HP - HP DeskJet 3720

HP

HP DeskJet 3720: the most compact 3-in-1 printer

Aprox. 61€

See specifications

What is the most compact 3-in-1 printer on the market worth? Does it compete with more traditional size printers in terms of quality, speed and consumption? These are the questions we will try to answer ...

Positive points

Compactness.

Reduced consumption.

Print quality.

Speed in office automation.

Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct and USB.

Support AirPrint, Google Could Print and HP ePrint.

Instant Ink compatible.

Bad points

Unable to print without borders.

Very slow photo printing.

Cost per page indecent.

Our review

Presentation

HP is surfing on new uses and seems to have understood that some consumers no longer want a huge austere printer that works in the living room or in the office. The DeskJet 3720 therefore plays the card of compactness (40.3 x 17.7 x 14.2 cm) and bright colors to differentiate itself. Lovers of pastel colors can leave the printer in view while others can easily store it in a drawer or cabinet. This size of wasp obviously imposes some constraints; thus the flatbed scanner is replaced by a scrolling scanner which de facto prohibits the scanning of pages of books or magazines. The HP Deskjet 3720 printer retails for around € 70.


Presentation

Ergonomics

Once the shutters are out, the printer is obviously a little more bulky. The paper feeder can hold only 60 sheets and there is no dedicated tray for photo paper. The plastics are of good quality, but certain adjustments lack precision, in particular at the level of the removable shutters.

Color or touch control point on the screen. The latter is content with simple information: the number of copies, the ink level, the quality of the Wi-Fi signal or even the activation of direct Wi-Fi. Each dedicated button has a diode to quickly find out if Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi Direct is activated, if web services are available or if it is possible to start a copy. The "info" button allows you to print a page with printer information (serial number, firmware, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, AirPrint (iOS), Google Cloud Print (Android) and HP ePrint).

Access to the ink cartridges is from the front. The installation is simplified and is done without any particular problem. These are HP 304 cartridges.

At the rear, there is a connector reduced to its simplest expression: a connector for the integrated power supply and a USB Type-B port. Good news: HP provides the USB cable with the printer, which is rare enough to point out. It also has Wi-Fi which gives access to the local wireless network, but also direct access to the printer.


Ergonomics

Office

Obviously, you don't expect extraordinary throughputs in such a compact chassis. Yet the HP Deskjet 3720 still prints 12 pages per minute (ppm) in black and white and 7.3 ppm in color. In comparison, the HP Envy 5640 peaks at 16 ppm in black and white, but overwrites this Deskjet in color by reaching 12 ppm. All this remains faster than the Canon Pixma MG7750 which is limited to 6 ppm in black and white.

The print quality in office automation is good, but a little behind compared to an HP Envy 5640, for example. The texts lack a little precision, but the ink does not drool and the black remains very black and not light gray. The graphics are pretty well rendered and the texts are easy to read, even on a colored background.


Office

Scanner and copies

The scanner of the HP Deskjet 3720 is a bit special since it is a scrolling scanner and not a flatbed scanner; the price to pay for such compactness. It is therefore impossible to scan pages of books or magazines, unless you cut them out. The scrolling scanner can only scan flying documents of limited thickness. It can scan business cards, prescriptions, forms and even an identity card, but not a passport, for example. In addition, the scanner is content with a definition of 600 x 600 px. However, it is quite fast and takes 10 seconds to scan an A4 document at 100 dpi. It takes 18 s to scan a 10 x 15 photo at 300 dpi. On the other hand, copying is not particularly fast: photocopying a black and white document takes 32 s to wait and it takes almost as long for a color copy (34 s). The quality of the copies is of good quality, the texts are well reproduced, there is just a little noise on the solid areas in color or the graphics in black and white.


Scanner and copies

Photo

The prints are of good quality and the drops are not very visible, but the colors are not perfect. The average Delta E - difference between ideal colors and printed colors - is measured at 6.7, a little far from 3 below which the eye can no longer tell the difference. On the other hand, the printing is very very long and it is necessary to be patient before contemplating the print. Allow 2 min 30 s for a 10 x 15 print and even 7 min 25 s for an A4; it is five times slower than the Canon MG7750 and 3 times slower than the HP Envy 5640. Finally, big black dot, this printer does not support borderless printing. The minimum bottom margin is even greater than 1 cm. It will therefore be necessary to invest in a cutter to make prints without edges.


Consumption

The HP Deskjet 3720 is probably the least demanding printer in our comparison. It consumes no more than 8 W when printing a photo in A4 format and a little less than 1 W in standby. In terms of noise, we measured 48 dB (A) in printing, which makes it one of the most discreet printers in our comparison. On the other hand, the paper loading operations are the noisiest and it is not uncommon to see the sound level meter exceed 55 dB (A).


Cost per page

This model comes with two HP 304 cartridges (black and color) called "start-up". These cartridges can only print 120 pages in black and white and 100 pages in color. The HP 304XL black and color cartridges, sold € 25 and € 26 respectively, can print 300 pages in black and white and 300 pages in color, respectively. The cost per page of the HP Deskjet 3720 printer peaks at 16.9 cents. This is 50% more than the average average cost per page of 9.3 cents found on A4 multifunctions. Printing with the Deskjet 3720 is therefore very expensive, but this printer was primarily designed for light use. It is intended to be stored after use and therefore to be used only occasionally. It remains to be seen if it does not consume ink after a long period of storage, as we have seen on many other models.


Conclusion

The HP Deskjet 3720 printer is the smallest 3-in-1 printer on the market and it pays for a high cost per page (50% more than an Envy 5640). This cost may be acceptable for occasional use where the printer leaves the cabinet only occasionally. The durability of the ink cartridges over time is a determining point on which we cannot yet decide. For the rest, this printer is rather homogeneous: the print quality is good, the speed too (except in the photo) and the minimum power consumption.


Specifications