HP 3020 Toner
LaserJet 3020 Toner Cartridges

HP 3020 Printer Review

The HP LaserJet 3020 is a monochrome multifunction laser printer designed for the personal or small office user. It has good implementation of multifunction features, and decent printing speeds. Lack of fax may be an issue for some.

The multifunction capabilities of the HP 3020 include printing, scanning, and copying, but no faxing capabilities. Faxing may not be a feature likely to be missed by the target market of this printer, namely personal or small business users, but it is worth mentioning. As the HP 3020 is a monochrome printer, it is only capable of printing and copying in monochrome, but color scanning is an option, at up to 600 dpi and 24-bit color depth. The unit advertises 9,600 dpi enhanced resolution, but its optical resolution is actually limited to 600 dpi. Canon 0453B003AA toner can yield higher resolutions.

Unlike a few similar all-in-one lasers from HP, the 3020 includes an automatic document feeder and a flatbed scanning surface. The automatic document feeder has a capacity of 50 pages for automatic scanning and copying. The flatbed scanning surface can scan sizes up to legal size. Print quality is excellent, especially for text. Graphics quality is good, and copies come out very clean. Print speed is around 15 pages per minute.

HP LaserJet 3020 toner cartridges are small, and available in two capacities. The standard capacity HP 3020 toner has 2,000 pages. While this is ok for a personal user with small printing needs, it is more economical to buy the high capacity HP LaserJet 3020 toner cartridges. At 3,000 pages, the high capacity HP 3020 toner cartridge will lower the cost per page, and it will not have to be replaced as often. Large volume users might want to look at the unit featuring HP Q5942X toner.

The unit is fairly compact, at least for a multifunction. It measures 14.9 inches by 19.6 inches by 15.8 inches (HWD) and weighs 26.4 pounds. It can be connected by either parallel or USB, though it does not come with its own USB cable. The HP 3020 does not have an ethernet port built-in for networking, but it can be shared across a network with either a printer server or a host computer. Given its included memory of 32 MB, its 240 mhz processor, and its 7,000 page monthly duty cycle, it should be able to adequately handle a small office of users in a networked environment. For color printing, a printer using Brother TN210M toner as well as cyan and yellow.

Overall, the HP LaserJet 3020 is a very capable multifunction printer with solid multifunction features that are well-integrate. Users who don't need faxing capabilities will find a lot to like.