperwork or a number of copies. For single pages, I may choose up my print inside 11 seconds. That’s quicker than the primary web page out (FPO) speeds of many shade laser printers which might be dearer.

Coloration paperwork look nice, with no banding in charts or blocks of shade. Textual content is readable even in fantastic print and monochrome is crisp and darkish. Photos are good, however not as good because the picture high quality I loved once I reviewed HP’s Coloration LaserJet Professional MFP 4301dw. That’s a dearer printer, so higher efficiency is predicted.

The Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw isn’t a photograph printer and shadows lack element, but it surely handles the duty properly for a laser printer. Inkjet nonetheless beats laser know-how while you need to be printing footage with photographic high quality.

Software program and compatibility

Organising the Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw was easy ,however sluggish. HP’s button navigation and menu structure are surprisingly awkward. For instance, the arrow buttons don’t wrap round when setting the date and time.

To get to 55 minutes previous the hour, as an alternative of clicking up just a few instances, I needed to repeatedly press down. Scrolling additionally requires urgent down a number of instances. A press and maintain characteristic or wraparound when transferring the alternative instructions ought to have been carried out. Wi-Fi password entry is time-consuming, so use the WPS button choice in case your router helps it.

After setup was full, I printed a photograph and seen an alignment challenge. The magenta toner was too low on the web page relative to cyan, yellow and black, making a double-exposure impact. I checked the menu to search out if there was a calibration or alignment choice to appropriate the difficulty. Calibration didn’t assist and the print high quality troubleshooting web page solely helps with streaks.

In the long run, I needed to substitute the magenta toner cartridge to resolve the issue. Fortunately, I had a suitable HP 218A cartridge available. After the swap, the colour alignment was good. I checked on-line vendor evaluations and located this isn’t a typical challenge. Nevertheless, it highlighted the restricted menu choices and navigation difficulties inherent to the Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw.

In each day use, the HP Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw is fast and dependable when printing from my Home windows PC and MacBook. The HP Sensible cellular app helps iOS and Android, however I discovered superior choices open in a browser that required getting into a PIN code from contained in the printer’s entrance panel.

Worth

The HP Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw lists for $339. I’ve seen it as little as $259, which is a extra intriguing supply. As a quick, typically dependable shade laser printer, these are affordable buy costs. The larger concern might be long-term prices of toner.

The starter cartridges included with the Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw are a bit gentle, containing sufficient toner for about 600 black and 500 shade pages. For comparability, Brother’s $300 HL-L3280CDW contains way more toner, sufficient for 1,000 black and 1,000 shade pages.

When it’s time to replenish toner for the Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw, high-capacity cartridges supply important financial savings in long-term prices.

A normal black ink cartridge usually yields 1,300 pages and has a price of roughly 5 cents per web page. A high-capacity cartridge is price the additional expense in case your finances permits, since it may produce as much as 3,200 pages, lowering the price per web page to three cents.

For shade paperwork, the financial savings are much more important. A normal shade cartridge can print 1,200 pages at a price per web page of 20 cents, whereas a high-yield toner cartridge can lengthen to about 2,500 pages at 14 cents per web page.

Is that this the printer for you?

The HP Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw is a quick shade laser printer with good high quality for a low-cost dwelling workplace printer, however there are higher choices. HP’s superior Coloration LaserJet Professional 4201dw might be discovered for as low $399, simply $60 greater than the retail worth of the Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw.

Canon’s imageClass MF654cdw contains an automated doc feeder so you may scan, copy, and print — and it prices much less. Brother’s 31 page-per-minute HL-L3295CDW ships with sufficient toner for two,300 monochrome and 1,200 shade pages and retails at $370, simply $30 greater than the Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw.

It’s not that HP’s Coloration LaserJet Professional 3201dw is a foul printer, however the awkward consumer interface and considerably costly worth for a finances printer falls in need of a mannequin I can suggest.

We’ve got a information to the perfect low cost printers which may allow you to discover what you’re searching for. Additionally, try our checklist of the perfect printer offers to avoid wasting extra on an awesome printer.