If it's HP it's good

Our office replaced the HP 3100 (all in one) with the HP3050 (all in one) one month ago, and it is a dream machine.

Old HP 3100: Work horse, reliable, few toner cartridge changes needed, but very slow. Occasional paper jams. Un-classy outmoded white design and noisy.

New HP3050: Upgrade from the 3100 has the same features. Fax/scan/copy/print. Improvements over the 3100: Quiet, fast and more pleasant looking as office décor.

Now that last sentence may surprise you. Why would anyone choose an office product for office décor? The manufacturers know and we know that when someone walks into your office, they look at it like furniture. What is pleasing to the eye, they will be attracted to and ask you about. The design of the 3050 is tight (fits in a small space), shades of gray, and vertical.

The faculty often ask about the machine when they walk in. “Hmm… you got a new machine? What is it? How does it perform?” I can honestly say it performs wonderfully. The bottom tray is where the paper for printing is, and you fax from the top trays.

One item I use a lot is envelopes, and it is so simple to put an envelope in and print out.

Faxing out is super reliable and--again--fast. With the old machine it took forever to transfer messages by fax. We would wait long periods for the “sending, connecting” message, but with this machine, the paper is loaded before the number is dialed. The paper slides through and afterwards the number dials up. My guess is with the old machine the modem speed was 9600 vs. 34kbps for this one. It has some of the 3100 features such as speed dial and redial. When you press the Cancel (X) button, the job is cancelled immediately.

This machine came with a Get Started manual, and HP makes the manual available online. You should read the setup instructions before operating. In the case of the fax you want to make sure the time clock and company header are correct.

The manufacturer specs state:
Print up to 19 pages/minute
• Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
• 7,000 pages per month
• Sheet feeder
• Automatic document feeder (30 pages)
• Incoming fax memory: 110 pages
Compatible with our WinXP O/S and easy to install the software and setup. Just plug it in and go.

We are using the scanner more and more because fax-to-fax is not reliable. The scanner allows you to save in PDF format and scan photo or document to email and send quickly. We only scan documents, so I cannot comment about the photo quality.

So far we have not had to change the print cartridge and it has been a month of use. The sheet tray holds 250 paper pages. Another plus is its light-weightness at 22 pounds. Since I am in the office alone it helps not to have heavy equipment to lift.

Cost of cartridge is important and according to HP the replacement is $69. You can beat that price by half if you google competitive ink manufacturers. Overall, this is a best buy.