Customer Reviews

Hewlett Packard LaserJet 3100Xi Multifunction Device

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is an excellent solution to several small office/home office needs: outstanding print quality, occasional copying, and plain paper faxing. The fax functions are particularly well thought out -- I am not sure how I lived without the machine's large fax memory (100 pages), multitasking ability (receive a fax while you're copying or printing), and so forth. The scanning is nothing to cheer about, but works fine for getting a document into the computer quickly for OCR. (A flatbed scanner is a much better choice, though.) Printing produces the fantastic quality that HP is well-known for.

Why only 3 stars, then? Because you cannot -- repeat, CAN NOT -- share this printer on a network. That's bad enough, in this day and age, but worse still, NOWHERE in HP's product literature or even the instructions is this limitation mentioned! (According to HP's customer support, some people have made it work using Win98's device sharing, but it's not reliable, and they don't support it.)

If you keep this limitation in mind and only need it as a fax/copier and occasional printer, it's the perfect choice. Just don't plan on making it your workgroup laser printer.

On the positive side, the print quality is very good.

There are a number of negatives, however: (1) The fax shares a phone line with my answering machine and is supposed to distinguish between a fax and a phone call. This works only about 75% of the time (i.e., I doesn't receive about 25% of the faxes which are sent). (2) The software hook-up to the computer is not seemless. I have it conected to a very good computer (Dell pentium, 128 mb ram) and I still get an error message that the printer is not hooked-up when I turn on the computer; I need to repeatedly hit retry to get the printer hooked-up everytime I turn on the computer. (3) Everytime it prints a page, multiple pieces of paper run through the machine (i.e., it does not feed 1 sheet at a time.) (4) There is no toll free number for customer support. I have spent a lot of money calling customer support and they have not been able to solve any of the aforementioned problems.

In summary, I do not recommend this machine.

This machine is far more practical than having 2,3 or 4 separate devices to serve these many functions.

I do not have the frequency of paper-jam problems that others have had. But, the paper feed does ocasionally grab multiple sheets. Also, the input document is sometimes fed at a slight angle; there is no effective way to control the feed angle to ensure squared-off, lined-up ("straight") copies.

I had a devil of a time getting this machine to "talk" with my Gateway laptop. I found HP tech support to be very good (that is, persistent) in solving this problem. The quality and experience of their tech support people varies--an industry problem not just isolated to HP.

They talked me through the various diagnostic steps until one of their service people figured out the problem. Overall, their tech support was--a real plus.

In order to correct the feed problem, HP sent me a totally refurbished replacement. My unit was nearing the end of the warranty period so there was no cost to me. I was very pleased with this aspect of HP's service.

As I have two homes--one in Chicago and the other in Aspen. I purchased a second HP LaserJet 3100 printer so that I had a familiar device at both homes.

The one lingering problem is that incoming calls have the same sounding "ring" so I never know whether to pick up the call, wait for it to go to my voice answering machine, or let the HP LaserJet sort out the incoming signal. This is a problem for me in Aspen where US West's phone lines are so relatively expensive that I rent only one line. In Chicago, I have 2 phone lines; the HP works great in this configuration.

This printer is a home office dream! I print a lot, and the print is outstanding. The 6 ppm is plenty for me. Most of my documents are under 20 pages. But a hundred pages is no problem! I use the copy function a lot - I didn't expect to. LazerJet is permanent ink - no smudges, no runs. Lazer printing is a must for any kind of business correspondence. I bought a HP 1120C for my color needs. The software that comes with the printer is very complete and easy. I have had no problems with any of the functions -print, fax, copy, scan.

If you do a lot of envelops - this is not the printer for you - one at a time (pain).

I do tons and tons of printing, copying and faxing with this printer. I have a small business and I rely on this machine greatly. In 10 months, almost 5,000 printed pages and 3,000 fax pages later, I have had 1 page jam (and yes it was a *pain* to remove) but all other pages were great! Would recommend to anyone!

I've had a tough time with my unit, which was delivered just days ago. Set-up was simple enough, but the first time I tried to send a fax, the paper jammed BEHIND and wrapped around a roller. I tried everything to pull it out, called HP tech support, etc. I ended up with lots of small pieces of torn paper, sore fingers, and no progress. The machine is designed in such a way that a simple paper jam can require a technician to take things apart! HP, I expected better!

This is a known issue. Both the rear paper feed and the front document feed develop a problem over time--some pads harden. HP used to offer a free repair kit for this--not anymore. Now some third parties offer kits for 10% of the original purchase price.

Add to this the fact that nearly all of the printing function is implemented in the proprietary windows driver, so it's useless for linux, and you can't even download XP drivers (you have to order them on CD--and they're not supported!), and it's just a disaster.

HP should be ashamed of themselves.

I have nothing but praise for the HP3100, it is reliable, fast and high-quality. I would recommend it to anyone looking for fax, copying, scanning and printing functions.

I've used this product for over a year now and find it perfect. The print quality is great. Fax transmissions are flawless. The copy function is very basic, but handy.

Space is a premium in our home office. This machine does everything we need it to do in a smaller footprint than our older laser printer. Easy hookup and flawless printing, faxing, copying and scanning. I highly recommend this machine for your home office needs.