Software ruins an otherwise awesome printer
Written: Dec 12 '04 (Updated Jun 17 '06)
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Pros: Outstanding printing and ink utilization. Wireless printing. Updated software fixes the cons below.
Cons: Horrible Software!!! A burden on the operating system. Poor network performance.
The Bottom Line: Horrible software makes using this printer and your PC a headache; however updates from HP fixed the issues. Outstanding prints and long-lasting ink. Does it all.
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| joda_b's Full Review: Hewlett Packard PSC 2510 Thermal Inkjet Multifunc... |
We've tried this printer with 3 different computers and the operation was identical on all 3 machines, so I'll use my PC as the example. After loading the 500MB of software on my machine (AMD XP 2800 with 512MB RAM, Windows XP and 160GB hard drive), we immediately noticed an increased time in boot up after restarting the computer. We connected the printer to our router via the ethernet connection. We have the Netgear MR814v2 router, one that HP recommends for use with the PSC 2510. After a couple of days, the printer would no longer connect automatically to the router when turned on. We have to reset the router to get it to pick up the printer all the time now. I bought another router and it does the same thing. Now back to the software; If the printer is turned off when you use the computer, any program that has to search you PC for a file will take 200% longer to do so. For example, I have my printer turned off and clicked on the MY COMPUTER icon to search for a file on my C: drive. The first thing I see is a searching flashlight icon and 1 minute later my drives pop up. Another example: If the printer is turned off and you open your Word Processor, then click on the icon to open a file; it will take almost 2 minutes for the box to open to even give you a chance to select a file. When the printer is turned on, the before mentioned functions work normal just somewhat slower. If I uninstall the software and use my PC, it flies. When I reinstall the software, the decrease in system performance is very noticeable.
On a positive note, This printer does an awesome job of printing. The colors are very accurate and detail on photo paper is outstanding. Even though I hesitated on buying the printer because it didn't have separate cartridges for the color inks, I'm impressed with the cartridge that came packaged with the printer. It has lasted about 4 months (about 10 8x10 photos and 100 color DVD labels).
The scanner is basic and software had many many bugs. I kept getting numerous script errors when trying to scan a picture and many of the scanning features didn't work. I'd get an error anytime I tried to resize a picture. I downloaded an update from the HP website (basically it was entire new version of the entire software package) and it fixed the problem, however if failed to fix the prementioned issues. The scanner does a nice job, but I wouldn't recommend it if you were planning to backup old family photos or anything where color accuracy matters. Light colors appear much darker when scanned. I tried a couple photos several times using all the correction settings in the software and then with no corrections. I just couldn't get an accurate match.
The fax works fine, but is a pain to fax more than one sheet. You have to load all the sheets one at a time by lifting and closing the lid.
The memory card reader/writer is fine for use as a reader by printing photos without connecting a camera to your PC or printer. The printer will also print off a proof sheet from the memory card. Using the card as writer is not so good. You can't create directories on the memory card from windows explorer.
In the end, as a photo printer, the PSC 2510 is outstanding. As a scanner it's good. As a fax and memory card reader/writer it's ok. It's software and interaction with a PC is horrific. I would not buy this machine again even though the printing is outstanding just because of the horrible sofware and they buggy interaction with my PC and my wife's PC.
UPDATE--AS OF 6/17/06--I still own this printer and HP has fixed almost all the bugs in the software. The printer is doing an outstanding job and I just bought an automatic duplexing unit that plugs in the back off Ebay for $20 ($80 through HP). Now with all the software bugs fixed this is an outstanding printer. I've noticed it doesn't scan some colors accurately. I scanned an old school photo from 1978 and a kid with dark green pants looked dark blue on my screen. I printed it out and it was still dark blue. Good news is that the print colors match exactly what's on the screen. My scanned and printed looks like an original (except for the kid with blue pants that should be green). In short the scanner doesn't get some colors accurate.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 299.99
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
joda_b
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Reviews written: 6
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