HP CM3530

A Short Review Of The HP CM 3530

The HP CM 3530 is a multifunction machine, offering printing, scanning, copying and digital sending. Faxing capabilities are available as an upgrade. The CM3530 produces as many as 31 pages per minutes, whether printing in black or color. Hewlett-Packard recommends this machine for users needing to print between 2,000 and 6,000 copies per month.

Occasionally, manufacturers sacrifice print quality for speed. That is not the case with this machine. Print resolution is as much as 1,200 x 600 dpi in both monochrome and color modes.

The unit produces copies at the same speed, but the maximum resolution is 600 x 600 dpi. Users can enlarge the document being copied by as much as 400 percent or reduce it to 25 percent. The machine can produce up to 999 identical copies before the user must intervene. Automatic duplexing is available in both copy and print modes.

An input tray with a 250-sheet capacity is standard, but an optional paper tray that holds 500 sheets is available. The output tray will handle 250 pages. Hewlett-Packard has also made document handling easier with an automatic document feeder that can handle 50 sheets, reducing the time a user must hover over the machine to make his copies. The printer accepts transparencies, cardstock, envelopes, labels or plain paper with weights ranging from 16 to 58-pound bond. Originals can range from 3.9 x 5.8 inches to legal size.

A four-cartridge toner design helps conserve ink. The unit ships with a black cartridge, rated for 5,000 pages, and cyan, magenta and yellow inks that can handle as many as 7,000 pages. Printing costs are also optimized by the machine's ability to automatically determine whether an original is monochromatic or polychromatic, then make adjustments to its settings as needed.

The HP CM 3530 toner also saves on energy costs. The printer comes with HP's "instant-on" feature. This means that the first page prints as much as 40 percent faster than typical printers when idling in low-power mode.