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Reviews: Color Laser Printers
HP Color Laserjet 2840
B&W Pages per Min.: 20 • Color Pages per Min.: 4 • Max. B&W dpi: 1200-by-1200 • Max. Color dpi: 2400-by-2400 • Max. Scanning dpi: 1200 • Tray Capacity, pages: 375 • Price When Reviewed: $999
HP Color Laserjet 2840 (Front)
HP Color Laserjet 2840 (Front)
83.2 Very Good
Last updated
November 10, 2005
Test Center Reviewed by
Lisa Cekan
Pros
  • Built-in media card readers
  • Extensive software bundle
Cons
  • Slow print speeds
Pricing: Very Inexpensive: $999 (11/10/2005)
Performance: Fair: 64
Features: Superior: 96
Design: Good: 75
Pricing
Very Inexpensive: $999  
Performance
Fair: 64  
Text Printing (Plain Paper, Normal Settings)
Tested Text Speed (ppm)
Three-Page Word Document (secs) 59.77 
Ten-Page Word Document (secs) 85.31 
Text Output Quality Very Good 
Color Printing (Plain Paper, Normal Settings)
Tested Color Speed (ppm) 1.3 
Two-Page Excel Document (secs) 48.6 
Three-Page PowerPoint Document (secs) 188.62 
Color Photo (secs) 45.04 
Color Output Quality Good 
Color Photo Printing (Glossy Paper, Best Settings)
Tested Glossy Photo Speed (ppm) 1.3 
5 x 7 Photo (secs) 44.7 
Color Photo Quality Good 
Grayscale Printing (Plain Paper, Normal Settings)
One-Page Grayscale Graphic (secs) 52.77 
Grayscale Output Quality Good 
Lineart Printing (Plain Paper, Best Settings)
Line Art Output Quality Very Good 
Scan Tests (in seconds)
Preview Scan, 2-by-2-Inch Document, 600 dpi 19.99 
Preview Scan, One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi 19.7 
Preview Scan, 4-by-5-Inch Document, 100 dpi 19.61 
Preview Scan, One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi 19.7 
Final Scan Time, One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi 20.39 
Copy Tests
One-Page Copy (secs) 18.48 
Copy Output Quality Good 
Features
Superior: 96  
Memory (in MB)
RAM Installed 96 
Maximum Amount of RAM 224 
Dimensions
Dimensions 19.6 by 20.9 by 22.4 
Weight (pounds) 75.3 
Vendor Rated Speeds
B&W Pages per Min. 20 
Color Pages per Min.
Resolutions
Max. B&W dpi 1200-by-1200 
Max. Color dpi 2400-by-2400 
Language & Emulation
Printer Emulation Type PCL 
PCL Emulation PCL 6 
Interfaces
Parallel Port No 
Serial Port No 
USB 1.1 Yes 
USB 2.0 Yes 
Ethernet Yes 
Media Card Readers CompactFlash, Memory Stick, SD Card, SmartMedia, xD-Picture Card 
PictBridge No 
Drivers
Macintosh Yes 
Windows 98 Yes 
Windows NT Yes 
Windows 2000 Yes 
Windows XP Yes 
Power
Maximum Power Draw (watts) 398 
Standby Power Draw (watts) 20 
Multifunction Printer Specs
Scan Area (inches) 8.5-by-11.7 
Max. Scanning dpi 1200 
Maximum Enhanced Scan Resolution (dpi) 19200-by-19200 
Scanning Image Sensor Type CCD 
Scanner Type Flatbed 
Maximum Scan Color Depth 42-bit 
Maximum Scan Grayscale Depth 42-bit 
Fax Resolution (dpi) 300-by-300 
Fax Memory (pages) 320 
LCD Type Mono 
Paper Handling
Number of Input Trays, Standard
Number of Input Trays, Maximum
Tray Capacity, pages 375 
Maximum Sheets With Optional Paper Trays 375 
Manual Feed Slot Yes 
Maximum Paper Size Legal 
Output Tray Capacity 125 
Auto Duplexer None 
Warranty & Support
Labor Warranty (years) One 
Parts Warranty (years) One 
Weekday Support Hours 24 
Saturday Support Hours 24 
Sunday Support Hours 24 
Toll-Free Support Yes 
Vendor-Supplied Data (in Pages)
Monthly Duty Cycle 30000 
Reliability & Service
Summary of results for all of brand's products in this category More bad news for HP: below-average grades for out-of-box problems and significant problems with its printers. Readers aren’t thrilled with HP’s phone support either. 
Reliability of brand's products in this category
Reports of products arriving with problems Worse than Average 
Reports of products with any significant problems Worse than Average 
Reports of problems that render a product unusable Average 
Buyers' rating of products ease-of-use Average 
Overall satisfaction with reliability of brand's products in category Average 
Service & Support Quality
Time spent holding for phone support Average 
Overall quality of vendor's phone support Worse than Average 
Reports of problems unresolved after contacting service Average 
Overall quality of service Average 
Design
Good: 75  

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