HP unfreeze a group of new color laser printer — the 3000 series in 2024 — and I go hands - on with the Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw to test how well it works .

As one ofthe best printer brands , HP get reliable and durable product , so I wanted to dig into the specifics of this particular poser to find oneself out if it ’s a unspoilt value for small stage business and home offices .

Design

HP ’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw is thickset for a multifunction colour laser printing machine . The design use a mix of grays and off - White to blend in in at the role or at home .

Laser printer are always bulkier than inkjets , and an robotic document feeder ( ADF ) supply several inches in height . The 16.5 - by-16.5 - inch all - in - one stands 13.4 inch tall and includes scan , copy , facsimile , and print capabilities . The weight is achievable at 37.7 pound but solid enough to prevent vibration .

An adjustable 4.5 - column inch coloration touchscreen makes navigate menus soft . When standing , it lean back as far at 35 degrees above horizontal . If you want to habituate the touchscreen while sit down , it raises to 67 degrees for comfortable viewing . A USB - A port allows for walk - up printing .

The Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw has a 250 - piece of paper main paper tray and a media slot that ’s convenient for envelopes and labels . The expansion slot is n’t quite as nice as a tray , since newspaper or envelope are n’t brook .   However , it ’s a good design overall .

Printing performance

The Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw feels snappy since the first page roll out in under 11 second . free burning speed is a bit slower than competing solution , and HP shit it at 26 pages per minute ( ppm ) for monochrome and color document . Brother ’s similarly price HL - L3295CDWis quicker with a 31 - ppm throughput , but it adopt two seconds longer for the first pageboy .

Print timbre is excellent for document . Black text it sharp even in fine print , and color document look vibrant with good contrast . In fact , the contrast is a little too strong .

In photograph , I noticed the shadowy areas lose detail , and images look a bit darker than the original picture . Like most laser pressman , HP ’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw ca n’t print borderless image .

If you print photos often , an inkjet printing machine will handle the job betterbut not as quickly as a color optical maser printing machine .

Special features

HP gave the Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw a very dainty ADF to facilitate multi - document scanning , copying , and faxing . That ’s important for an office .

It ’s quite fast since it treat double - sided page in a individual pass . Copying is even faster than printing , with the first page hitting the outturn bin in under 10 seconds . The sustained rate is 26 transcript per minute for simplex and 16 per arcminute for duplex .

While the ADF is specify to 300 window pane per inch ( dpi ) , the flatbed scanner supports up to 1,200 dpi , which is useful for scanning detailed photographs or capturing fine print for optical character recognition .

The USB - A port wine below the presentation let me glance over to and print from a thumb drive . I had to push quite firmly to get the pressman to recognize my USB drive , but it crop well otherwise .

I do n’t have a landline to examine the facsimile machine , but that technology is well - establish , and facsimiles should n’t pose any problem for HP .

Software and compatibility

The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw was easy to lay out up . All four toner cartridges come preinstalled and dual - band Wi - Fi quickly found my electronic web . In just a few minutes , the printer was quick to apply .

Windows and Mac computing machine instantly know the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw and download the driver if needed . I connected via Wi - Fi , but there are ports on the back for USB and Ethernet cables if you desire to connect direct to the printer .

On mobile devices , the HP Smart app is intuitive and work well for most thing . There was n’t a way to print envelopes from the app , but I managed to get the task done using AirPrint .

HP also throttle mobile scanning to 300 dpi , while I can pick out up to 1,200 dpi when I scan to a computer . I ’m not a lover of arbitrary limitations . Epson allows 600 dpi scan to mobile fromthe EcoTank Pro ET-5850 , an inkjet that ’s most as fast as the Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw .

Price

HP trade the Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw for $ 529 , a amazingly high price for this midrange pressman . The much faster and all - around betterHP Color LaserJet Pro 4301fdwretailed for $ 699 in 2023 , but you could often find it on sales event for less than $ 500 . HP just introduced the Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw in 2024 , so I anticipate it will drop in toll over fourth dimension .

Toner monetary value are always a thoughtfulness for colour laser printers . HP include starter cartridges that provide about 600 monochrome pages and 500 colour page .

That wo n’t last long . Fortunately , HP ’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw can accept high - yield toner cartridges that last longer and have humbled fabric price .

A standard smutty magazine prints an average of 1,300 pages and costs about 5 cents per page . A high - capacity cartridge lasts much longer , up to 3,200 pages , and lowers cost per page ( cpp ) to 3 cents .

The savings are more notable for color written document . Standard people of color pickup deliver 1,200 pages at 20 cent cpp , while high - yield toner cartridges last for about 2,500 Sir Frederick Handley Page at 14 cents per page .

Of course , you pay more upfront for the larger cartridges , but the savings add up over months and years of printing process .

Is this the printer for you?

It ’s beneficial to keep an centre on the Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw . It ’s a smaller , lighter color optical maser printing machine than lowering - responsibility printers like theCanon imageClass MF753cdw . While it ca n’t touch the performance of last class ’s discounted manakin , it could match nicely into the sweet spot for home offices when it starts getting discounted .

The speed is good , quality is dainty , and it ’s rated for up to 40,000 pages per month , so you have room to develop . The TerraJet toner HP ’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw uses is more ecofriendly than most toners also .

For more choice , check out our guides tothe best color laser printersandbest all - in - one printersto find the veracious choice for your domicile office or pocket-size business enterprise .