Middle of the Road All-in-One

The LaserJet 3050 is a printer, copier, fax, and scanner. The printing mechanism is a LaserJet which provides for high quality text printouts. The scanning function is through a feeder as opposed to on a plate.

The toner cartridge is the HP 12A which is utilized in HP's current lower end laserjet printers. It costs around $60 on Amazon. Refurbished cartridges can be had for around half that price. Yield is about 2000 pages based on HP's metrics.

In the package with the unit is a printer cartridge, manuals, and a driver CD. As is the norm, no USB cable is included. These can be found on eBay for a few dollars.

This unit prints, copies and faxes in black and white and scans in color. I should note that I installed this printer on a iMac under OS-X Tiger. However most of my comments would apply to a PC user as well.

Pros:

1. Very fast printing - HP states it prints up to 19 ppm, I can confirm that it is very fast. This is true on copies as well.

2. Ability to print in draft (econo) mode which saves toner.

Through a software setting (as opposed to on the unit), one can set the printout to econo or draft mode. This saves on toner although the print is somewhat lighter. It works fine for day-to-day use.

3. Paper Feeder does not hang. The paper feeder on this unit has been very reliable. I have not had one hang or jam in the time I have had it.

4. Installation is easy. Software installation took about five minutes. As usual, if you follow HP's instructions, everything is a snap.

5. Noise level. I have read some reviews that complain this is a noisy unit; while it is not silent, the noise level does not disturb me.

Cons:

1. This unit is very large. I was very surprised - it is as though little thought was given to ergonomics. It is especially tall. The dimensions are 16.9 x 18.1 x 17.3 inches (WxHxD).

2. Many features are not easily accessible from the control panel. As an example, auto-answer / manual answer for fax is buried in menus - I have had a previous and cheaper HP Officejet which had a button for this. Econo mode is only accessible through software. In general, the functionality of this machine could be more accessible.

3. Photo scan quality is poor and a true disappointment. As above I had a cheaper HP inkjet all-in-one that was 5 years old. Color reproduction was much better (this one errors severely in the reds) and it was less scratchy in appearance (even after cleaning). Both were scan types.
If you are scanning B&W documents only, this is not an issue.

In summary, the only lacking feature on this unit is the photo scanning. Several times a year I have a need to scan photos (e.g. kid class pictures) and with this machine, the quality is subpar. I have also found that color correction in software is not easily corrected.

While I have not researched pricing on comparable units, at full price, this unit is not worth it given its defects; however, with a good rebate (e.g. 50% off as has been offered), it can be a good value (e.g. for under $200).

NOTE: I have been using the scanner a bit more. The other day, I was looking at the software interface and came across the option to adjust the color balance. I clicked on the option but did not make any changes - but now the color reproduction appears to be much better.

NOTE (12/17/08): The scanner is very prone to streaking. It is imprerative that it be cleaned properly with a non-lint cloth and a decent cleaner (I used alcohol). If you don't the streaks will not go away.