HP Deskjet 3050A e-All-in-One Printer (Print, Scan, Copy, AirPrint, Wireless, e-Print)

 

 

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I received my printer in 2 working days (despite only using the free Super Saver delivery) and it was packaged brilliantly as expected. Unpacking the printer was easy with everything easily accessible and sadly I got excited as the printer came inside a nice handy bag(!) within the box which will come in handy for shopping! Also, amazingly it comes with FREE INK to get you started which is such a bonus. It also comes with lots of manuals, CD ROM and a USB cable (I think - well I'm sure mine did) but I haven't used that as it was so easy to set up the wireless connectivity.

The set-up couldn't have been easier and even though I am 21, I do sometimes have difficulty with electrical items if the instructions are naff. However, there was a fold out instruction page with clear diagrams and step by step instructions which meant my printer was ready to use after about 15 minutes. I've read people had difficult setting up the wireless so I was expecting difficulties but it really was super easy, you just follow the on-screen instructions and it does it all for you!

The printer itself is a good size, I hate clumpy ones that take up all your space but this sits neatly and is rather compact on my desk. I've printed off lots of essays and a few pictures and the print quality is actually very good for the price and also surprisingly speedy.

For £39 (which is what I paid), I think it is absolutely excellent value and a really great, speedy and compact printer with good print quality. I will update the review in a few weeks on how long the ink lasts. Ink I understand is of average price and you can buy the 'XL' versions of the ink which are HP's extra value (more expensive - but last much longer) so I am likely to invest in those.

********UPDATE ON INK!!!!! - The ink that comes free ran out pretty quickly (as expected). After reading around a bit, I found that generally the standard 301 HP ink cartridges are a bit naff and do run out quickly. BUT! I have just bought the 301XL ink which has much more ink and already I am noticing a huge difference - it is SO much better value for money so I would recommend buying the 301XL black and colour ink cartridges (from Amazon.co.uk or an Amazon merchant as it's miles cheaper than in the shops) with the printer if you can afford it. ***********

Overall, a great product for me (a university student) with average printing needs - essays, Powerpoint documents and some photos. Very chuffed with this! **UPDATE - still using it all the time, and still absolutely thrilled**

Bought this printer to replace an ageing Canon. It proved very straightforward to set up - getting the Network info via a temporary USB cable from the computer. Unfortunately a few weeks later we bought a new router and changed networks. Despite following the instructions it proved impossible to convert it to the new network - then after nearly 2 hours and many attempts it just worked - I still don't know what I did differently but I forgive it now. I particularly like having it's own e mail address so that you can send it e mails and documents to print from remote locations - arrive home and there they are - printed.

You may think it silly to justify so much praise when I'm upgrading from a fairly old product (HP C4180), but technology moves so fast these days that my former 'all in one' still feels like it was bought yesterday. Of course, I had my reasons to ditch it;

- With now having more than one computer/device in the house, it was becoming a hassle to copy documents to one computer in order to print them off. Wireless is clearly the way to go.

- Ink... Ink... Ink! Printers now seem to be getting better in terms of value, and I was swayed by the two types of cartridge that you can get for this product - Economy (cheap) and XL (value).

- The print quality itself had started to drain. That could just be down to maintenance, but we've had the product for several years so I can't complain.

This 'HP Deskjet 3050A' (note that the 'A' means this is the updated model) manages to solve all these problems, and does so at a bargain of a price. In the box you'll find;

+ The device itself, which of course features Scan, Copy and Print functions.
+ Power cable and the adapter to go with it. This has been reduced in size and, judging by the thinness of the cable, requires less power which is great.
+ Software on disc for both Windows (XP, Vista and 7) and Macintosh (up to 10.6 Snow Leopard). This software can also be downloaded via the HP website, which is just as well as the DVD drive on our Windows XP machine conked out as I ejected it! Further more, if your Apple Mac has OS 10.7 Lion installed, you will NEED to download the latest software from the HP website. Do not install the CD-ROM.
+ Instructions with more form of dialect than C-3PO.
+ USB cable (a rarity for this value of printer)
+ Black and Colour Ink Cartridges, code HP-301. Check out the prices!

Setting up the product will require a bit of patience, but its all fairly straightforward. Before you faff around with your computers of devices, its important to power up the printer and install the cartridges/do an alignment check. Once this has finished, you're free to then connect it to your computer(s) via USB or wireless (Wi-Fi) connectivity.

USB is obviously the easiest route and has come along miles since even my former printer. After downloading the software (which was only 70mb in size, or 3-minutes to download which is nothing) you simply plug in your printer, ignore Windows panicking about drivers, install the software and let it do the rest. From download to installation it all took about 7/8-minutes, so I was mightily impressed. It even sets the printer as the new default for you.

As a suggestion, I would personally recommend that you just download the software as this will ensure it is up-to-date. It only took a few minutes too, which makes the CD-ROM somewhat redundant these days.

For the iMac of the house, we would be connecting wirelessly. The HP software was again downloaded from HP and offers plentiful options/small programs that are fantastic for getting the most out of the product; most of which are not available for the Windows platform. This isn't "junk ware" though - it all sits in its own HP folder in your Applications are are very necessary to the operation of the product.

Setting up via Wi-Fi took a bit longer to fathom. With the printer turned on, the installation program will recognise it in a list (amongst any other devices you want to set-up for ePrint) and so you click to proceed. In my case, two of the same 'devices' were listed; one had 'Network' listed as the description, the other had 'HP Auto Connect'. Not knowing which to select, I used the latter and couldn't get it to pair with my computer, yet after choosing the 'Network' one later, it connected easily. My mistake of course, but it would have been nice to have more assistance on the matter!

