Hands On: HP Deskjet 3050 Review
Written by Alan Thursday, 1 September 2011 07:00
Sometimes products come our way for review, but sometimes they come our way by need and purchase. This is the latter.
It’s been almost a year since the HP Deskjet 3050 debuted – I know because I wrote a preview of it for GNC. Fast-forward until now and my family needed a new printer. Our trusty Epson was no longer so trusty. It wasn’t something I thought much about, but it was in the back of my mind recently when I was picking up a few things at our local Walmart. As I frequently do, I breezed through the electronics department to check things out. The HP Deskjet 3050 was on sale for $49! According to that preview I wrote, it originally retailed for $79, so that’s almost half off. Sure, it’s not the newest model anymore, but it’s a printer, it’s new out-of-the-box, and it’s not exactly a dot-matrix.
So, I grabbed one and threw it in the cart. After about two weeks of use I am ready to tell you what I think of this featured printer that can now be had for a bargain.
Price
Obviously, it starts with the price. My family isn’t print-happy. We print a few pages a week, and a lot of that is text. When we want prints of our digital photos we tend to get them done professionally, usually by Snapfish. We also don’t scan a lot of stuff, but, we did have a scanner for occasional use, and it had a broken hinge on the lid. All of this meant we were in the market for an all-in-one printer, but we didn’t need anything too fancy. $49 for a print-copy-scan device is a bargain in anyone’s book, so, on price this gets a thumbs up.
If everything were about price then this is where I would tell you to run as fast as you can to grab this printer. But, there are other considerations like setup, drivers, software, and how well it actually prints.
Specs
Below are the specs that were published by HP for the Deskjet 3050. The one that got my attention most was “wireless”. Our printer may be hooked to the desktop computer, but it’s rare we print from there. With two the laptops that we own and other notebook and tablet PC’s passing by for review, the majority of the print jobs come in wirelessly
| Functions | |
|---|---|
| All-in-one functions | Print, copy, scan |
| Multitasking capability | No |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Print speed black (draft, letter) | Up to 20 ppm |
| Print speed color (draft, letter) | Up to 16 ppm |
| Print speed, black (normal quality mode) | Up to 5.5 ppm |
| Print speed, color (normal quality mode) | Up to 4 ppm |
| Print speed, laser comparable, black | Up to 5.5 ppm |
| Print speed, laser comparable, color | Up to 4 ppm |
| Page yield footnote | Approximate yield. Actual yield depends on printer and specific use. See http://www.hp.com/go/pageyield for more information |
| First page out (black) | As fast as 21 sec |
| First page out (color) | As fast as 26 sec |
| Monthly duty cycle | Up to 1000 pages |
| Print technology | HP Thermal Inkjet |
| Print resolution, black | Up to 600 dpi |
| Print speed footnote | Either after first page or after first set of ISO test pages. For details see: http://www.hp.com/go/printerclaims |
| Print resolution, color | Up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi from 1200 dpi input data (when printing from a computer on photo paper) |
| Paper Handling | |
|---|---|
| Paper handling standard,input | 60-sheet input tray |
| Paper handling standard,output | 25-sheet output tray |
| Envelope capacity | Up to 5 envelopes |
| Envelope feeder | No |
| Duplex printing (printing on both sides of paper) | None (not supported) |
| Document finishing | Sheetfed |
| Media sizes, standard | Letter, legal, 4 x 6 in, 5 x 7 in, 8 x 10 in, No. 10 envelopes |
| Media types | Paper (brochure, inkjet, plain), photo paper, envelopes, labels, cards (greeting), transparencies |
| Media weight, recommended | 16 lb |
| Additional Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Memory, standard | Integrated |
| Print languages, standard | HP PCL 3 GUI |
| Scanner specifications | |
|---|---|
| Scanner type | Flatbed |
| Scan resolution, optical | Up to 1200 dpi |
| Bit depth | 24-bit |
| Scan size, maximum (flatbed) | 8.5 x 11.7 in |
| Automatic paper sensor | No |
| Copier specifications | |
|---|---|
| Copy resolution, black | Up to 600 optimized dpi (from 300 dpi input) |
| Copy resolution, color | Up to 600 optimized dpi (from 300 dpi input) |
| Maximum number of copies | Up to 50 copies |
| Connectivity | |
|---|---|
| Connectivity, standard | 1 USB 2.0; 1 WiFi 802.11b/g/n |
| Minimum system requirements | PC: Microsoft® Windows® 7: 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor, 1 GB (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit) RAM, 600 MB hard disk space, CD-ROM/DVD drive or Internet connection, USB port, Internet Explorer; Windows Vista®: 800 MHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor, 512 MB RAM, 700 MB hard disk space, CD-ROM/DVD drive or Internet connection, USB port, Internet Explorer; Windows® XP (SP2)* or higher (32-bit only): any Intel Pentium II, Celeron or compatible processor, 233 MHz or higher, 128 MB RAM, 250 MB hard disk space, CD-ROM/DVD drive or Internet connection, USB port, Internet Explorer 6 or higher. *Supports 32-bit only Macintosh: Mac OS X v 10.5 or v 10.6: PowerPC G4, G5 or Intel Core processor; 256 MB RAM; 300 MB available hard disk space; CD-ROM/DVD drive or Internet connection; USB port |
