I was a bit nervous about buying this printer because there were no reviews yet on Amazon and my wife has had all kinds of software problems with an HP Photosmart printer that she bought last year (against the advice of dozens of Amazon reviewers). But after looking around a bit, I decided that the HP LJ3050 looked like the best all-in-one laser machine for the money. And I really loved my previous all-in-one, the HP LJ3100, which had served me well for 8 years.
I just received the product and installed it today, and the installation went smoothly (although it did take a while). The print quality is fine and the speed is an improvement over my old 3100. My only complaint about the print function so far is that the machine is kind of loud. The scan software doesn't seem quite as straightforward as the software for my 3100, but it does work just fine. I probably just need to get used to it. Copying is nice and quick. I haven't plugged the machine into a phone jack yet, so I won't comment on the fax features.
The machine is not quite as solidly built as my old 3100, but it is actually a little better than I expected. I would have to say that, overall, I am pleased with this product so far. My only complaint is that the box does not include the USB cable needed to connect the machine to your PC. I had to make a special trip out to the store to buy one, and it cost over $20. I went back and checked the outside of the box and could not find anything that clearly said "USB cable not included", so I feel like I have a right to be angry about it. HP Laser Jet 3050 All in One Printer/Copy/Scanner (White/Black)
Faxes are received as bar codes. HP knows a problem exist with the formatter board but it took 4 calls to customer support for the problem to be acknowledged. To fix this under warranty HP wants to charge $50 for a refurbished copier sent overnight. I want the copier repaired at no cost at the local repair center but HP will not send the part. The part is backordered with "no estimate ship date". I can buy the part as an end user for $193. HP does not stand behind it's products.
I bought this with the half off rebate - as a result it was very reasonable in price. I wouldn't pay full price for it though.
Prior to owning this unit, I owned an Officejet V40 which I was quite satisfied with. The reason that I replaced it is that there are no decent drivers for current operating systems. I also had noticed that is was larger than current all-in-ones with similar functionality. However, it was easy to use and worked realiably for 5 years.
In comes the HP 3050. While it does its job fine - I do have three negative comments. It is a monster in size! I have no idea why it is so large! It's color scanning errors on the side of being too red. Finally, its menus and functions are not as intutiive as they could be.
Added this machine to my new Vista-powered notebook. Although the printer drivers will automatically install and let me print, none of the included software on HP's installation CD will work. So beware that you will get none of the supporting software for scanning, faxing, etc. Chat session with HP was no help -- they're "working on it" with Microsoft.
The installation of this printer went very well. However, after installing the printer my computer began running EXTREMELY slow. I checked and it was using 100% of the CPU. I stopped all the processes associated with this printer and my speed returned to normal. I contacted HP and they said it is a known problem and they are working on it (that was six months ago). They still are working on it. HP's solution is to install the print driver only (so you cannot use the scan or fax feature) until they write new software for this printer.
They should have recalled the printer since it doesn't work properly. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS PRINTER!!!!
After quite a few phone calls, I was finally told that there are many problems with the "Fax Receiving Function" for this product... Yet there were no mentioning of this situation on HP's website. HP rated it 4 or more stars. Now their staff finally told me the truth!!! I wish I had known it earlier.
If you just want this for a printer, its a dandy little machine. If you want to use this for business, be prepared to fax your pages twice... because you will have to get a call from the receiving end saying "your pages are all garbled, could you please fax again?!". Then you either must run the "scan hotfix" off of the hp website or turn the machine off. This happens about 1 out of every 4 faxes or scans. You'll know when you scan something and see the horrible results. Stay away from this machine if you need it for faxing or scanning. Printing... sure. Unless, of course, HP does some sort of new software patch or driver update or something, otherwise this would be one of the quickest, best multi-function machines on the market. - All In One Printer - All-in-one - Printer - Fax'
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