The HP OfficeJet 3830 All-In-One Printer ($79.99), an entry-level inkjet all-in-one (AIO), is a capable machine, but like many AIOs in this class, including the more-expensive Canon Pixma TR8520 Wireless Home Office All-In-One Printer, our Editors' Choice, it has many formidable competitors.
Unlike the Canon TR8520, the OfficeJet 3830 does not support two-sided printing, Ethernet networking, flash memory devices, and a few other noteworthy features.
What the OfficeJet 3830 does have going for it is that, not only does it cost less than the Canon model, it also costs less to use—as long as you opt for HP's Instant Ink subscription program, that is.
The OfficeJet 3830 prints well, and it's a good alternative to the Canon TR8520 for low-volume printing and copying in a small or home-based office or student dormitory.
A Lot of Machine for the Money
When it comes to business-oriented AIO printers, the OfficeJet 3830 ($299.99 at Amazon) is certainly one of the least expensive.
At 8.5 by 17.2 by 14.3 inches (HWD) and 12.4 pounds, though, it's close in size and girth to several other petite business-oriented inkjets.
The Canon TR8520, for instance, is actually slightly smaller, but it weighs about five pounds more than the OfficeJet 3830.
Brother's MFC-J985DW ($549.99 at Amazon) , another top pick, is an inch or two smaller in all directions, yet it weighs about six pounds more than the OfficeJet 3830.
The Epson WorkForce ET-4750 EcoTank All-In-One Supertank Printer ($916.00 at Amazon) , one of Epson's bulk-ink models that you fill with ink from bottles, is slightly longer and heavier than the OfficeJet 3830.
That's due mostly to the ink reservoirs built into the right side of the Epson ET-4750's chassis.
(Note that the Epson ET-4750, as well as all other EcoTank models, cost significantly more than the other entry-level inkjet AIOs discussed here, but that's due to bulk-ink AIOs' very low running costs.
Otherwise, the Epson ET-4750 is close to these other machines in performance and features.)
If small and light are your primary criteria, other than mobile printers designed for travel, the smallest AIO I know of is HP's own DeskJet 3755 All-in-One Printer ($59.99 at HP) (5.6 by 15.9 by 7 inches and 5.1 pounds), but you'll have to give up the automatic document feeder (ADF) and a little print speed.
As for paper handling, the OfficeJet 3830's comes with one rear 60-sheet paper tray, and its output is a meager 25 sheets—a very small paper capacity, compared with several competitors.
The Canon TR8520 ($188.67 at Amazon) , for instance, supports up to 200 sheets from two 100-sheet input sources.
The Brother MFC-J985DW holds up to 100 sheets, and the Epson ET-4750's sole paper drawer holds up to 250 sheets.
Canon's Pixma G4200 Wireless MegaTank All-in-One Printer , one of that company's bulk-ink models, supports up to 100 sheets.
A plus for an $80 printer, the OfficeJet 3830 comes with a 35-sheet ADF; however, it's not auto-duplexing (but I wouldn't expect it to be at this price), and, unfortunately, neither is the print engine, meaning that it can't print two-sided pages without your having to flip them over manually to print on the other side.
Of all the machines mentioned here, only the HP DeskJet 3755 comes sans an ADF, yet none of these AIOs have auto-duplexing document feeders.
The Brother MFC-J985DW, the Canon TR8520, and the Epson ET-4750 all support automatic two-sided printing, though.
The OfficeJet 3830's maximum monthly duty cycle is 1,000 pages, with up to 250 pages monthly recommended.
That's the same as the HP DeskJet 3755, 1,500 pages less than the Brother MFC-J985DW, and 4,000 pages less than the Epson ET-4750.
(Canon doesn't publish capacity stats for its consumer-grade printers.)
Another surprise—given its price feature—is the OfficeJet 3830's 2.2-inch monochrome touch screen, which comprises its entire control panel.
Not only did I find it easy to use, it's also very responsive to touch input.
Making a Connection
In terms of connectivity, the OfficeJet 3830 is the only business-oriented printer from HP (or any other manufacturer that I can recall) that I've come across that doesn't have an Ethernet port.
That's not to say, however, that Ethernet is critical to an AIO designed to support less than five users.
