CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 12/02/2002
- Updated on: 12/05/2002
- Released on: 06/01/2002
 Tissue-box design. |
 Multiple ports, cables not included. |
HP's inkjet setup protocol is one of the easiest we've seen, and the Deskjet 3820 gets the same treatment. A colorful Quick Start poster walks you through setting up the printer, installing the ink cartridges, and troubleshooting basic installation glitches. If you need more help, just insert the included CD-ROM into your computer, and a series of animated screens helps you figure out what type of connection you're using, how to install the cartridge, and how to print your first test page.
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 Costly cartridges. |
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Manufacturers often try to recoup profits on cheap printers by way of replacement ink sales. The HP Deskjet 3820's standard two-cartridge system, one black and one tricolor, means that when one color runs out, you have to replace the whole cartridge to the tune of $53.99 for a 38-milliliter color cartridge (or $35 for a 19-milliliter one) and $30 for black ink. By contrast, it costs just $11.99 to replace one of Canon's single-color ink cartridges, and by replacing one color at a time, you don't have to throw away other still-full color cartridges.
When it comes to everyday print jobs, the HP 3820's print quality failed to impress our jury. In CNET Labs' tests, text on plain copy paper appeared very light and blotchy, with visible feathering at the edges of the letters. This lack of crispness made text hard to read at smaller point sizes, but the quality improved significantly when we printed our test document on HP's Bright White paper. The letters were much darker and crisper around the edges, and they were more evenly saturated. When it came to printing graphics on both plain and Bright White paper, the 3820's printouts exhibited accurate color matching (an important feature for photo enthusiasts), but graphical elements looked grainy and dithered. We noticed significant horizontal banding throughout our test document, and the printer missed most of the finer details in the document, such as diagonal lines and curved elements.
Inkjet printer quality
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Fortunately, the HP 3820 does a wonderful job with photo printing. On our 8x10-inch test photo, the colors were subtle but very natural, and skin tones looked smooth and true, with none of the usual yellowish or reddish patches that we often see in photo printers. Jurors noted a bit of fuzziness around the edges of the test subjects, and some of the finer details didn't show up, but the overall effect was very good--especially for the price.
In terms of speed, the HP Deskjet 3820 doesn't break any records, but it performs adequately for a printer in its price range. It averages 3.79 pages per minute (ppm) on printed text and 4.1ppm on an 8x10 photo. If speed is your main concern, check out the Lexmark Z55 (6.2ppm for text and 1.4ppm for photos).
 Finely feathered text. |
 Glutton for ink. |
According to our drain tests, the HP 3820 uses quite a lot of ink, so be aware that your consumable costs will add significantly to the low initial cost of purchase. Black ink costs per page were fairly high at 13.6 cents per page; at 44 cents per page, color print costs were also higher than average. The costs for the Canon S330 Color Bubble Jet, by contrast, were merely 5 cents for black and 21 cents for color pages.
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Inkjet printer text speed Pages per minute (longer bars indicate better performance) |
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Inkjet printer color photo speed Minutes to print a color photograph (shorter bars indicate better performance) |
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 Search for drivers by model number. |
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