HP - LaserJet Pro MFP 3301sdw Wireless Color All-in-One Laser Printer - White

HP has been making quality office printers for a long time, and they have gotten quite good at it. This printer follows in that tradition, and I am confident that it is a well-constructed machine that will produce high-quality prints and copies with little maintenance or fuss for a long time into the future. print quality 5/5 build quality 5/5 setup and software 3/5 clock 1/5 (why is there even a clock?) I have been using this printer for about a week now, and I’ve been consistently impressed with the quality of the prints and scans. Making a copy of a full-color graphic original resulted in a copy almost indistinguishable from the original, with excellent color matching and crisp, clear lines. In general, the interface is easy to operate, and the physical design of the machine is indicative of HP’s decades of experience making quality printers and copiers. Unfortunately, there have been several setbacks to my giving a glowing recommendation for this product. In fact, as I sat down to write this review, the printer won’t even boot; it is stuck on the HP logo that comes up for a few seconds when the printer is turned on. Software Ease of use and Stability: The first sign of trouble was that after the initial setup, the printer found a firmware update it wanted to do. After I told it to go ahead, the display showed a “critical error.” Fortunately, the printer could still boot afterwards, and when I tried again the firmware update succeeded. Most of the setup and settings were easy enough and straightforward, but I wanted to try out some of the more advanced features. In addition to printing and copying, it can also scan to a computer, to email, or to network storage. I was able to do the first two, but I couldn’t get it to recognize my network storage. I found lots of folks online who struggled with the same issue and who eventually resolved it after reinstalling and resetting and trying various combinations of settings. So I expect that I might eventually be able to get it to work too, but so far no luck. The device can also print from or scan to a USB storage device. I learned that the USB drive has to be formatted FAT16 or FAT32, so the first drive I tried which was formatted ExFAT would not work. The absolute worst part is the clock. Why does a printer need a clock, you might ask? I don’t know, but part of the initial setup was to set the clock. Since this is a fully network-connected device, they easily could have included NTP to have the clock set automatically, but they didn’t. Even worse is that whenever I turn off the printer the clock stops running! So if I want the clock to be accurate, I have to reset it every time I turn on the printer. Good thing printers don’t need clocks, right? Practically speaking, this is just an annoyance, but it’s one of those details that shows that HP doesn’t care about their software anywhere near as much as they worry about making good hardware. The printer did not come with much documentation at all. I eventually found a comprehensive user guide on HP’s website, but it took a bit of searching. There were a few times when I really needed extra information: for example, after the initial setup there are certain settings that require an administrator login; I wouldn’t have guessed that the administrator password defaults to a PIN code printed on a label inside the printer. Office Use: The main paper tray claims to hold 250 sheets of standard 20lb paper, but my experience is closer to 150 sheets. For an office printer, I would prefer that the main tray have a 1-ream capacity so that a ream of paper can be loaded fully and avoid having to store a partially-used pack of paper outside the printer. Other printers in the same size range have a 1-ream capacity, so this is a little disappointing. Marketing claims this printer is “super fast.” While I have no complaints about the speed, its 25 pages per minute seems about average for a smaller laser printer. Scanning is much slower, about 10 pages per minute when I tested the document feeder. Regardless, it has a document feeder, which is a wonderful time-saver for larger scanning jobs. I found the feeder to be easy to use and to work well: no jams, misfeeds, or misalignments. Note, though, that while the printer will print double-sided, the document feeder only scans single-sided. Marketing also claims a “compact design” which just made me want to criticize the size. With a footprint roughly 16.5” square this is not a huge printer, but it’s bigger than other similar models. Inside the case, there’s about an inch of open air on each side. They actually could have easily made it more compact except that they chose to mount the scanning bed perpendicular to the printing mechanics. In other words, it’s not as compact as it easily could have been. I’m not sure why they chose to configure it this way, but it is set up so that you don’t need access to the sides of the printer during operation: paper goes in and comes out the front, and scanning happens on top. So, despite being wider than it “needs” to be, this is a very thoughtful design. I like that there isn’t a feed door on the side that would interfere with using the space on either side of the printer. Privacy: There have been reports about certain printers spying on what you print. Obviously this would be really bad for anyone printing sensitive information, e.g. anything including financial details or confidential business records. Also obviously, this is most of what people do with printers. Fortunately, HP does not seem to be among the companies with such a bad business practice. From