HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw review: small, fast and awkward

HP is one of the best printer brands on the market, so you already know the Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw has good build quality and customer support. However, we test each new model to gauge its print performance, color accuracy, ease of use, and long-term value.

I put the Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw through its paces to identify any troublesome details and find out if it deserves a place on our list of the best color laser printers.

Design

HP’s Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw is a compact printer, measuring 15.4 by 16.5 inches and standing 10 inches tall. That means it might fit better in a small workspace than many color laser printers. It’s also lighter than most, weighing a little over 30 pounds.

It has a minimalist design with a white body and dark gray accents that will help it blend in with any decor. A two-inch monochrome display is set at a fixed 30-degree angle on the top right. That makes it convenient for use while standing or sitting. Instead of a touchscreen, HP gave the Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw push-button navigation.

The bottom paper tray holds 250 sheets and has clearly labeled guides. A single-sheet media slot provides easy access for labels and envelopes. It’s not as convenient as a tray that can hold a stack of labels at once.

Simpler designs are common with low-cost printers. Performance, quality, and supply costs are more important when you’re looking for a budget solution.

Printing performance

The HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw is fast, rolling through up to 26 pages per minute when printing long documents or multiple copies. For single pages, I could pick up my print within 11 seconds. That’s faster than the first page out (FPO) speeds of many color laser printers that are more expensive.

Color documents look great, with no banding in charts or blocks of color. Text is readable even in fine print and monochrome is crisp and dark. Pictures are good, but not as nice as the photo quality I enjoyed when I reviewed HP’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301dw. That’s a more expensive printer, so better performance is expected.

The Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw isn’t a photo printer and shadows lack detail, but it handles the task well for a laser printer. Inkjet still beats laser technology when you want to be printing pictures with photographic quality.

Software and compatibility

Setting up the Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw was straightforward ,but slow. HP’s button navigation and menu layout are surprisingly awkward. For example, the arrow buttons don’t wrap around when setting the date and time.

To get to 55 minutes past the hour, instead of clicking up a few times, I had to repeatedly press down. Scrolling also requires pressing down multiple times. A press and hold feature or wraparound when moving the opposite directions should have been implemented. Wi-Fi password entry is time-consuming, so use the WPS button option if your router supports it.

After setup was complete, I printed a photo and noticed an alignment issue. The magenta toner was too low on the page relative to cyan, yellow and black, creating a double-exposure effect. I checked the menu to find if there was a calibration or alignment option to correct the issue. Calibration didn’t help and the print quality troubleshooting page only helps with streaks.

In the end, I had to replace the magenta toner cartridge to solve the problem. Luckily, I had a compatible HP 218A cartridge on hand. After the swap, the color alignment was perfect. I checked online seller reviews and found this isn’t a common issue. However, it highlighted the limited menu options and navigation difficulties inherent to the Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw.

In daily use, the HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw is quick and reliable when printing from my Windows PC and MacBook. The HP Smart mobile app supports iOS and Android, but I found advanced options open in a browser that required entering a PIN code from inside the printer’s front panel.

Price

The HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw lists for $339. I have seen it as low as $259, which is a more intriguing offer. As a fast, generally reliable color laser printer, those are reasonable purchase prices. The greater concern could be long-term costs of toner.

The starter cartridges included with the Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw are a bit light, containing enough toner for approximately 600 black and 500 color pages. For comparison, Brother’s $300 HL-L3280CDW includes much more toner, enough for 1,000 black and 1,000 color pages.

When it’s time to replenish toner for the Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw, high-capacity cartridges offer significant savings in long-term costs.

A standard black ink cartridge typically yields 1,300 pages and has a cost of approximately 5 cents per page. A high-capacity cartridge is worth the extra expense if your budget allows, since it can produce up to 3,200 pages, reducing the cost per page to 3 cents.

For color documents, the savings are even more significant. A standard color cartridge can print 1,200 pages at a cost per page of 20 cents, while a high-yield toner cartridge can extend to about 2,500 pages at 14 cents per page.

Is this the printer for you?

The HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw is a fast color laser printer with good quality for a low-cost home office printer, but there are better options. HP’s awesome Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw can be found for as low $399, just $60 more than the retail price of the Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw.

Canon’s imageClass MF654cdw includes an automatic document feeder so you can scan, copy, and print — and it costs less. Brother’s 31 page-per-minute HL-L3295CDW ships with enough toner for 2,300 monochrome and 1,200 color pages and retails at $370, just $30 more than the Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw.

It’s not that HP’s Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw is a bad printer, but the awkward user interface and somewhat expensive price for a budget printer falls short of a model I can recommend.

We have a guide to the best cheap printers that might help you find what you’re looking for. Also, check out our list of the best printer deals to save more on a great printer.