Nowadays, all desktop PCs, laptops, smartphones, and tablets support Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi Direct, the other wireless protocol that the OfficeJet 3830 supports.
The OfficeJet 3830 also supports USB for connecting to a single PC, as well as Apple AirPrint and HP ePrint.
It comes with numerous HP mobile apps for printing from and scanning to various cloud and social media sites, as well as a few other workflow profiles—as long as you connect to the AIO wirelessly, that is.
A USB connection does not connect the printer to the internet, and therefore does not support mobile apps.
Respectable Performance
HP rates the OfficeJet 3830 at 8.5 pages per minute (ppm) for monochrome pages and 6ppm for color pages.
I tested it over USB from our standard Intel Core i5-equipped testbed PC running Windows 10 Professional.
When printing our sample 12-page Microsoft Word text document, the OfficeJet 3830, at 9.7ppm, surpassed its rating by more than 1ppm.
That's about 3ppm slower than the Canon TR8520, 5.5ppm slower than the Epson ET-4750, 2.6ppm faster than the Canon Pixma G4200, and 5.4ppm faster than the HP DeskJet 3755.
Unfortunately, the Brother MFC-J985DW was tested under our previous benchmarking methodology; comparing its results here isn't possible.
See How We Test Printers
When I combined the results from printing the previous 12-page Word document with the results from printing several separate color-laden PDF, Excel, and PowerPoint documents made up of text, photos, charts, graphs, and other business graphics, the OfficeJet 3830 churned at 2.7ppm.
If you're wondering why that number is so far behind this AIO's 6ppm rating, the reason is that our color business documents are more complex and contain a much higher percentage of ink coverage than the documents used by printer manufacturers.
Besides, compared with some competing models, 2.7ppm isn't really that slow.
Printing the same documents, the Canon TR8520 managed only 2ppm faster, and the Canon Pixma G4200 churned at only 0.3ppm quicker than our OfficeJet test unit.
The Epson ET-4750 beat the OfficeJet 3830 by about 5ppm, but the HP DeskJet 3775 came in 1.3ppm slower than the OfficeJet 3830.
When printing our two highly colorful and detailed 4-by-6-inch snapshots, the OfficeJet 3830 managed an average of 51 seconds, which is a little slower than the other AIOs mentioned here, but not enough to be overly concerned about.
Besides, as I've said more than once, photo quality is often paramount to photo print speeds.
Surprising Output Quality for the Price
Keeping in mind the OfficeJet 3830's low purchase price (and low running costs, which I discuss next), I have no complaints about its print and copy quality.
Our sample text pages, especially the more common serif and sans-serif fonts, came out well-shaped, well-spaced, and highly legible down to the lowest point size (4 points) we test, and in the more common size ranges—from about 8 to 24 points—the type looked near laser-quality, and therefore suitable for most business documents.
The OfficeJet 3830's Excel and PowerPoint output, which contained gradients of many shades and shapes, as well as several dark fills, looked great, with only very faint banding here and there.
I had to look for it to see it.
As for photos, I tested them on a few different types of paper, and got only so-so results on everyday copy paper.
But when I set all the print quality settings to Best, and then printed borderless images on the "Everyday photo paper" that HP sent me, I was pleasantly surprised with how colorful and detailed the images looked.
Granted, they didn't quite come up to the quality of five- and six-ink consumer-grade photo printers from Canon and Epson, but the OfficeJet 3830's photo output was impressive just the same.
Instant Ink a Must
If you printed a lot of complex documents or photos on the OfficeJet 3830 without a subscription to HP's Instant Ink delivery program, this would be a very-expensive-to-use AIO.
It comes to about 9 cents for monochrome pages and 21 cents for color pages—and that's when you purchase the more expensive XL-size cartridges.
With Instant Ink, where the printer monitors its own ink usage and orders replacement cartridges as needed, you can print up to 300 pages (a little over this AIO's recommended limit) or photos each month for as low as 3.5 cents per page.
Where this really becomes a bargain is when printing photos, even large borderless 8-by-10-inch images.
Unlike your average document, which typically contains between 5- to 20-percent ink coverage, borderless photographs contain 100-percent coverage.
