HP Color Laserjet CM2320fxi MFP

For personal use only

This printer is not designed for use in an office environment. Even with network connectivity, it is designed to be used by a single PC.

The trouble is the software. If you want to do anything but print, the functionality is funneled through the wretched HP Toolbox application. This app pops up dialog boxes, and prompts and all sorts of other annoyances that should be unnecessary (you configure the destination for scans, etc, in advance anyway). So only the user with the PC that has the Toolbox installed can take advantage of all the features.

Alternatively, you could install this printer along with a dedicated PC next to it. But if you're going to spend that kind of money, you might as well get a better printer.

Oh, but for a reliable SCANNER feature . . . .

The partner, Allen Miller, hit the nail on the head. Owned my machine about a half-year. My IT consultant has been stuggling all day today with the scan menu 'designation of computer' issue (again). Seems you can set it up, but wait a few weeks and try to scan something and the memory on the all-in-one goes "dumb" on you. This has happened three times and it is getting expensive for me to have the problem fixed each time for fee. The solution, up to now, has been to "uninstall" the HP software and go through a re-install. That takes time. Today, the HP uninstall software did not fully work; had to go in and remove fragments of the HP software from registers and directories. Now, the re-install doesn't . . . . well, re-install. The suspense is killing us. It's late at night and my IT guy went home; he'll be back tomorrow after checking the Internet for suggestions, recommendations from other frustrated users, and, of course, the always helpful attempt to break into HP customer support to talk to a real person . . . . I swear, crashing Britain's MI-5 would likely be easier.

Here's the long and short of this device: It is 64-bit compatible and that's nice (essential) for Windows 7 users. It's "top of the line" for small - medium business HP all-in-one devices in terms of speed, features, etc. Fax feature "acts up" every so often and doesn't want to send scanned dox via fax when connected to the destination (and I don't have a clue why), but tinker with it enough and the fax finally goes through on retrys. The color and b/w copier feature works fabulously (like it should). The Scanner . . . . . it's got one day more to live, otherwise I'm taking back to Staples, plopping it on the counter, and scream at all of them just out of frustration. My fantasy: put the device on the Staple's floor, pull out a plastic bottle of lighter fluid, spray and light the device on fire ala Jimi Hendrix at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival . . . . "burn you voodoo machine" . . . . . a worthy end and tribute to a machine that had potential, but . . . . .

Good luck, HP fans.

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The partner hit the nail on the head. Owned my machine about a half-year. My IT consultant has been stuggling all day today with the scan menu 'designation of computer' issue (again). Seems you can set it up, but wait a few weeks and try to scan something and the memory on the all-in-one goes "dumb" on you. This has happened three times and it is getting expensive for me to have the problem fixed each time for fee. The solution, up to now, has been to "uninstall" the HP software and go through a re-install. That takes time. Today, the HP uninstall software did not fully work; had to go in and remove fragments of the HP software from registers and directories. Now, the re-install doesn't . . . . well, re-install. The suspense is killing us. It's late at night and my IT guy went home; he'll be back tomorrow after checking the Internet for suggestions, recommendations from other frustrated users, and, of course, the always helpful attempt to break into HP customer support to talk to a real person . . . . I swear, crashing Britain's MI-5 would likely be easier.

Here's the long and short of this device: It is 64-bit compatible and that's nice (essential) for Windows 7 users. It's "top of the line" for small - medium business HP all-in-one devices in terms of speed, features, etc. Fax feature "acts up" every so often and doesn't want to send scanned dox via fax when connected to the destination (and I don't have a clue why), but tinker with it enough and the fax finally goes through on retrys. The color and b/w copier feature works fabulously (like it should). The Scanner . . . . . it's got one day more to live, otherwise I'm taking back to Staples, plopping it on the counter, and scream at all of them just out of frustration. My fantasy: put the device on the Staple's floor, pull out a plastic bottle of lighter fluid, spray and light the device on fire ala Jimi Hendrix at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival . . . . "burn you voodoo machine" . . . . . a worthy end and tribute to a machine that had potential, but . . . . .

Good luck, HP fans.

I LOVE THIS PRINTER, AMAZING COLOR

THIS PRINTER REPLACED A 17 YEAR OLD LEXMARK, AND THOUGH THE INK IS EXPENSIVE THE QUALITY IS TRULY REMARKABLE, AND SO IS THE SPEED. THUMBS WAY UP!!!!

Not suited for network use

This is marketed as a network device, but it really is not suited for this. The printer depends on the processor in the PC that is using it. This has lots of consequences. For example: you cannot use the printer to scan a document and send it somewhere - you control the process from your PC. If your PC and the printer are in different rooms, and you are scanning several documents, well, you get lots of exercise. It also means that you cannot shut off your PC while printing, as documents are not spooled on the printer (as they should be for a network device).

The printing itself is also frustrating. We suffer continuous paper jams (usually when doing 2-sided printing), even with premium paper, even after visits by HP support. Print jobs do not resume reliably after clearing a jam - pages are usually missing. So you wind up printing long documents several times, hoping to get a complete set of pages at the end. If several people are printing at once, you can imagine the resulting chaos.

Our company has used HP printers almost exclusively for 15 years, and this is the first I have ever written a negative review for an HP printer. This would be an acceptable device for a home network (except for the paper jams). For a small office, it is a disaster.

Network scanning is poor

I'm dealing with this at a customer who purchased one. Scanning to a network destination really means "scanning to HP's software installed on a PC which will then put the file in the destination." Scanning directly to FTP or SMB is not available.

UPDATE: Basically, this printer is good for a small office that isn't using a central server for all documents - if everyone in the office is running off local PCs and storing files locally, this lets each user scan directly to their PC.

Basically, you install the HP software on the destination system(s) (Windows or possibly a Mac), then go through the configuration wizard on each machine to configure the available document types (photos, documents) and destinations (directories, email) on that PC. Automatic file naming is along the lines of "hpscan1.pdf," or you can choose to be prompted for a file name each time. When scanning to the network, you hit the "Scan Menu" button on the device, then pick the kind of scan (Scan to PC), then select the PC, then select the destination on that PC.

I'm amazed that with years to work on it HP hasn't managed to come up with a better solution. This level of functionality is what I'd expect from a low-end system intended for home use plugged directly into a PC, not what I expect in a business-targeted device at this high a price point.

Finally I can get rid of a slew of office devices

I've long been a holdout on multi-function devices as they never were good at more than one thing.... a good printer, but lousy fax or lousy scanner or even lousier copier. So my office has always had a copier, fax, scanner and printer. In fact, I've had two printers -- a fast b/w laser printer and a color inkjet printer.

Well, that's all changed with this MFP device. Copies are good (both color and black/white. Scans are much easier than my existing computer attached scanner (just hit a button and the scanned images are emailed to anyone), prints are fast, single or double sided, and in color or black/white. Faxing is just as easy.

I'm very happy with it. My wife is very happy with it. My kids are very happy with it.

I've seen on other sites where people had trouble installing the software, but I didn't have any such trouble. Now, for most of the computers in the house, I just installed the printer drivers, while for my Windows 2003 server and my Windows XP laptop, I installed the entire software package so I could play with all the bells & whistles. In either case I had no problems.

Definitely recommend the product. Makes it easy to get rid of any other office equipment (other than the shredder, of course).