HP LaserJet 2300n Printer

Rating:
Summary: Satisfied with the HP 2300n LaserJet Printer
Review: I've had my HP 2300n LaserJet printer for 8 months, and I'm very satisfied with it. It's my second HP LaserJet. My first was a LaserJet IIID which I bought in 1992 and still use today. I wouldn't have bought the 2300n except that some movers handled my IIID roughly and damaged the duplexing unit which I had been using almost constantly. It really saves paper and file space to print on both sides.

When not in use, the 2300n goes into a power-down mode which is silent and makes it seem to be turned off except that an indicator light lets you know it's still on. Send a print job to it while powered down and it immediately springs to life and processes the task just as if it had not been powered down at all. This is a great feature because the machine does not wear itself out whirring away, making noise and using energy as the IIID does when not turned off.

The 2300n is fast. The IIID's speed of 8ppm was considered fast when I bought it, but after getting used to 25ppm, I'd hate to give it up. The 2300n prints at a pace I associate more with photocopiers.

My IIID had excellent print quality until last year, about 11 years after I bought it. The output has become dirty. It needs cleaning and servicing, but that's not practical now, especially considering that I live far from a service center and my 12 year-old IIID printer weighs 75 pounds.

By comparison, the thirty-one pound 2300n is much easier to lift and move. I also like the fact that it takes up much less space than the IIID does, and it doesn't have those paper trays protruding out of it. The paper is nicely tucked away inside, where it should be, in an easy to open drawer. To accomplish this, the machine is intelligently designed to be slightly taller which is not a problem at all, just a better use of space.

The IIID has only 300 dpi resolution which is fine for text, but not so fine for graphics. The 2300n prints beautiful graphics, not in color, of course, but when I want color, I use an inkjet. When I want to print a picture with the 2300n, the high resolution is very nice.

I'm still using the toner cartridge that came with the shipped unit, but I keep a spare cartridge on hand. A great feature of the 2300n is the economical printing mode. I can easily turn this feature on and off (from within the Windows XP printing menu) and make my toner supply last longer. Unlike with the IIID, which also has an adjustment for toner consumption, with the 2300n, the econo-mode feature takes effect immediately. It makes the print lighter, but it's still quite readable and appropriate for those times when dark print quality is not needed.

Whenever I think of my HP 2300n LaserJet, I always get a nice feeling. I can't think of anything I don't like about it. It takes up little space, It's fast, It duplexes, It's economical with time, energy and toner, It's quiet, It networks, It has wireless capability, It's plug and play, It has an easy to use control panel on the front, and I feel confident that it will perform whenever I call on it.

I've come to trust the Hewlett Packard name for quality and performance. I teach English at a university in Japan where I write and print a lot of educational materials. Sometimes I make workbooks and print them in my office. I need a workhorse of a printer I can depend on to produce clean clear results. If my 2300n holds up only half as well as my old IIID did, I'll still be very satisfied.