When printing photos, 3.5 cents per photo may even beat the Epson ET-4750 and Canon G4200 bulk-ink AIOs, which both print 8.5-by-11-inch document pages with average coverage—both monochrome and color—at under 1 cent per page.
(Keep in mind, though, that these supertank printers cost a few hundred dollars more than the OfficeJet 3830.
You should plan to print at least a few hundred pages each month to justify that initial investment.)
It's also important to note that HP is offering the first three months of Instant Ink for free, thereby—depending on how much you print—making the overall cost per page even lower.
If you won't be printing a lot of photos, though, nearly all the entry-level machines discussed here should print document pages for less than the OfficeJet 3830.
The Brother MFC-J985DW's running costs are about 1 cent for black pages and just under 5 cents for color pages.
(Most business-oriented output is predominately monochrome.)
Both the Canon TR8520 and the HP DeskJet 3755 have much higher running costs, however, especially for color pages, thereby rendering them both (from a cost-per-page perspective) to low-volume AIOs—say, no more than about 50 to 200 pages each month.
A Low-Cost, Low-Volume AIO
Regardless of how little it costs to use (with Instant Ink, of course), the HP OfficeJet 3830 All-In-One Printer is a low-volume, entry-level AIO designed to print no more than about 250 pages per month.
And while it has several slightly more-expensive yet significantly more-robust competitors, including the Editors' Choice Canon TR8520, it comes with strong productivity and convenience features—such as an ADF and a slick touch-screen control panel.
That makes it a sensible choice for small and home-based offices and student housing with minimal print and copy needs.
HP OfficeJet 3830 All-in-One Printer
Pros
Very low price.
Light and compact.
Impressive print quality.
Low running costs with Instant Ink.
Good-looking photos on HP photo paper.
35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF).
Touch screen is an unexpected amenity.
View More
Cons
Running costs are exorbitant without Instant Ink.
No auto-duplexing.
Two-cartridge ink setup is potentially wasteful.
Lacks flash memory support and Ethernet.
View More
The Bottom Line
The low-price, entry-level HP OfficeJet 3830 prints well and at reasonable running costs—when you sign up for HP's Instant Ink subscription program—but you give up some features and functionality for the savings.
The HP OfficeJet 3830 All-In-One Printer ($79.99), an entry-level inkjet all-in-one (AIO), is a capable machine, but like many AIOs in this class, including the more-expensive Canon Pixma TR8520 Wireless Home Office All-In-One Printer, our Editors' Choice, it has many formidable competitors.
Unlike the Canon TR8520, the OfficeJet 3830 does not support two-sided printing, Ethernet networking, flash memory devices, and a few other noteworthy features.
What the OfficeJet 3830 does have going for it is that, not only does it cost less than the Canon model, it also costs less to use—as long as you opt for HP's Instant Ink subscription program, that is.
The OfficeJet 3830 prints well, and it's a good alternative to the Canon TR8520 for low-volume printing and copying in a small or home-based office or student dormitory.
A Lot of Machine for the Money
When it comes to business-oriented AIO printers, the OfficeJet 3830 ($299.99 at Amazon) is certainly one of the least expensive.
At 8.5 by 17.2 by 14.3 inches (HWD) and 12.4 pounds, though, it's close in size and girth to several other petite business-oriented inkjets.
The Canon TR8520, for instance, is actually slightly smaller, but it weighs about five pounds more than the OfficeJet 3830.
Brother's MFC-J985DW ($549.99 at Amazon) , another top pick, is an inch or two smaller in all directions, yet it weighs about six pounds more than the OfficeJet 3830.
The Epson WorkForce ET-4750 EcoTank All-In-One Supertank Printer ($916.00 at Amazon) , one of Epson's bulk-ink models that you fill with ink from bottles, is slightly longer and heavier than the OfficeJet 3830.
That's due mostly to the ink reservoirs built into the right side of the Epson ET-4750's chassis.
(Note that the Epson ET-4750, as well as all other EcoTank models, cost significantly more than the other entry-level inkjet AIOs discussed here, but that's due to bulk-ink AIOs' very low running costs.
Otherwise, the Epson ET-4750 is close to these other machines in performance and features.)
