While it produced well-defined and solid text all the way down to small font sizes, the E321 did feature a few minor print quality shortcomings; these included heavy toner saturation, making the images dark and murky while poor dithering on gradients made the images appear banded and blotchy.
Despite these flaws, the unit was pleasant to use, with a quiet ambient operating volume, fast print, courtesy of good spooling warm-up, and potential for plenty of service upgrades.
Hovering around the 11 second average for print times, this speedy little number is about on par with the HP LaserJet 1300, although the HP far outstrips this model for print quality.
Sitting around the middle of the TCO chart, middle-of-the-road purchase price is on par with the more expensive Epson EPL-6100 model printer.
Ideal for smaller volume printing, this printer is no slouch when it comes to high capacity printing requirements at 150 pages per day, holding its ground and a little cheaper in the consumables area when compared to the HP 1300.
The expansion department offers more RAM, 8MB installed and a possible 72MB after expanding, plenty for any small business or home office doing most print tasks.
Dual USB and parallel connectivity combined with Mac support makes it perfect for multi platform integration, while the options for external print servers, wireless adaptors and additional capacity paper trays mean you’re not stuck with a base model with no room to climb. The supplied paper input is about average with space for 150 sheets of 163gsm paper, the output a little smaller at only 100 sheets. All-in-all it offers plenty of performance for your dollar, with reasonably priced long-term running costs. If you’re after a step up from this model, the HP 1300 does offer some other higher resolution, printing speed and value alternatives at a little more money.