Roy Santos

HP LaserJet 3330mfp

The HP LaserJet 3330mfp, the only laser MFP in our roundup, produced the sharpest, least smudgy text and line-art documents in our copy tests. It also bolted to the fastest overall print time, attributable to its black-only printing and laser engine. This model is one of only two MFPs in our June 2003 roundup that comes with both a flatbed feeder and a sheet feeder (the Canon MP730 is the other). The sheet feeder is very useful if you're scanning, faxing, or copying multipage documents. It beats having to place single pages one by one on the flatbed and processing them manually. You can use the built-in fax without a PC, and it has sufficient memory to transmit up to 300 pages at low resolution. In addition, you can expand the MFP's 32MB of RAM to 96MB. The LaserJet 3330mfp is the only model in the roundup that has a parallel port in addition to a USB 1.1 port. The parallel port simplifies connecting the MFP to a network.
Speedy scans are not the LaserJet 3330mfp's forte. In lab tests, the device finished dead last in overall scan speed, a hair behind HP's PSC 2210. But it produced clean and sharp scans of our Word document and line-art pages, with dark, even text. This machine is the tallest and bulkiest of the seven MFPs we tested, so it may not be the best choice for a cramped office. The LaserJet 3330mfp has about the same width and depth as the other six all-in-ones, but it towers over them at almost 20 inches tall. On the other hand, its paper tray holds 250 sheets of paper, whereas most MPFs in our roundup have 100-sheet trays.
The LaserJet 3330mfp's toner cartridges cost more than the ink cartridges used by the color ink jets. Toner cartridges produce many more pages than the average black ink jet cartridge, however, and the 3330mfp's cost per page beats that of most ink jet-based MFPs.The machine may be bulky, but its overall design is well conceived. Finished prints feed into a cavity between the control panel and the paper tray. HP positioned most connections, including the USB port and a port for the fax line, on one side of the device rather than in the back; as a result, you can reach the connections relatively easily, even if the device is placed against a wall. A handy cover contains all the cables.
For businesses that produce hundreds of prints and photocopies daily, the LaserJet 3330mfp may be a better value than a less-expensive ink jet MFP.

Buying Information

HP LaserJet 3330mfp $ http://