If small and light are your primary criteria, other than mobile printers designed for travel, the smallest AIO I know of is HP's own DeskJet 3755 All-in-One Printer ($59.99 at HP) (5.6 by 15.9 by 7 inches and 5.1 pounds), but you'll have to give up the automatic document feeder (ADF) and a little print speed.
As for paper handling, the OfficeJet 3830's comes with one rear 60-sheet paper tray, and its output is a meager 25 sheets—a very small paper capacity, compared with several competitors.
The Canon TR8520 ($188.67 at Amazon) , for instance, supports up to 200 sheets from two 100-sheet input sources.
The Brother MFC-J985DW holds up to 100 sheets, and the Epson ET-4750's sole paper drawer holds up to 250 sheets.
Canon's Pixma G4200 Wireless MegaTank All-in-One Printer , one of that company's bulk-ink models, supports up to 100 sheets.
A plus for an $80 printer, the OfficeJet 3830 comes with a 35-sheet ADF; however, it's not auto-duplexing (but I wouldn't expect it to be at this price), and, unfortunately, neither is the print engine, meaning that it can't print two-sided pages without your having to flip them over manually to print on the other side.
Of all the machines mentioned here, only the HP DeskJet 3755 comes sans an ADF, yet none of these AIOs have auto-duplexing document feeders.
The Brother MFC-J985DW, the Canon TR8520, and the Epson ET-4750 all support automatic two-sided printing, though.
The OfficeJet 3830's maximum monthly duty cycle is 1,000 pages, with up to 250 pages monthly recommended.
That's the same as the HP DeskJet 3755, 1,500 pages less than the Brother MFC-J985DW, and 4,000 pages less than the Epson ET-4750.
(Canon doesn't publish capacity stats for its consumer-grade printers.)
Another surprise—given its price feature—is the OfficeJet 3830's 2.2-inch monochrome touch screen, which comprises its entire control panel.
Not only did I find it easy to use, it's also very responsive to touch input.
Making a Connection
In terms of connectivity, the OfficeJet 3830 is the only business-oriented printer from HP (or any other manufacturer that I can recall) that I've come across that doesn't have an Ethernet port.
That's not to say, however, that Ethernet is critical to an AIO designed to support less than five users.
Nowadays, all desktop PCs, laptops, smartphones, and tablets support Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi Direct, the other wireless protocol that the OfficeJet 3830 supports.
The OfficeJet 3830 also supports USB for connecting to a single PC, as well as Apple AirPrint and HP ePrint.
It comes with numerous HP mobile apps for printing from and scanning to various cloud and social media sites, as well as a few other workflow profiles—as long as you connect to the AIO wirelessly, that is.
A USB connection does not connect the printer to the internet, and therefore does not support mobile apps.
Respectable Performance
HP rates the OfficeJet 3830 at 8.5 pages per minute (ppm) for monochrome pages and 6ppm for color pages.
I tested it over USB from our standard Intel Core i5-equipped testbed PC running Windows 10 Professional.
When printing our sample 12-page Microsoft Word text document, the OfficeJet 3830, at 9.7ppm, surpassed its rating by more than 1ppm.
That's about 3ppm slower than the Canon TR8520, 5.5ppm slower than the Epson ET-4750, 2.6ppm faster than the Canon Pixma G4200, and 5.4ppm faster than the HP DeskJet 3755.
Unfortunately, the Brother MFC-J985DW was tested under our previous benchmarking methodology; comparing its results here isn't possible.
See How We Test Printers
When I combined the results from printing the previous 12-page Word document with the results from printing several separate color-laden PDF, Excel, and PowerPoint documents made up of text, photos, charts, graphs, and other business graphics, the OfficeJet 3830 churned at 2.7ppm.
If you're wondering why that number is so far behind this AIO's 6ppm rating, the reason is that our color business documents are more complex and contain a much higher percentage of ink coverage than the documents used by printer manufacturers.
Besides, compared with some competing models, 2.7ppm isn't really that slow.
Printing the same documents, the Canon TR8520 managed only 2ppm faster, and the Canon Pixma G4200 churned at only 0.3ppm quicker than our OfficeJet test unit.
The Epson ET-4750 beat the OfficeJet 3830 by about 5ppm, but the HP DeskJet 3775 came in 1.3ppm slower than the OfficeJet 3830.
