
HP LaserJet 2430tn

Pricing
$289.00 - $399.99 From 4 Vendors Get Best Prices »
- Spec Navigator
- Core Components
- Media Handling
- Network
- Connectivity
- Platform Support
- Dimensions
- General Features
- Green
- Resolutions
- Scanning
Media Handling
| Manual Feed Slot | Yes |
| Maximum Number of Input Trays | 3 |
| Maximum paper size, height | 14.0 inches |
| Maximum Sheets With All Paper Trays | 850 |
| Output Tray Capacity | 250 |
| Standard Number of Input Trays | 3 |
| Maximum paper size, width | 8.5 inches |
| Standard input sheet capacity | 850 |
| Duplex printing | No |
Connectivity
| Other Interfaces |
|
| Parallel Port | Yes |
| Serial Port | No |
| USB 1.1 | Yes |
| USB 2.0 | Yes |
Platform Support
| Operating System Support |
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- Lab Tested
- How We Test Printers »
Pros
Fast printing speeds
Strong paper-handling capabilities
Cons
Text output was unimpressive
Bottom Line
Grayscale graphics looked nicely balanced, and letters were well-formed, but soft, smeary blacks marred text output.
HP LaserJet 2430tn
LaserJet 2430tn Review, by Paul Jasper June 23, 2005
The two-tone gray body of the $999 HP LaserJet 2430tn strikes an efficient, businesslike look that will fit easily into any corporate workgroup. Out of the box, the LaserJet 2430 provides all of the paper tray options. The upper paper drawer holds up to 250 sheets, and a big 500-sheet bin sits below; both drawers accept paper in sizes up to legal (8.5 by 13 inches). After folding out the auxiliary tray at the front of the printer, you can feed as many as 100 more sheets. You can load up to 10 envelopes at a time in the auxiliary tray (you can't feed them from the paper drawers). A rear exit tray drops down to help envelopes and other thick media emerge without curling. The regular bin on top of the printer can hold a pile of output up to 250 sheets thick. No duplexer is available as an option, but you can buy the similar LaserJet 2430dtn with a built-in duplexer for just $100 more.
HP rates the toner cartridge accompanying the printer at 6000 pages (using the industry's 5 percent page-coverage standard). If you replace this starter cartridge with HP's 12,000-page cartridge, you'll pay a reasonable cost of 1.72 cents per page.
In our performance tests, the LaserJet 2430tn printed text at 23.9 pages per minute--faster than almost any laser we've seen in our recent tests. On the other hand, it printed graphics at a paltry 6.0 ppm. Text output was unimpressive: Individual characters looked sharp, but our panel of judges noticed smears and smudges, dirty roller marks, and a baked-on charcoal look to solid type. Line art printed too dark, causing narrow lines to blur together, and larger dark areas faded at the center. Our grayscale image looked relatively good, but it had a grainy appearance and light narrow banding across the entire width.
The control panel has a two-line, backlit LCD for menu navigation. Installing the printer on our the network in the PC World Test Center was easy, thanks it part to the included setup poster and network guide. An embedded Web server lets you administer the LaserJet 2430tn from a desktop browser anywhere in the office. The LaserJet 2430tn also provides PostScript emulation and supports printing from Macs.
Upshot: : The HP LaserJet 2430tn has the paper-handling capabilities to support a medium-size workgroup. Printing is lightning-fast, though the quality could be better.
Paul Jasper
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- Rating Breakdown
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69
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83
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79
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance Comparison with Similar Printers
69
74
82
82
Performance
| Color Photo (secs) | 15.3 |
| Color Photo, Normal Settings | 15.3 |
| Grayscale Output Quality | Good |
| Line Art Output Quality | Poor |
| One-Page Grayscale Graphic | 14.96 |
| One-Page Grayscale Graphic (secs) | 14.96 |
| Output Score, Grayscale Graphics, Best Quality Settings (formerly pf-Output-Print-Grayscale-Best) | Good |
| Output Score, Line Art, Default Settings (formerly pf-Output-Print-LineArt-Default) | Poor |
| Output Score, Text, Default Settings (formerly pf-Output-Print-Text-Default) | Fair |
| Ten-Page Word Document | 25.08 |
| Ten-Page Word Document (secs) | 25.08 |
| Tested Color Graphics Speed (formerly pf-PCWColorSpeed) | 6.8 |
| Tested Color Speed (ppm) | 6.8 |
| Tested Text Speed (formerly pf-PCWBWSpeed) | 23.9 |
| Tested Text Speed (ppm) | 23.9 |
| Text Output Quality | Fair |
| Three-Page PowerPoint Document | 25.72 |
| Three-Page PowerPoint Document (secs) | 25.72 |
| Three-Page Word Document | 354.95 |
| Three-Page Word Document (secs) | 354.95 |
| Two-Page Excel Document | 11.54 |
| Two-Page Excel Document (secs) | 11.54 |
Text Printing
| Text output quality | Fair |
Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
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Reviewed by: truvalue
Strengths: Multiple paper trays. High yield cartridges. Network capability. Fast printing
Weaknesses: Slow in printing color graphics.
Overall: This is the most expensive printer I have purchased and used. The printer was very impressive in text output speed and overall print quality. The paper trays can hold a lot of papers for a long time use. The printer is network capable, but I haven't tried yet. So far this printer does amazing printing job and it's really worth the price I paid. This printer is more suitable to people with medium to heavy printing job or an office for several users to share the printer.
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Reviewed by: ebjian
Strengths: Fast printing, network ready, heavy duty.
Weaknesses: Expensive, heavy.
Overall: It is very heavy, like 50lb or so and pretty expensive. But it is the best printer I ever used. If you are going to print a lot and want high-quality, go for it.
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Reviewed by: zuomai
Strengths: Built-in network card, catridge price, heavy duty
Weaknesses: printer price
Overall: I have used it for 2 months. It is my first network ready laser printer. everything is just so great. Printing quality is pretty good and printing speed is fast. The catridge price is ~$100 for regular or ~$200 for high-yield. You can even find cheaper one in other places, like eBay. But the price of the printer itself is really expensive. However, if you are going to build up a small network printing, 2430tn is one of your best choice.
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Reviewed by: leonardy_tan
Strengths: Very fast print speed, high quality print out, server built in
Weaknesses: Pricey
Overall: I have used this printer for 1 week. It serve with amazing speed print. It provide a big 500 paper tray. Server makes a network print easier with network sharing. The wait time for a print probably about 5 seconds and it's ready. If you have a good business office and required a printer that can share, print very fast, a big paper tray, then, this is the printer that will fit your needs. I would highly recommend this printer as the top three laser printer that has ever produced.
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Reviewed by: Buy 4 Less Shop
Strengths: monthly duty cycle, price, ppm speed
Weaknesses: quality of prints
Overall: Prints text at almost 24ppm (in real life test), but sometime there's an occasional smudge here or there. Also guilty of leaving dirty roller marks, and a baked-on charcoal look to solid type. But if top-notch quality is not your biggest concern - go with it

| Merchant | Price | Merchant Rating |
|---|---|---|
| GreatPrinterDeals.com | $289.00 Buy Now » | |
| Nex Imaging, Inc | $379.99 Buy Now » | |
|
$395.00 Buy Now » | |
|
$399.99 Buy Now » |
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