We replaced a HP 5000N with this model and what a great upgrade this is. I'm not sure about connecting this unit up as that is something that I don't get involved in however the ease of use of this unit and also the reliability is great. The unit itself is not the smallest thing in the world and is quite bulky however it is HP so you know the cosmetic design is not going to be great, and it is a boring old grey colour. The paper tray it comes with is very small and you can't get a full ream of paper in it so we purchased an additional tray which at a few hundred pounds is quite expensive especially considering the price of the printer to start with. However this is a worthwhile purchase considering in a busy office environment this stops someone having to get up and replenish the stocks every day or so.
There are four toners that fit this machine; cyan, magenta, yellow and of course black. They are all easy to get hold of but as we only purchase HP original items it can be costly. I purchase all consumables via the net and cannot get each cartridge cheaper than £100, so although each cartridge has in excess of 6000 pages (depending on coverage) it can be quite expensive replacing the consumables on this unit. To replace the toner it is very easy as the front of the unit opens and the old toner is just pulled out and the new one is just slotted into place once the plastic packaging has been removed so there is no mess and it is really simple.
The 3800DN can be connected to your network so allows error notifications to be directed to a specific pc and also various status can be seen from a PC which is useful but also quite common these days. There is also a status button which allows various options to either be printed or to be shown on screen which allows the user fix or help with any potential or existing problems. A small screen on the front of the unit shows the levels of toner so replacements can be purchased before supplies run out and also a status page can be printed to show approximately how many pages are left before the toner supply runs out totally for each colour.
Overall a good office printer, very easy to use, although expensive consumables and peripherals