| Compatible operating systems | Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista®, Windows® XP (SP2)* or higher (32-bit only), Mac OS X v 10.5 or v 10.6 |
| Photo printing | |
|---|---|
| Borderless Printing | No |
| Dimensions and weight | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions (W x D x H) | 16.81 x 16 x 9.8 in (trays open), 16.81 x 12.05 x 6.14 in (trays closed) |
| Weight | 7.94 lb |
| Dimensions, max. (W x D x H) | 16.81 x 18.5 x 9.8 in (trays open and extended) |
| Package weight | 11.5 lb |
| Power and operating requirements | |
|---|---|
| Power supply | Input voltage 100 to 240 VAC (+/- 10%), 50/60 Hz (+/- 3 Hz) |
| Power consumption (Active) | 9 watts |
| Power Consumption (Standby) | 2.3 watts |
| Power Consumption, Powersave | 1.2 watts |
| Power Consumption (Manual-off) | 0.3 watts |
| Power consumption footnote | Power requirements are based on the country/region where the printer is sold. Do not convert operating voltages. This will damage the printer and void the product warranty. |
| Acoustic Pressure Emissions | 50 dB(A) (printing at 6 ppm) |
| Acoustic power emissions | 6.3 B(A) (printing at 6 ppm) |
| Operating temperature range | 32 to 113º F |
| Recommended Operating humidity range | 15 to 80% RH |
| ENERGY STAR® Qualified | Yes |
| What’s included | |
|---|---|
| What’s in the box | HP Deskjet 3050 All-in-One – J610a; HP 61 Black Ink Cartridge (~190 pages); HP 61 Tri-color Ink Cartridge (~165 pages); Software CD; Setup Guide; power supply; power cord; USB cable; Reusable Tote. [Average based on ISO/IEC 24711 or HP testing methodology and continuous printing. Actual yield varies considerably based on content of printed pages and other factors. For details see http://www.hp.com/go/learnaboutsupplies] |
| Cable included? | Yes, 1 USB |
| Warranty | World-class service and support. One-year technical phone support; one-year limited hardware warranty. Access to 24/7 award-winning support services through http://www.hp.com/support |
a.
Setup
Like a lot of hardware, there three ways you can get it up and running on a Windows PC. The most common is to use the CD that came in the box. The second most common, and the one I tend to use, is to plug it in and let Windows find the correct drivers. The third is to download and install the drivers/software from the manufacturer’s website.
I did two of the three – ironically, the two I use least. As it turns out, Windows doesn’t find the drivers, you have to use the disc or download. I used the disc for my desktop (where the printer is actually connected) and the family laptop. I used download for the new laptop I am using for the majority of my writing (because I had already misplaced that darn disc).
Be sure to read the setup boxes carefully so as not to install any unwanted software.
The wireless should set up on it’s own, but if you have problems then you can press the WPS button on your router or extender and it should pick up the printer on it’s own.
With this part, I had a mixed bag – using the disc for the family laptop required the WPS button, while using the downloaded software on my new notebook set up all by itself. That may simply be a difference in software – up-to-date download vs the dated CD.
The bottom line was that neither process was a problem. Both worked flawlessly on the first try and I had no trouble connecting to the printer after either setup process.
The setup will assign the printer a new IP address on your home network – in this case, 192.168.0.7. During the setup with the downloaded software, the laptop connected to the printer on it’s own (pictured above). Using the CD required me to click the WPS button on my wireless extender.
It should install itself as the default printer, but if it doesn’t, then right-click it and choose “Set as Default”.
Using the Printer
The software installation will put an option in your Programs menu (Start => All Programs) for HP. Click this and choose HP Deskjet 3050 J610 (or J611, depending on your model) to get a handy dashboard-type interface for your printer.
From here, you can access just about anything. Want to know how much ink you have left? Click “Estimated Ink Levels”. Printer Actions or Scanner Actions? Click either one. You even get (if you choose to install it) HP Photo Creations, which allows users to create photo books, greeting cards, and more. It’s not Photoshop, but as a freebie it’s pretty good.
As for actual printing, it performed perfectly. Both color and black came out well and there were no little problems like paper jams. Print time seemed to match the specs, although I didn’t run any actual tests – this was really about real-world bargain hunting and use.
Conclusion
If you want to print digital photos then you will likely want to go higher-end than this. But, for the average user this is a steal at $49 and even at a slightly higher price. The Print, Scan, and Copy functions all perform up to claims, and the software and drivers were simple to install and use. If you find this gem in your local store, and are in need of a new printer, then this is a must-grab bargain.
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Can this printer scan to an editable text format
Hmmm…I haven’t tried it with any OCR software, but it’s supposed to be able to.