HP PageWide MFP 377dw: a professional inkjet 4-in-1 printer

Ergonomics

The mere handling of the carton of the MFP 377dw does not deceive, we are dealing with a heavyweight. Once removed from its packaging, this printer looks like a bulky white plastic block that measures 53 x 40.7 x 46.7 cm and weighs 22.15 kg, empty bins.

The relatively classic design of this large professional printer does not prevent it from combining careful presentation and indisputable manufacturing quality. On the front, there is access to the main paper tray which can store up to 500 sheets of plain paper (80 g), or a whole ream. Practical detail, this bin benefits from a small transparent window which allows, at a glance, to get an idea of the level of loading.

Still on the front, a hatch gives access to the very large ink cartridges used by this printer. As a reminder, PageWide technology consists of inkjet printing without movement of the print heads, the latter being distributed over the entire width of an A4 page. Thus, only the sheet to be printed scrolls.

Just above this hatch, the large 10.92 cm adjustable color touch screen is completed by a few touch buttons ensuring, among other things, the "backspace" and "back to home panel" functions. It manages all of the printer's functions and reminds us of the - excellent - one of the OfficeJet Pro 8720. Responsive, perfectly readable, displaying complete menus without being too complex, it fully contributes to the very good general ergonomics. There is also a USB port on the side of the screen for printing documents directly from a key.

On top, there is a dual feed scanner, either through the glass for a "flat" scan, or through the automatic document feeder.

The output receptacle is located in the intermediate part of the printer, the paper being ejected through a system reminiscent of that of laser printers, capable of keeping up with the high rate of the promised print speeds.

By turning the printer, we first discover on the left a large removable panel which gives easy access to the paper feed rollers, in case of paper jam, for example. This happened to us twice on prints with fairly thick photo-type paper inserted at the secondary paper entry located in the lower part of this same left side. A problem easily eliminated by precisely adjusting the sliders to the paper size.

The back of the printer has the connectors, ie the power supply, USB Type-B, an RJ45 port, a second USB Type-A socket and two RJ11 sockets that allow the printer to provide the fax function.

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Consumption

Given its format and orientation, we suspected that the HP MFP 377dw would not be as sober as the small A4 family inkjet printers in terms of energy consumption or noise pollution. If the standby is satisfied with a consumption of 3 watts, already not negligible, the printer requests 11 W permanently after switching on. This consumption can exceed 37 W during printing. This is a lot for an inkjet, but it is still much lower than the consumption of a laser.

Noise pollution is also high. When printing a document of several pages, at high speed, our sound level meter reads 51.4 dB (at 1 m). The photo printing slightly limits the speed of the rollers and therefore the noise, which then drops to 45.7 dB; a measure which remains however quite high.

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Cost per page

This MFP 337dw uses four HP 913A cartridges (black, cyan, magenta, yellow). Cartridges that are found around 75 € and which are given in ISO standard for a print volume of 3500 pages in black, and 3000 pages in color.

In the end, the cost per page in black and white is 2.1 euro cents, while it rises to 9.7 euro cents overall taking into account the color. This is a small disappointment, because it places the MFP 377dw in the good average of inkjet printers, without however achieving excellence. Not to mention the 0.7 euro cents of Epson EcoTank records, remember that the 8720 of the OfficeJet Pro range does better with 7.4 euro cents per page on average. So we expected better.

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Scanner and copies

The MFP 377dw's flatbed scanner also benefits from an automatic document feeder. It works up to 1200 -x 1200 -dpi on 24 bits and is extremely fast to use. A small bomb that takes only 5 seconds to scan a 10 x 15 cm photo at 300 dpi and 7 seconds to archive a standard document at 100 dpi.

A speed that directly benefits the copier function, which also supports two-sided copying; which is not so common. The MFP 377dw thus copies a black and white document in just 7 seconds and takes the same time to copy a color document. It is all the more remarkable that the quality of the copies is excellent, superior to what is generally observed on inkjet multifunction printers which "wash" more or less the rendering. That's not the case here.

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Photo

Even if it is content with a maximum print resolution of 2400 x 1200 dpi in color and is resolutely oriented towards productivity, we were keen to test the photo capabilities of this printer. And it will not be able to launch into the photo, not even in troubleshooting, and will have to be content to print, for example, the cover of a document to be bound. She finds it much more difficult when asked to do a real photo job on suitable paper.

The HP PageWide MFP 377dw does not support borderless printing, which limits its photo possibilities, but above all, the photo rendering lacks gloss and is not perfectly uniform, causing streaks to appear in several places. Note however that the colorimetric drift is contained (average delta E of 7.4); we've seen a lot of inkjet printers do worse.

The rendering is therefore not glorious in photo, but it is very fast in this task (25 seconds to take out a 10 x 15 cm photo, 27 seconds for an A4 print).

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Office

Field of predilection of the MFP 377dw, office automation is a playground on which it is perfectly at ease. The speeds are excellent (up to 30 pages / minute in black and white and 31.6 pages / minute in color). It's better than good laser printers, like the MFP M277dw, which peaks at 18 ppm. Admittedly, the OfficeJet Pro 8720 does better in black and white (37.5 ppm), but it is slower in color (30 ppm) and above all much slower in duplex (6.8 ppm against 12.5 ppm) here).

In addition to these excellent speeds, the MFP 377dw offers a remarkable print quality in office automation, superior to the vast majority of inkjet models recently passed through our hands, which are already generally very good. The good visual impression is confirmed by a high resolution scan which reveals a formidable precision on texts and perfectly readable graphics, without overflow or blotting effect. A real printer for professionals.

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Conclusion

Blowing hot and cold, the MFP 377dw delights us in certain aspects but does not manage to convince us completely. This 4-in-1 will undoubtedly seduce structures that print a lot and that do not want to invest in a laser multifunction.

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