HP LaserJet 3015 All-In-One Toner Cartridges
HP LaserJet 3015 All-In-One Printer Review
Expert review of the HP LaserJet 3015 All-In-One printer
Our Verdict:
The nice thing about all-in-one printers is that they meet most of your office needs, such as printing, copying, scanning, and faxing. The not-so-nice thing about them is that they tend to be expensive, and manufacturers often price them outside the budget range of the home user and even the small office. The alternative is a cheaper model, but that usually means missing or deficient features. Neither is the case with the HP LaserJet 3015 All-In-One. With this printer, HP manages to pack in all the performance you'd expect at a price you can actually afford. That's not to say the 3015 is without issue but none of them are deal-breakers, and most users can live with them at this price point.
Design
For the LaserJet 3015, HP uses a dark grey and antique white colour scheme. This is the worst aspect of the design because these two colours contrast, which causes the device to stand out. Physically, the unit is much taller and wider than it is deep, and because of this, it fits shelving more easily than cube-style printers do. The downside is that it's not quite as stable, so you certainly don't want to sit it up high. It also has a retractable output tray, and if that tray becomes loaded, it can set the whole thing off balance if not on a wide enough platform.
Advantages
The biggest advantage to the HP 3015 is the control panel, a powerful interface that you'd expect to find on a more expensive machine. Despite all the functionality, the control panel manages to be intuitive and easy to use, and you can even access it via your PC. The LaserJet 3015 is network-ready, and it has a full range of PC-fax features. Another advantage is that the black HP 3015 toner cartridges are priced aggressively, and a standard HP 3015 toner cartridge provides 2,000 pages at 5% coverage (with budget high capacity alternative HP 3015 toner cartridges producing 4,000 pages).
Disadvantages
In terms of design, the LaserJet 3015 has some issues. Nevertheless, if you have a spot for it that is larger than the printer base, most of those issues go away. In terms of performance, HP intends the HP 3015 primarily for text printing, and it really excels in that department. However, there are some quality issues when it comes to colour printing, graphics and scanning. These flaws aren't big issues for the average user who will typically be making disposable copies and scans. However, if you intend to print high-quality pictures, newsletters, copies, scans, and so forth, the HP 3015 can fall a little short of the mark.