HP Economical Printers
Since Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard found Hewlett and Packard in 1939, the company has grown into one that caters to the business and home office needs of individuals of all budgets. The company has a line of economical printers for those who need to have a printer, but don't have the money invest in a more costly one. Three printers range in price from approximately $70 to $180 and provide just the right amount of features to cover someone's basic printing needs.
Those who need a better quality printer should consider the company's line of Officejet printers. These tend to have higher duty cycle (referring to the maximum pages per month the printer can output) and a variety of other features that make the extra money spent worthwhile. But if you're on a budget and are simply looking for an affordable printer to meet your basic needs, HP's deskjet and single function wireless printers will work well enough.
HP Deskjet 3000
This printer is energy star qualified so it will require only a small amount of electricity to function. It's compact size of 16.57" x 14.96" x 10.5" makes it easy to fit almost anywhere and it has a wireless printing function using USB cable setup that comes with CD software. The Deskjet 3000 does not have web-connected printing or HP ePrint.
The printer can output up to 21 color pages per minute and up to 28 black pages per minute. It comes with one USB 2.0 and 1 Wi-Fi 802.11n. The printer has iPhone iPrint compatibility and can print a variety of media types including labels, greeting cards, envelopes, transparencies and paper. Standard media sizes include letter, legal and number 10 envelopes.
There's a 60-sheet input tray and a duty cycle of up to 1,000 pages. Two-sided printing is manual and there is a year of technical phone support with the one-year limited warranty.
HP Deskjet 3050 All-in-One
This budget printer does not offer web-connected printing or HP ePrint. But unlike the 3000, the 3050 does more than print. It also copies and scans. This printer also has iPhone iPrint compatibility and wireless printing with USB cable setup and CD hardware. There's one Wi-Fi 802.11n connection and one USB 2.0 connection. Like the 3000, this printer has a black and one tri-color ink cartridge. Sometimes these can be expensive, so if you're on a budget, you may want to consider inkjet refills as a way to save money when it comes time to get more ink.
Double-sided printing is manual and the printer has the capacity to make up to 50 copies at one time.
HP Officejet Pro 800 Wireless
This printer is one of the more economical HP Officejet printers and only has the print feature. It does not scan, copy or fax. It has the same connectivity features as the previous model with the addition of one Ethernet card. The input tray capacity is 250 which means that you won't need to replace paper as often. This is something to consider if you do a fair bit of printing at one time. The duty cycle is up to 1,500 pages a month and the printer can output black and white pages at a speed of 35 pages per minute and color pages at a speed of up to 34 pages per minute.
The Pro 800 has the ability to print index cards as well as the same print media as the previous printers. Media sizes it can print include letter, legal, statement, executive, number 10 envelopes and MoN/Arch envelopes. It can print borderless up to 8.5" x 11".