When printing our two highly colorful and detailed 4-by-6-inch snapshots, the OfficeJet 3830 managed an average of 51 seconds, which is a little slower than the other AIOs mentioned here, but not enough to be overly concerned about.
Besides, as I've said more than once, photo quality is often paramount to photo print speeds.
Surprising Output Quality for the Price
Keeping in mind the OfficeJet 3830's low purchase price (and low running costs, which I discuss next), I have no complaints about its print and copy quality.
Our sample text pages, especially the more common serif and sans-serif fonts, came out well-shaped, well-spaced, and highly legible down to the lowest point size (4 points) we test, and in the more common size ranges—from about 8 to 24 points—the type looked near laser-quality, and therefore suitable for most business documents.
The OfficeJet 3830's Excel and PowerPoint output, which contained gradients of many shades and shapes, as well as several dark fills, looked great, with only very faint banding here and there.
I had to look for it to see it.
As for photos, I tested them on a few different types of paper, and got only so-so results on everyday copy paper.
But when I set all the print quality settings to Best, and then printed borderless images on the "Everyday photo paper" that HP sent me, I was pleasantly surprised with how colorful and detailed the images looked.
Granted, they didn't quite come up to the quality of five- and six-ink consumer-grade photo printers from Canon and Epson, but the OfficeJet 3830's photo output was impressive just the same.
Instant Ink a Must
If you printed a lot of complex documents or photos on the OfficeJet 3830 without a subscription to HP's Instant Ink delivery program, this would be a very-expensive-to-use AIO.
It comes to about 9 cents for monochrome pages and 21 cents for color pages—and that's when you purchase the more expensive XL-size cartridges.
With Instant Ink, where the printer monitors its own ink usage and orders replacement cartridges as needed, you can print up to 300 pages (a little over this AIO's recommended limit) or photos each month for as low as 3.5 cents per page.
Where this really becomes a bargain is when printing photos, even large borderless 8-by-10-inch images.
Unlike your average document, which typically contains between 5- to 20-percent ink coverage, borderless photographs contain 100-percent coverage.
When printing photos, 3.5 cents per photo may even beat the Epson ET-4750 and Canon G4200 bulk-ink AIOs, which both print 8.5-by-11-inch document pages with average coverage—both monochrome and color—at under 1 cent per page.
(Keep in mind, though, that these supertank printers cost a few hundred dollars more than the OfficeJet 3830.
You should plan to print at least a few hundred pages each month to justify that initial investment.)
It's also important to note that HP is offering the first three months of Instant Ink for free, thereby—depending on how much you print—making the overall cost per page even lower.
If you won't be printing a lot of photos, though, nearly all the entry-level machines discussed here should print document pages for less than the OfficeJet 3830.
The Brother MFC-J985DW's running costs are about 1 cent for black pages and just under 5 cents for color pages.
(Most business-oriented output is predominately monochrome.)
Both the Canon TR8520 and the HP DeskJet 3755 have much higher running costs, however, especially for color pages, thereby rendering them both (from a cost-per-page perspective) to low-volume AIOs—say, no more than about 50 to 200 pages each month.
A Low-Cost, Low-Volume AIO
Regardless of how little it costs to use (with Instant Ink, of course), the HP OfficeJet 3830 All-In-One Printer is a low-volume, entry-level AIO designed to print no more than about 250 pages per month.
And while it has several slightly more-expensive yet significantly more-robust competitors, including the Editors' Choice Canon TR8520, it comes with strong productivity and convenience features—such as an ADF and a slick touch-screen control panel.
That makes it a sensible choice for small and home-based offices and student housing with minimal print and copy needs.
HP OfficeJet 3830 All-in-One Printer
Pros
Very low price.
Light and compact.
Impressive print quality.
Low running costs with Instant Ink.
Good-looking photos on HP photo paper.
35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF).
Touch screen is an unexpected amenity.
View More
Cons
Running costs are exorbitant without Instant Ink.
No auto-duplexing.
Two-cartridge ink setup is potentially wasteful.
Lacks flash memory support and Ethernet.
View More
The Bottom Line
The low-price, entry-level HP OfficeJet 3830 prints well and at reasonable running costs—when you sign up for HP's Instant Ink subscription program—but you give up some features and functionality for the savings.
