They keep a low profile, but low-cost color laser printers haven’t disappeared. HP’s Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw ($339), a compelling single-function model for small-to-medium-size offices, delivers excellent print quality for a low initial purchase price. It has other upsides, too: It has a relatively small footprint, provides plenty of connectivity options, and prints reasonably fast with documents that include graphics. Our one big quibble? While you have to expect some compromises at a price this low, the 3201dw’s running costs are higher than you’d expect, even for a budget model. Those higher-priced toner cartridges could diminish (or even reverse) your initial cost savings. The 3201dw is still a fine bargain if you don’t plan to print many pages with it over the printer’s life. If you do, though, the Brother HL-L3295CDW will be a better long-term value, for its less costly toner cartridges. It remains our Editors’ Choice pick for budget color lasers.
Design: Ready for (Light) Action
At 10 by 15.4 by 16.5 inches (HWD), the 3201dw is unusually compact for a color laser printer. It’s slightly less high and narrower than the Brother HL-L3295CDW, which measures 10.8 by 17.6 by 15.7 inches (HWD). The 3201dw is also smaller in all three dimensions than the Ricoh C125 P and the Canon Color imageClass LBP674Cdw. Notably, the C125 P is 13.1 inches high, while the LBP674Cdw is 15 inches high. If you’re considering placing your printer on or under a vertically confined shelf, the 3201dw may be the best fit for that space.
(Credit: David English)
The weights for this group of printers vary significantly, too. The 3201dw weighs just 30.4 pounds. That compares with 35.5 pounds for the Canon LBP674Cdw, 36.8 pounds for the Brother HL-L3295CDW, and a whopping 55.1 pounds for the Ricoh C125 P. Again, for a shelf installation or for a less-than-substantial table or desktop, the lighter 3201dw may be a more practical choice. Be warned, though, that lightweight printers can have some plastic parts where metal parts are preferred.
Even though this model is unusually compact and light, its overall construction feels solid enough. The paper input tray and cartridge access door don’t feel flimsy or especially fragile, and the outer cabinet yields a satisfactory thunk sound when tapped with extra force. This is an inexpensive model, so you do have to make some allowances around chassis sturdiness and durability. That said, I couldn’t spot any obvious corners that were cut to shave down manufacturing costs.
I did note a few trims to this model’s paper capacities. The 3201dw has a standard 250-sheet input tray, but just a single-sheet override input tray and no option for an additional tray. For comparison, the Brother HL-L3295CDW has a 30-sheet multipurpose input tray and an optional 250-sheet-capacity add-on tray. The Ricoh C125 P has a single-sheet override input tray and an optional 500-sheet add-on. And the Canon LBP674Cdw has a 50-sheet multipurpose input tray and an optional 550-sheet unit.
(Credit: David English)
And while the 3201dw’s 100-sheet paper output tray is certainly adequate, you can’t call it generous. It’s larger than the Canon LBP674Cdw’s meager 75-sheet tray but falls short of the 125-sheeter on Ricoh’s C125 P and the 150-sheet tray on Brother’s HL-L3295CDW.
Similarly, the 3201dw has a recommended monthly duty cycle of 2,500 pages. That’s better than the 1,500-page recommended monthly duty cycle for the Ricoh C125 P but far below the 4,000-page rating on both Brother’s HL-L3295CDW and Canon’s LBP674Cdw. The 3201dw’s modest workload rating is a clear signal that this model is designed for light-duty environments. If you need a printer that can sustain a heavy workload, expect to pay extra for a more robust model than this HP.
Setup and Software: Easy, Indeed, Does It
The setup process for the 3201dw was snag- and hiccup-free. The toner cartridges come already loaded, so it’s mostly a matter of turning on the printer, entering some basic information, and choosing an Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or USB connection. If you go the USB route, the software installation is quick and easy, though the results will be barebones compared with most of the higher-priced models. Apart from the print drivers, you’ll have only a shortcut icon that’s configured to download and install the HP Print and Scan Doctor program. It’s a diagnostic utility that could be useful if you run into printer-related issues, such as a sudden loss of a wired or wireless connection.
(Credit: HP)
HP’s goal to keep this model’s price low is especially obvious when you examine its display screen and control panel. The 2.0-inch monochrome LCD is not a touch screen, so you’ll have to navigate its menus with the aid of a supplementary navigation wheel and an OK button. Also, the display’s resolution is a skimpy 200 by 114 pixels, so it can’t show very much information at a time. On this small, low-res screen, you’ll find basic menus that let you alter the printer’s internal settings, network configuration, sign-in procedure, and paper sizes. You can also check the remaining toner levels for the four cartridges. These onboard options are sparse, even for a low-cost model.
The competing Ricoh C125 P has a similar LCD that’s small, monochrome, and non-touch. However, the Brother HL-L3295CDW and Canon LBP674Cdw have 2.7-inch and 5.0-inch color touch screens, respectively. If you rarely use a printer’s control panel and rely almost exclusively on the computer interface, then the 3201dw’s modest display may not be that big a deal.
(Credit: David English)
Connectivity is an area in which this HP model doesn’t demand any sacrifices. Like HP’s two recent AIO models, the Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw and Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw, the 3201dw has a proper array, including USB 2.0, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac (dual-band) Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct. This is the baseline standard we expect now from printers in this class. The Brother HL-L3295CDW, the Canon LBP674Cdw, and the Ricoh C125 P are similarly well-connected, with the Brother and Ricoh models adding NFC to the mix.
