HP DeskJet 3820 Inkjet Printer Review

The HP 3820 DeskJet Printer is the even smaller cousin of the housebound HP DeskJet 5550 printer but luckily the HP 3820 DeskJet Printer, while certainly some sacrifices have been made in reducing it's size at the core of the HP 3820 DeskJet is a good quality printer.

For the price of under $100 you would not be expecting the HP 3820 DeskJet printer to be the world's best color inkjet printer and the option of the 6 color photo cartridge for the 5550 has been lost in the 3820. The three color cartridge that is standard will be sufficient for printing the occasional photo to send to your friend who had too much to drink at your last party as a memento, however.

If you are looking for a photo printer, however, I would look somewhere other than the DeskJet 3820 from HP, you are much better off with the HP DeskJet 5550 to start with and there are far better inkjet photo printers out there than the 5550.

Here are the specifications:

• black: up to 12ppm
• color: up to 3ppm
• Total Input Media Capacity 100 sheets
• 600 x 600 dpi for monchrome documents
• 4800 x 1200 dpi for color documents
• Maximum Duty Cycle: 1,000 prints/month
• 3 color palette (with layering technology)
• Maximum Duty Cycle: 10,000 prints/month

The HP DeskJet 3820 is not Small

The HP DeskJet 3820 is definitely not a mobile printer at about twenty inches long and ten high but the paper trays do fold up which makes the HP 3820 resembles a plastic lump on our review bench. The printing operation of the HP DeskJet 3820 is very quiet and we were very impressed with the output both in terms of black text and color graphics for a printer of this price.

The HP DeskJet 3820 Installs Charmingly

Although HP have reported some problems with their installation with Windows 2000 for the HP DeskJet 3820, in XP, the platform for which the drivers were designed, installation of the Deskjet 3820 is very easy. I would never consider some initial delay installing a printer that will then offer me years of trouble free printing, however, and there is a wealth of online resources for the HP DeskJet 3820.

Our Conclusion for the DeskJet 3820

For what it is the HP DeskJet 3820 is a great printer; it can print good color and black text, but it does them slowly and very expensively. A 970-page toner cartridge for the HP DeskJet 3820 will cost you at least $40, but are easy to install. The HP DeskJet is a good small printer but only an option if your print needs are few. I, personally, find it hard to justify an inkjet printer this limited and would pay the extra for the HP DeskJet 5550 every time.