HP LaserJet 3380 review

HP LaserJet 3380 CNET

Published: 06 May 2004

The HP LaserJet 3380 is the top-of-the-line model in HP's new series of four affordable laser-based multifunction printers. The HP LaserJet 3380 combines a vendor-rated 20ppm monochrome laser engine with a 600dpi colour flatbed scanner and can perform most of the functions needed to run a small business or home office. That includes both PC-based and standalone faxing, copying, scanning -- and, of course, printing. We found the LaserJet 3380 to be carefully designed and well equipped, which makes it both versatile and easy to use. But although it's among the fastest multifunction laser printers we've seen, its merely adequate print quality is disappointing.

Design

The two-tone grey, mushroom-shaped LaserJet 3380 printer stands 49.5cm high but takes only 54.6cm by 52.1cm of desktop, which is about average; and at just 15.8, it's easy enough to push aside when necessary. The components stack neatly, with the main paper tray at the base, a sunken output slot and control panel in the middle and an automatic document feeder crowning the scanner lid on top. The left side of the printer pops open to reveal a slot to add more memory, two phone jacks for a fax line and a pass-through, and a USB and parallel port. HP sells several networking options for the LaserJet 3380, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Ethernet NICs.

Installing the LaserJet 3380 on Windows XP was simple and fast. The drivers also run on 98, 2000 and ME and on Mac OS versions 9.1, 9.2.x, 10.2 and 10.3. Installing and replacing the toner cartridge is easy. The cartridge and drum form one unit that drops into grooves behind a door about where the 3380's belly button would be. When you open the door, a lever lets you pull the cartridge to the front, so you don't even have to reach inside. Cartridges come in two sizes: a £36 (ex. VAT) model that is specified to last 2,500 pages (about 1.4 pence per page), and a 3,500-page model that sells for £43 (about 1.2 pence per page).

We encountered a few minor design flaws. For instance, when refilling the main paper tray, you have to remove its cover to hold it open. And while you can remove the scanner lid yourself, useful when working with bulky objects such as books, removing the document feeder above it involves detaching a power cable and the clips that hold it in place, making it almost a two-person job. Nonetheless, we like the design of the HP LaserJet 3380 overall.

Features

The LaserJet 3380 provides adequate paper-handling options. The main tray holds 250 sheets and has a 10-sheet bypass feeder, while the legal-size automatic document feeder holds 50 pages. Unfortunately, there are no additional paper tray options for this printer. The HP LaserJet 3380 comes with 32MB of memory, which is adequate for storing 250 fax pages should the paper run out, although you can expand the RAM memory by adding either a 32MB or 64MB module.

The control panel is among the cleanest we've seen. It separates functions into six groups: a set of nine speed dials, a set of fax controls, a numeric keypad, an LCD with arrow keys for navigating the on-screen menus, a set of copy-control buttons, and a button to launch scans and send them to your PC. The copy function has a command to collate multiple copies of multi-page documents, and unlike most standalone photocopiers these days, the LaserJet 3380 scans the documents only once, which saves you time.

HP's software is basic. When you select the print command within an application, you choose either the 3380's print or fax function. If you choose fax, it displays a basic phonebook and lets you attach a cover page from a short list of designs. Phone numbers you store in the phone book on the control panel automatically sync with those in your PC, and vice versa. If you're picky about spelling names, you'll like this control panel because it provides both uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as punctuation. Most fax machines offer you only all capital letters. As for the scanner, the TWAIN driver interface has controls for exposure and colour but is otherwise very limited. HP bundles the 3380 with ReadIris Pro OCR software.

Performance

Print performance
The LaserJet 3380 is the fastest monochrome multifunction laser printer we have tested, delivering 13.5 pages per minute (ppm) when printing text. In our graphics test, the LaserJet 3380 pumped out 11.8ppm.

Unfortunately, the LaserJet 3380 doesn't impress us with its print quality. The text printouts were a little too dark, with slightly ragged letters -- a problem similar to that found on inkjet printers. This combination made the small text sizes (6 point and smaller) bleed together. In addition, the graphics printouts were too light, giving images a dotty look. Even so, the graphics documents still had good contrast and gradient.

Scan and copy performance
As a multifunction printer, the LaserJet 3380 did well with scanning, delivering 2.0ppm of colour documents and 3.1ppm of greyscale documents. When copying, it clocked in at a moderate 4.8ppm.

The quality of the LaserJet 3380's scanned images was inconsistent and slightly out of focus on both the colour and greyscale scans. The colour scans had excellent colour matching and very good gradient, while the gradient of the greyscale scans was poor. Despite all this, the LaserJet 3380 made decent-looking monochrome copies.

Service & support

At £449 (ex. VAT), the HP LaserJet 3380 is no casual purchase, but HP supports the product well with a year-long warranty and telephone technical support at 8 pence a minute (8.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday). HP also sells additional support options.

HP offers a Web site brimming with access to user forums, email support, live chats with HP technicians, and driver and manual downloads. The HP LaserJet 3380 comes with a brief setup guide, a detailed manual on the fax features, and an extensive on-screen manual in both PDF and HTML.

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