Hewlett Packard Photosmart 3310 All-In-One InkJet Printer

I researched this product for months before purchase. I've read a lot of reviews praising this device, but when I come to Epinions, which I've come to respect as these are real world opinions, I was somewhat surprised. The reviews don't truly reflect this device.

I've now had my HP 3310 for almost 4 months. In my search for an all-in-one, I wanted something that could not only print and copy, but I wanted decent photo capabilities, scanning, and faxing, which I was surprised that not all of them had. I first was checking out the Epson RX700 as I saw it in action one day at a local CompUSA. Fabulous printing and I LOVE the way it printed directly on disc. However, it had no fax capability. How odd is that? Plus, wireless networking? Not too many others even dream of adding that feature. So, my attention turned to researching the HP 3310.

The HP 3310 All-In-One came packaged well. I eventually found one brand new on eBay and with shipping, the total price came to around $350. Upon arrival, I unpacked and proceeded to set up the device and the software (which I installed on 1 custom built desktop from 3 years ago and 2 laptops; 1 an HP zd8000 custom built and a 2 year old Gateway). I'm including the ages of these machines as those with issues also tend to include how old their machines are, so I added mine for comparison. Anyway, I opted to go with the full installs and upgraded the software immediately with any updates from the HP support site (accessible through the software package itself). The longest software install was on the Gateway laptop, but that was running a Celeron processor with 256MB of ram. That took 30 minutes. Unbelievably, the quickest of the installs went to the 3 year old desktop with an Athlon 3200 XP Processor w/1.5GB ram. Time was 15 minutes. All installs were effortless and problem free. I was a little apprehensive after reading these installation problems from the other reviews, but after all these months, absolutely nothing.

The device works flawlessly. The only issue I've ever had was needing to power cycle it once when it froze on a menu, but other than that, it does great work. I've faxed with no problems. I've copied photos. I've scanned documents. I've printed many, many copies (all through the network) with no issues. I've even sent documents to be printed remotely from the internet (a GREAT feature to have). I've had nothing but great luck with this and it does everything it states and more that I have yet to try such as scanning/printing from negatives.

Faxing is easy and a pleasure. Like another review has stated, even though it doesn't have a document feeder, it will ask you if you have other pages, and it's quick to scan them into the memory buffer. I had to fax a 15 page expense report and it did it as well as any other machine would do. I've received faxes with it as well. All received without a hitch. I may go ahead and get a separate signal ring number just to have this available at all times.

I tried copying photos to the 4x6 format just to test it. It works best when you use the HP photo paper, but it worked well with the premium glossy paper that I had left over from my old Epson 785EPX. That should be expected though as most manufacturers design their devices to work with their media best. I have yet to try printing from the Pictbridge port or directly from media, but I'm sure that will be just as painless. I will say you may get better quality from a standalone photo printer, but these are passable. I, too, have an Olympus C-8080, and I take very high quality prints, so I think that may help. Plus, the printing is done quickly and quietly...quieter than any of the Epsons I've owned previously.

Printing is what this thing does, and it does it quickly, and expertly. My documents come out looking like they were done on a laser printer. I'm very impressed. None of my Epson photo printers handled text that well, but they were great with photos. This all-in-one does everything well. Documents, however, are superb. One caveat though...you will lose some of that quality when you print remotely (through the internet). I haven't figured out why, but I assume that because most documents when scanned or faxed normally, are done in a .tiff format, which is a very high quality image and also large in file size. I'm wondering if the file sent is in a high quality .jpeg in order to speed up the transfer? Not too sure on that one, but it may explain the quality of the print.

I've only scanned a few items, but they came out looking like they were cloned from the original. No issues here. Not a huge need for it since most of my documents are already on the computer to begin with, so that's a plus to begin with.

Wireless print server. WOW!!! This is a Godsend. I have 5 computers in my home, and the 3 computers that print to this device are using it constantly. I had 1 computer running before with the Epson, but if it was off, that meant printer sharing couldn't be done, so you couldn't print to anything. That is now a problem of the past. I have the printer sitting on it's own desk, and it's connected to my network wirelessly, and the desktop can be on or off. I've printed from all over the house and even sent a document from my wireless pda. Nice! A great plus. Tricky to perform at first, but I can do it all the time now. It just requires a driver installed from the support site.

The software is where I've read most people have a problem. I've had no issues. I use it quite often as it's fairly robust for included software. It's not as full featured as say an Adobe product or even Microsoft's Picture It! suite, but it will allow you to handle the majority of your day-to-day functions. You have enough control over your projects and your tasks that you really won't use much other software. Unless you're into high end projects and editing, you will be very pleased with this software bundle.

I recommend giving this a try and if you're like me and you like to have the functionality of a home office atmosphere that runs wirelessly, this is a must addition to complete it.