HP 2800 Printer Review

If you're looking for a simple and small solution to your business printing needs, the HP Business Inkjet, 2800dtn may be good for you. While there are some problems associated with it, let's go through the specs and you can decide whether it's good for you or not.

First off, what is the speed of this little printer? The PPM (pages per minute) rating is 24 color, and 21 black and white. For the price, those speeds aren't too bad, and they should be able to keep up with your printing needs. However, the problem here is that it can take about 20 seconds for the first sheet to print out. So you could be waiting half a minute until you actual get that printing going.

The paper sizes this printer can take are impressive. It can take a tabloid (12x18) sized page and easily print on it. However, what they don't tell you in the specs at hp.com is that to load that sized paper, you have to go through the bypass tray. Sometimes this isn't bad, but it can lower your print speeds (since bypass never prints as quickly) and it is prone to jamming. One good feature though about most HP printers, and to me this puts them above Xerox in this respect, is you can print envelopes. This is actually standard for nearly all HP printers, and while it can require some tedious set up, and it is a little slow, you won't have to go out to a print shop for custom, and overpriced, envelopes. It can also print on index cards and you can easily print custom business cards.

Another good feature of the HP 2800 is that duplex, or double sided printing, comes as a standard option. Again though, my biggest problem with HP is they tend to jam very easily. So while this is a good option, you may end up pulling your hair out trying to make it work.

While the speeds are good, and the papers you can load are useful, the jamming aspect is very annoying, and there is quite a lack of features for what you are paying. But if you want a simple printer that can just print paper, the HP 2800 can be good for you. Be sure to buy at least 24lb paper for this printer. Any less and it will be over saturated, and the paper will curl slightly.