The 3201dw’s mobile connectivity options include Apple AirPrint and Mopria. You can use the HP Smart app to print a photo or document from your phone, as well as to print whatever is being actively captured by your phone’s camera. You can also use that app to create phone-based shortcuts, which are one-touch scripts meant to streamline repetitive printing tasks.
Testing the HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw: Competitive Speeds for Business Documents
HP rates the 3201dw’s print speed at 26 pages per minute (ppm), somewhat modest these days for a single-function color laser. That’s the same rated speed as the C125 P but well below the 31ppm and 35ppm respective ratings for the Brother HL-L3295CDW and the Canon Color imageClass LBP674Cdw. To see if the 3201dw could live up to its billing, I benchmarked it over an Ethernet connection with our standard Intel Core i5 desktop PC testbed running Windows 10 Pro.
The 3201dw comes out of the box configured to print two-sided (duplex) pages. For this class of printers, we clock both two-sided and one-sided (simplex) performance. When printing our 12-page Microsoft Word text document (excluding the first page), I clocked the HP at 27ppm in simplex mode and 17.2 images per minute (ipm, where each image is one side of a two-sided page) in duplex mode. That simplex result was 1ppm better than its rated speed.
No surprise: Given their higher speed ratings, the Brother HL-L3295CDW and the Canon Color imageClass LBP674Cdw easily surpassed the 3201dw. The Brother tested at 32.7ppm, while the Canon tested at 35.1ppm. The more interesting matchup was with Ricoh’s C125 P, because it has the same 26ppm rating as the 3201dw. The Ricoh tested at 26.3ppm, which was slightly behind the HP. Looking more closely at the numbers, the 3201dw stumbled a bit with the time it took for the first page out. And it wasn’t able to catch up as the subsequent pages were being printed.
With our business applications suite (which consists of six files that represent a cross-section of typical business documents), the 3201dw proved to be much more competitive, especially with documents that include graphics. It was able to print the entire suite in 96 seconds, which works out to about 16ppm. While impressive, the 3201dw wasn’t able to keep pace with the Canon LBP674Cdw. The Canon breezed through the entire suite in just 70 seconds. And both of those printers were well ahead of the other two: The Brother HL-L3295CDW took a more leisurely 111 seconds, while the Ricoh C125 P came in at a sluggish 171 seconds.
Of course, no laser-class printer can match a dedicated photo printer for quality prints, but I did time the 3201dw at printing our 4-by-6-inch test snapshots. It averaged about 9 seconds per image, relatively fast for a color laser.
The output print quality of the 3201dw closely matches that of its AIO cousin, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw. In testing, it produced near-typesetter-quality text that would be more than suitable for most business documents, like almost any laser-class printer. I could read its typical business fonts down to a very small 4-point size. I saw no stray marks or extraneous lines. Charts and graphs had a pleasing amount of saturation and contrast. Colors were distinct without being overblown, and everything looked clean and professional.
Printed photos looked especially good, in both color and black and white. Skin tones looked natural, which isn’t always true with color laser printers. As with any laser printer, you can’t print borderless photo pages as you can with an inkjet, though the 3201dw’s photo quality should be more than adequate for casual business documents such as newsletters, brochures, or real-estate flyers.
Running Costs: Pricey Toner, Even With High-Yield Cartridges
If you’re considering the 3201dw because of its low purchase price, know that your initial cost savings could slowly erode as you replace the toner cartridges. That’s true even if you choose HP’s high-yield set of replacement cartridges. You can expect to pay around 3.1 cents per page for monochrome pages. And for color pages, you can expect to pay around 17 cents per page.
(Credit: David English)
For comparison, the Brother HL-L3295CDW will cost you around 2.5 cents for a monochrome page and around 12.9 cents for a color page. The Canon LBP674Cdw runs about 2.4 cents for a monochrome page and 14.7 cents for a color page, while the Ricoh C125 P will cost you about 3.8 cents for monochrome and 18.2 cents for color. Among this group of printers, the C125 P is the only one that doesn’t have an option for buying high-yield toner cartridges.
Because the 3201dw is the least-expensive model in this group, it could still be economical overall if you don’t plan to print all that often. On the other hand, as you increase the number of pages printed over the life of the printer, that initial savings could be completely absorbed and then reversed by the replacement-toner costs.
Verdict: Excellent for High-Quality, Low-Volume Printing
The HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw is a highly capable single-function color laser printer that sells for a very low price. The print speeds are quite reasonable for its class, and the print quality is excellent, especially for documents that include graphics or photographic content. This model has a relatively small footprint, and it provides a wide range of connectivity options. It offers both versatility and value.
While its small, non-touch display and lack of expandability are definite drawbacks, the bigger issue is the higher-than-expected toner cost. Print enough pages, and the 3201dw will end up being less of a bargain, over time, than similar but slightly more expensive models. It’s still a good deal if you don’t plan to print that many pages. Otherwise, consider steering your dollars toward a model with cheaper toner, such as the Brother HL-L3295CDW or the Canon Color imageClass LBP674Cdw.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw
Pros
View
More
The Bottom Line
HP’s compact Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw is an inexpensive color laser printer that delivers excellent-quality output, but its pricey toner makes it best for light to moderate duty.
Like What You’re Reading?
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links.
By clicking the button, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our
Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy.
You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
About David English
Contributor
