HP Laserjet 2300dtn review

With more than 50 per cent share of the laser printer market during 2002 (source: GfK), you might think HP would be happy to sit on its laurels and make only minor tweaks to its popular 2200 series. Well, think again. The 2300 series, HP's new laser offering for the small to medium-sized workgroup, includes a myriad of significant improvements.

Changes include a 266MHz processor instead of 133MHz, 48MB of RAM rather than 16MB, support for 802.11b and, most importantly, a speed boost from 18ppm to 26ppm. Indeed, such are the improvements that many buyers may be lured away from HP's larger workgroup printer, the A-Listed 4300dtn.

The first potential problem for any workgroup printer is installation, but adding the 2300dtn to our TCP/IP network was a breeze. HP's software took care of everything, including the network settings.

The next challenge is speed, but the 2300dtn was barely stretched by our tests. First up was our 50-page text document, which the 2300dtn produced at an impressive rate of 25.4ppm. Speed then increased to 26ppm during our Excel workbook and PDF tests; the only notable drop came when producing our complex 24-page DTP document, where the rate fell to 21.2ppm. While the 4300dtn is significantly faster at 45ppm, the 2300dtn fights back when it comes to quality.

Both these printers produce text of the highest order, with virtually no feathering or spidering. But it was when producing graphics that the newcomer really stood out. Images produced by the 4300dtn were a little dark and suffered from a mottling effect. The 2300dtn, however, produced some of the best images we've seen from a mono laser. Detail, saturation, sharpness and shading were all excellent, with greyscale fades proving exceptional (as mono lasers go). The only quibble was faint banding in pictures, but when compared with the 4300dtn there was still only one winner.

The 2300dtn also pulled away from the pack in our Excel workbook test. Many mono lasers struggle with the low-contrast differences caused by shaded cells. Even the 4300dtn struggled slightly when printing smaller fonts on darker backgrounds, but the 2300dtn consistently produced high-contrast, easy-to-read results.

When deciding which HP to buy, features and TCO (total cost of ownership) may tip the balance. The 4300dtn has dropped in price recently, but at £1,314 it still represents a hefty investment. Its running costs are reasonable, though, with its 18,000-page barrel equating to 0.86p per page, as opposed to 1.27p from the 2300dtn's 6,000-page cartridge.

In terms of features, the two are heavily laden. Both units contain duplex units, extra paper trays and are bundled with HP's excellent Jetadmin network printer management utility. HP's embedded web server technology is also shared and enables users to configure the printer via a web browser.

Of course, the main distinction between these printers is that the 2300dtn is almost half the price of the 4300dtn. Both are excellent workgroup printers, but the 4300dtn's 100,000-page duty cycle (twice that of the 2300dtn) and speed naturally favour larger groups. However, if your priority is print quality, go for the 2300dtn.

Author: Nick Ross