what I can tell, they take privacy seriously. During my testing, the printer did not send any data to the cloud about my print jobs. I did not set up their cloud service, but according to their privacy documents they do not keep any records for their customers in any form that is used by the company for marketing, targeting, or other undesirable purposes. However, they are in the business of using DRM to restrict the way you can use the printer. Most expressly, this printer uses tech to keep you from using toner cartridges not authorized by HP. They even warn that cartridges that work today may not work tomorrow if they decide to block them (via a firmware update). At least they get points for being honest about this, but I would much rather they didn’t do it in the first place. This is an anticompetitive practice designed to coerce people into buying new, HP-branded toner cartridges instead of toner refill kits or cartridges from other manufacturers. And it’s no coincidence that the HP-branded toner costs twice as much as others. Additionally, the fact that they have this tech in their printer means that they can change the rules any time they want and lock you out of even using HP-branded cartridges if they think they can get away with it (and they definitely think they can get away with it). Granted, almost every printer manufacturer has been pulling these tricks for decades, but that doesn’t make it any less offensive. Summary: This is a great printer from a reputable company. The hardware seems well-designed, and it appears to be rugged and durable. In fact, I like this printer a lot. But a few software issues make me question whether I’ll end up finding it to be a valuable addition to my office for years to come, or if I’ll be pulling my hair out over bugs, glitches, and DRM lockouts every time I have an important print job with a deadline.

For the past week I have been testing the HP Color LaserJet Pro Multifunction Printer Model 3301sdw. Overall It is a great all in one device with some minor drawbacks. Setting it up was a breeze, even for someone who is not super tech-savvy. Integrating into home or office networks is seamless, taking less than five minutes, including firmware updates. The printer has four preinstalled TerraJet Toner cartridges: Black: 600 pages, Introductory Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow: 500 pages, which are easily accessible and changeable. The input tray easily handled 250 sheets of paper and installing it was a breeze. There is also a 50 sheet document feeder that also works very fast and flawlessly. In my testing the Laserjet pro performed extremely well. The printer delivers sharp, clear, vibrant prints that produce quality professional documents and graphics. However, the noise is very noticeable when printing a large amount of documents. This may be an issue in smaller homes or businesses if the space is also where there will be heavy telephone use while printing. Scanning speed was equally impressive, churning out multiple pages at a rapid pace. Also, this product's security is impressive. I was surprised to find embedded security, with tamper-resistant toner, right out of the box. There was also preconfigured security, along with printer sign-in features. There were a few minor drawbacks though. The touchscreen was a little on the small side, especially for users with larger fingers. I had multiple errors entering the Wi-Fi password. Also the font was somewhat smaller than I would like to see. While it was frustrating initially, it is a minor inconvenience that persistence can overcome. Overall, these minor inconveniences were easily outweighed by the printer's strengths. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301sdw was a reliable and powerful workhorse that made printing a breeze. If you're looking for a versatile and fast printer/scanner for your home or small office, this is a great option to consider.

This is my second HP color laser printer, and it’s been about 5 years since my last one. I am impressed with the small footprint of this newer multi-function printer, as it is relatively compact compared to ones I’ve been using recently. It measures 16.5 in wide, 13 in tall, and 14.75 in deep, weighing a little under 38 lbs. Extending the lower tray for legal size paper increases the depth to 17 in while opening the scanner lid tops out at 21.5 in tall. You will also need to leave at least 10 inches clearance behind the unit if you want to be able to open the rear access panel to clear paper jams. This printer has a built-in scanner with a 50-sheet capacity auto-document feeder (ADF) on top that can handle single-sided scanning of up to 20 pages per min (ppm) for black and white and up to 9 ppm for color scans. You can also scan documents one at a time on the flatbed scanner glass. Both the original and printout return trays have flip-out stops for handling larger stacks. There are two paper trays though note that tray 1 is simply a manual load slot just above the main paper tray; this slot is useful for one-off custom media like envelopes and cardstock. The main paper tray, marked 2, has a 250-sheet max capacity and can handle media sizes from 3x5 in to 8.4x14 in (legal-size) if the tray’s front is extended. Note that the extended tray will stick out a couple inches from the front of the machine, and there is no option to add an additional tray to increase its paper capacity. The printer can be setup and controlled via the on-board, tilt-able, color LCD touchscreen; the screen is bright, user-friendly, and intuitive. Setup takes about 5 minutes, and the only issue I ran into was that the date could not be modified when