HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw Cost Per Page: Middle of a Crowded Color Laser Field
The HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw is a print-only color laser with automatic duplexing and Wi-Fi, moving pages at 26 ppm for $400 up front. Running costs land at $3.59 per 100 pages in black and $18.94 in color — the black figure comes from HP's own HP-218X-BK cartridge, rated for 3,200 pages at $115.
That cartridge is what sets the black-page rate, and it's good enough to land the 3201dw at 37th of 97 printers InkTax tracks across every type on black cost per page — solidly mid-pack, not a standout in either direction.
Move up HP's own line and the money works in an unusual order. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw costs $640, and its cost per page matches the 3201dw exactly — the only other color laser printer tied with it for 5th of 13 color laser printers on both black and color cost per page — but that price adds scanning, copying, faxing and a touchscreen. Spend further, to $860, for the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw, and running costs finally move, to $3.08 black and $17.75 color per 100 pages, with the same four extra functions and a 35 ppm engine.
Outside HP, the Brother HL-L3220CDW undercuts it heavily on price, at $230 against $400, but running costs swing the other way — $4.15 per 100 pages in black and $20.26 in color, both above the 3201dw's own $3.59 and $18.94.
The color laser segment's running-cost floor belongs to the Canon Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw II, at $2.86 per 100 pages in black and $17.26 in color — better than the 3201dw on both counts — but it costs $681 up front and adds a touchscreen the HP doesn't have.