Hewlett-Packard Business Inkjet 3000 Printer Series
The 3000 Series is HP’s top of the line printer for its 8.5” x 14” Business Inkjet solutions. Featuring a dual processor design (160MHz and 400MHz CPUs), 88MB RAM standard (expandable to 344MB), a maximum 1,100-sheet paper capacity, and high yield ink cartridges, the BIJ 3000 Series is rated for use in environments producing up to 30,000 pages per month—three times that of the G700.
3000 | $599 | Non-networked |
3000n | $899 | Networked (wired) |
3000dtn | $1,099 | Networked (wired) + 700-sheet Paper Tray 2 + Duplexing |
Duplex module | $149 | May be added to 3000 and 3000n configurations |
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If a business were truly averaging those kinds of volumes, an entry-level color laser unit like the CL1000N would better serve them, especially if the customer is considering investing roughly $1,000 in printing technology.
Having said that, we acknowledge that the BIJ 3000 Series offers acceptable speeds, serves Macintosh and UNIX as well as Windows clients, and offers an optional 700-sheet paper tray (standard on dtn), a 100-sheet multipurpose tray, and multiple networking options including wireless connectivity.
An apples-to-apples comparison would have the duplex-enabled G700 with permanent print heads priced at $449; whereas a duplex-enabled BIJ 3000 carries a $748 price tag (the Duplex Unit for the 3000 Series is $149). For the incremental $299 the customer gets a Macintosh-compatible printer operating at 18/21-ppm printer with 72MB more RAM, a Parallel interface, and dual processors. For the typical small workgroup/SOHO customer this seems like overkill. The G700 represents a more rightsized, affordable solution for these cost-conscious customers.
Further, the high capacity ink cartridges available for use with the BIJ 3000 Series are $65.99 each Color and $33.99 for Black (that’s $232 for a set of four ink cartridges), higher than the $57–Black/$50–Cyan/$58–Magenta & Yellow SRP of High Yield cartridges (although the yield is not equivalent). And as with other Business Inkjet models from HP, the BIJ 3000 Series uses dye-based ink for cyan, magenta, and yellow colors. With respect to print head replacement, the 3000 Series does offer longer life print heads (45,000 for Black and 105,000 for C/M/Y) but they still require eventual replacement at $70.99 each versus the permanent print heads in the G700. That means if the user ran the HP 3000 at half its maximum rated monthly volume (15,000 prints per month) the customer would have to replace the Black print head every three months, and each C/M/Y color print head about twice a year. That equates to a total of 10 print heads per year at $70.99 each for an annual consumable cost of $709—in addition to inks!!
When competing against the HP Business Inkjet 3000 Series with the G700, be sure to play the price card for both hardware and supplies, and question the potential for high quality duplex prints from a device that uses dye-based inks for color images.