Also, this installation process must come after you have actually told the printer to connect to your router. Again, this is an 'obvious' process, so you must remember to actually go to the printer, scroll to the Wireless menu, turn it ON and then pair it with your router in a matter of seconds. Once this is done, you're then OK to go to your computer and set it up wirelessly.

Without this confusion, I could have been connected in under 5-minutes, but thats the nature of computing... 90% you're doing things backwards!

Once you're all installed on Mac OS, you have a range of fine options, and the best bit of course is that the entire communication with the printer and your computer is now wireless. On your Widgets space you get a great new app that lets you monitor the Ink levels (brilliant!) and in your HP folder (Finder > Applications) you have a range of new applications that let you make the most of the features.

HP Utility is easily the best printer management software I've yet to encounter, and its clean interface is only matched by the amount of ways it allows you to control your product. HP Scan 3 is a very effective program that, as the name suggests, allows you to control the scanning process and is again definitely a step-up from some of the older HP software I've used. Likewise, HP Scan Destinations allows you to choose presets for how you scan (Picture, OCT or PDF), the file type for those presets, and then even the application that it opens with. As an example, you could make one to scan in TIFF and then open up automatically in Adobe Photoshop. This also rids of the need for TWAIN support, which has of course been dropped.

Scanning quality is a major step-up from my former printer. Its so good in fact that I've put off my plans to get a separate flatbed, for the definition of the PPI is much greater than what the same value would have been on my old C4180, which means I can scan in lower resolutions. This process can be done either automatically through your computer, or manually through the device.

Since the product's main interface (a screen which can be tilted up) has just 3 menu buttons, you have the immediate option to Scan, Copy or print a Quick Form. The latter is almost a 'template'-like option, and I imagine will have a small audience.

Print quality itself is superb and really couldn't be any better for a product of this price point. Its exceeded my expectations; text is incredibly sharp and doesn't appear to bleed at all. Colours can be a little muted, but this is to be expected with any non-laser printer. Perhaps i'm slightly biased in that I only really print off text documents, but I would say the colour reproduction is good enough for everyday use certainly. Thats what this printer is all about; everyday use and value.

With this in mind, I had a good chuckle at the included 'bag' which is included and allows you to carry the printer around. If I was still at University then this would have been excellent, but for in the home it will more or less be assigned to taking the product to a different room. Still, its a brilliant touch by HP and perfectly summarises their stand-point on who this product is intended for.

The only niggle I've found with the product is that, as is becoming increasingly common these days, the device is designed to be left on 24/7 and allowed to go into a Standby/Power Save mode. Its all to do with the Wi-Fi; if you turn the device off completely, then it resets the connection to your computer and so you have to go through the whole syncing process again. This is only for Wi-Fi though, so if you plan on a USB connection then you can turn it off without a worry.

All in all, this has been a delightful purchase that either matches or exceeds my expectations in just about every department. The build quality is perhaps the only feature that may drop on that note, but give this is a stationary product and its fantastic price, the flimsiness of particular parts can be forgotten. have no hesitation in recommending this to home or office users that just want a value all-in-one product without the bells and whistles of separate ink cartridges, card-readers or specialised photo printing.

*Edit* - I have now discovered that the Wi-Fi dropping (after extended periods of time) is actually a router issue. Unplugging the routers power cable and plugging it back in (to reset it) resumes the connection to the printer as normal. If anyone has similar experiences, then please drop a line below!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Satisfied customer
Originally bought it because it was cheaper than replacing the ink cartridges for my old printer. Good value for money. No problems at all. It does all that it claims to do.

Published 1 hour ago by CB

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent and easy to set up
This was a replacement printer for are ageing HP printer and wow has technology moved on, easy to set up and the wireless option means we can all print from any where in the... Read more

Published 1 day ago by Basil brush

4.0 out of 5 stars Work perfectly
I took this printer out of the box, installed the software with the CD and works.
A little bit slow for scanning tough.

Published 5 days ago by Herwig Troost

3.0 out of 5 stars wrong choice?
I purchased this printer from W.H.Smith's on a special offer. I was very pleased with this printer, being able to click print without plugging in other leads was a great... Read more

Published 6 days ago by R. Suitters

5.0 out of 5 stars High Quailty Printer at low price
I purchased this printer as I wanted to eschew the wired route and have a printer elsewhere in the house. Read more

Published 7 days ago by Mr. D. Shearer

3.0 out of 5 stars OK but some Annoyances
This seems to be a good day-to-day printer, although I haven't tried printing onto photo paper yet. The annoyances are that it occasionally disconnects from the Wi-Fi so that I... Read more

Published 8 days ago by L. Munday

5.0 out of 5 stars First class
Followed instructions in box, popped cd into all my computers, hey presto the printer works for all computers over the network.
It took about 30 mins. Read more

Published 9 days ago by Shane

5.0 out of 5 stars Bargain!
I purchased this printer in December and its a fantastic printer for £35- The fact that its wireless too means you can put it anywhere in your house and the wireless was easy to... Read more

Published 10 days ago by Marcus Ish

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive
The printer turned out better than i thought, it was delivered quicker then i expected, i really like it, others who have seen it also really like it and have asked where i... Read more

Published 11 days ago by Naaj

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent - value for money
This is an excellent product and value for money.
Was delivered in time by Amazon. Easy to setup and install wireless features.
All features work fine. Read more

Published 12 days ago by Ranganathan Natraj

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