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The Color LaserJet 2840 All-in-One is one of two MFC laser printers that made the grade for this article. It has a somewhat lower monthly duty cycle than the HP 1022 at 7,000 pages per month, instead of 8,000. Its black-and-white print and copy speed goes up to 18 ppm, just like the HP 1022 for printing alone. Many SOHO users find this printer appealing because it does copier resizing from 25% to 400%, can fax up to 20 ppm and offers excellent print quality for text and adequate print quality for halftones and graphics.
With its scanning lid and integrated fax management keypad on the top cover, the 3050 is both bulbous and boxy.
Pricing on this unit is also pretty darn attractive. Careful shopping around turns up prices between $210 and $230 at the low end of the range, which is good for a capable MFC. The input tray in this unit holds 260 pages and the HP 3050 also comes equipped with 64 MB RAM (no upgrade slot is available).
The 3050 is middling in size with dimensions of 16.9" x 17.5" x 18.1" (42.9cm x 44.3cm x 45.9cm), and it weighs a modest 20.5 lb (9.3 kg). Consumables are the same as for the HP 1022, which cost $70 for a black cartridge rated at 2,000 pages. Refilled or aftermarket cartridges are widely available, and usually go for $45-$55.
Though its consumable costs are a bit on the high side (3.5 cents per page by HP's own estimates), the 3050 is a good deal for a modestly-capable monochrome laser MFP.
Maybe I am reading it wrong but this printer offers a separate image drum compared to its toner drum. They come apart and you can buy toner separately. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the toner might last 2500 pages, but the drum is good for 10,000, so why replace the drum if it isn't ready? The other personal laser printer I was looking at only had one replaceable part, drum/toner together. This was the main reason I got one, I could control my cost better.
Brother HL-2040 is a compact monochrome laser printer designed for both small office and personal use. Brother HL-2040 features a built-in memory of 8MB, 250-sheet paper capacity tray and affordable printing supplies. Compatible Brother HL-2040 toners are known for its quality and inexpensive price tag. As such, Brother HL-2040 toner cartridges are able to generate 2,500 pages of high quality printouts at top 5% coverage.
