HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw Review

The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw is an exceptional all-in-one home office printer that offers more than impressive printing performance by also functioning as a scanner and a fax machine, all in a relatively compact package.

Text Quality

Our team subjected each model in our test lineup to a series of tests in order to evaluate overall text quality. The testing takes a deep look into both black and white text quality as well as text clarity. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw proved to be rather exceptional in these evaluations.

In our individual black and white text quality metric, we observed no blemishes, smearing, spreading, streaking, or bleeding through. The exceptional performance was also repeated across all of our testing, with black always being a true black, and the ability to maintain that quality and blackness consistently with small and difficult fonts.

To our pleasant surprise, our team also observed no clarity issues with special characters. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw always produced crisp and clear text across different fonts and sizes. Its impressive text printing abilities make it an obvious choice for printing critical documents where legibility and clarity are of utmost importance.

Graphics and Photos

While the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw performed well in our graphics and photos tests, it was outshined by a few other printers capable of printing more stunning, color-accurate, and vibrant photos.

With regard to photos, prints were somewhat oversaturated and even a bit patchy across all paper types, with the most glaring issue being overly intensified blue hues. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw struggled a bit with blues again when printing business graphics. While colors were bright, and the mixed text was generally easy to read, the oversaturation of blues made it a little more difficult to read black text atop blue graphics.

Clarity was generally pretty good, with some pixelations across photos that are visible to the naked eye, although very little detail is lost or blurred. Color accuracy was the only major issue we had with the photo and graphic printing, with blues being oversaturated, even containing teal-colored undertones, making photos of a blue sky look unnatural and slightly jarring. We also noticed that white regions of prints sometimes included pink or off-white undertones.

Operating Cost

The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw has a fairly low operating cost test metric compared to other home printers we tested. In this update, we recorded an average of 8 cents per page for black and white and 15 cents for color pages.

Our testing and operating cost equations calculated printing costs of 5 cents per black and white page and 7 cents per color page. That's a total of $26.67 for 500 black and white sheets. For 500 color sheets, the total is $34.40.

Ease of Use

As the name suggests, our ease of use metric tested and evaluated everything from the complete unboxing and initial setup to ongoing use printing demanding jobs. We specifically tested initial printer unboxing and setup, wireless connectivity, put each interface through its paces, and even evaluated interactions with customer service. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw proved to be one of the best printers across all of the testing.

The initial setup of the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw is incredibly straightforward and easy. HP includes a USB cable and instructions for getting started. The printer comes with toner already installed, and all that is required to get started printing is to add paper, remove some tape, and plug it in.

Connecting the printer via the WiFi network directly on a mobile device is fairly straightforward with the HP App, and adding the printer through computer settings is also very easy. This also supports dual-band WiFi, which works seamlessly with dual-band networks common in most homes nowadays.

Operating settings directly via the 2.7" color touchscreen is a breeze, although we did consider that very large hands might find it a little more difficult to operate the touchscreen. Two paper trays at the front of the machine are simple and accessible. With regard to customer support, a live chat is available and easy to access through the web or HP smart app. We found the live chat to be fairly helpful in answering our questions.

Whereas printers, especially an all-in-one printer, may have been the bane of any home or home office, HP has done a great job of simplifying the setup and use of these devices into a painless, positive, and useful product with the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw.

Printing Speed

Just because the HP Color LaserJet Pro M283fdw is able to scan and fax, it doesn't mean that it is in any way a slouch when it comes down to its primary function of printing and the all-important printing speed. It is actually one of the faster printers that our team tested, giving the absolute fastest models some serious competition.

The HP Color LaserJet Pro M283fdw managed our two-page text document in 14 seconds, our 10-page mixed text and photo test using duplex settings in 53 seconds, full page photos in 24 seconds, and 10-page duplex and 10-page simplex tests in 52 seconds and 32 seconds, which works out to 12 pages and 19 pages per minute respectively.

Should You Buy the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw?

The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw is a top choice for small home offices that require a fast and capable printer but also want to extend the office capabilities to include faxing and scanning. This model produces crisp text, sharp graphics, and rich photos at impressive speeds with easy operation, and you won't be disappointed. However, due to additional faxing and scanning features, the price of this printer is a little bit higher than others and may be prohibitive for home users who simply require printing services. While this model is a no-brainer for an all-in-one printer, our team felt that there are better options that also happen to be more affordable for users looking for a basic printer.

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