formatted as “MM-DD-YYYY” as the values would revert after hitting “Apply;” however, after selecting a different format, I was able to update the date and change the format back with the correct values intact. This printer can be connected to your home LAN network via WiFi, Ethernet, or USB-B (cables not included). You can initiate a scan, copy, or print from USB as well as change the machine’s settings and check its supply and maintenance status by swiping over to different icons on the screen. Note that to access administrative settings, you’ll need to enter an admin PIN; the default PIN can be found on the sticker behind the front panel. For businesses, the printer can be managed remotely via HP Smart Admin, an online, multi-printer, cloud-based dashboard. The machine comes with 4 pre-installed starter cartridges: black, magenta, cyan, and yellow with yields of 600 pages for black and white and 500 for color respectively. With OEM replacement toner in standard and high-yield capacities with page yields of 1300/3000 respectively for black and 1200/2500 for color, this puts the average price per print slightly on the high side. One thing to note is that HP toner cartridges have microchips on them, and if you enable cartridge protection, it will permanently lock those cartridges to your machine (so they cannot be removed and used elsewhere). There’s also an “Authorized HP cartridge policy” setting that when enabled prevents the use of third-party toners, however, you will still need a compatible chip on any new cartridge for it to work; these settings are toggled off by default. HP cartridges are also recyclable via their free Planet Partners program. When printing, the maximum output is 26 ppm with a max resolution of 600x600 dpi. Text is sharp and crisp with even line spacing and clean edges. Printed photographs are stunning with lively colors, clean transitions, and smooth gradients without any sign of banding. While clarity and accuracy tends to be very good with the default calibration, colors can appear slightly darker than on screen and may need some fine tuning. For scans, the max resolution is 300 dpi using the ADF and up to 1200 dpi on the flatbed. You have the option to scan directly to email, network folder, Sharepoint, USB, or to computer. Note that you will need to install the HP Scanning software on your computer in order to scan to it. When scanning from the printer’s control panel, by default the scan utility will crop any bounding white space instead of outputting the entire scan area which results in losing your page margins. To change this, you must use the web interface or the HP Scan utility on a computer to change the settings from “Detect Content” to “Entire Scan Area” and make sure to save these changes; oddly, there’s no way to change this behavior from the on-board controls. I found that the scans and copies produced by this machine are quite good, but not perfect. With text documents, I noticed a bit of stretching/compression of the font size depending on the line of text and a general upward shift to text on the page by a few pixels when comparing the copy to the original. Colors, though, remained accurate even with the max of 300dpi resolution. When scanning at higher resolutions, the scanning process takes longer, and the resolution is so granular you can practically see each point of toner in the scanned image file. In general, I found copies and scans retain a lot of fine details and textures in nearly photographic quality at 300 dpi and above. The main drawback for this model is that it is not able to perform duplex or 2-sided scanning/copying in a single pass; however, you can convert 1-sided pages into 2-sided prints using the ADF and then back again. This means that if you have a stack of 2-sided originals, you would first need to make copies of the even numbered sides, collate them into the stack, and then scan/copy as single-sided originals. One thing I will say is that the machine is quite loud when operating (around 51 dBA), and you’ll notice this during the machine’s warm upon turning on, waking from sleep, and printing; however, in sleep mode it is completely silent. There’s also an energy saving mode that will turn the printer off completely after a period of inactivity (1 to 8 hours), but you will have to press the power button to turn it on again later. Despite updating to the latest firmware, there’s a function on the control panel that doesn’t appear finished called “GalleryApp.” It’s unclear what this function is for, and when I entered it, there were tons of place holders, dummy text, and menus that you can get stuck in and can’t exit without restarting the machine. Hopefully, this will be fixed or removed in a future firmware update. WiFi connectivity and direct-connect options make the printer easy to use with a variety of devices, and I found the network connection to be stable and reliable. The HP Smart mobile app also works pretty well, and it’s easy to add the printer and print from your phone. However, I wasn’t able to get the scan to phone nor the walk-up scan to USB thumb drive features to work. Overall, the print quality from the 3301sdw is excellent. Text is clear and easy to read and colors are well-saturated, accurate, and vibrant. Printing, scanning, and copying are quick, though there may be some small visible differences between the original and copy. While there are a few features I couldn’t get to work properly, these could potentially be fixed in future firmware or software updates. This printer won’t be ideal for those that need to scan or make lots of copies of 2-sided documents, but for everything else I think it works great.