HP: We Lose Money on the Printers, and Make it Back with $30 Ink Cartridges
Written: Feb 14 '01 (Updated Feb 27 '01)
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Pros: Good Printing Speed / Excellent Quality / Solid Construction / Easy Set-Up
Cons: 30 Second Delay When Using Duplexer / Ink is a Ripoff
The Bottom Line: Looking for an excellent all-around printer? The HP 970 does not disappoint.
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| da_anarchist's Full Review: Hewlett Packard DeskJet 970c InkJet Printer |
To print, or not to print, that is the question. Or at least this was true of my former printer, a 5-year old relic, which complemented every page with lovely streaks throughout the text. Finally, the time came when a printer upgrade was inevitable; I had heard that the 970's were finally dropping down in price.
My reasons for choosing the HP 970Cxi
1. Reliability - As my old printer was giving up the ghost, I wanted to make sure that I bought a quality printer this time around. The HP 970 was the top of HP's consumer line for 2000, for more than 300 dollars it better be reliable.
2. Print Quality - Inkjets have indeed made great progress over the years. Pictures from my old printer looked like they were from a 20 year old TV with bad reception; they lacked detail, natural colors, and definition. When I tested the HP 970 in the store, the vast improvement in quality quickly became another selling point.
3. Discounted Price - At 400 dollars, the HP was just too pricey for me. When the newer model 990c came out, HP slashed the price of the 970's, making them great bargains.
How Does the Printer Perform?
Print Quality - Print quality is excellent with the 970, although this in itself is not much of an accomplishment these days. The HP's excellent quality on plain paper did impress me though, pictures are sharp, detailed, and with good color transitions. Using plain paper to print photos and graphics save a lot of money over using the overpriced premium papers
Print Speed - Print speed is generally decent, although not spectacular. In draft mode, I get about 6 pages per minute from MS Word. Normal quality yields about 3 pages per minute, while best quality produces about 1.5 pages per minute. I honestly expected better as it isn't nearly as much of an improvement over my old printer as the print quality is.
Ease of Use - To set up the printer, all one needs to do is plug in the power, plug the USB cable into the computer (not included, sadly), pop in the color and black cartridge, and install the driver. The addition of a cancel print button on the outside is a nice addition as it allows one to stop the printer before you waste more paper or ink. Also, the printer is very quiet while printing, even quieter than my computer, which is a welcome change from the cacophony of my previous printer.
Software - The printer's included printer driver is well written. It offers all of the features that one would need on a daily basis, but does not overwhelm the user with feature after feature. It would have been nice if HP included a tray utility to change common settings such as whether to use the duplexer, quality settings, paper size, etc. And the driver is a bit utilitarian, although it is functional.
Technical Support - I never thought that I would have to use technical support, but my printer had a little "accident" involving a hunt for a mouse at 3 in the morning which ultimately saw the printer crashing into the floor, as the little vermin ran circles around it. This left the panel with the buttons damaged and the printer cartridge holder cradle was also slightly damaged. Ladies and gentlemen, it is NOT good when you hear loose plastic inside a printer. So, I took it back to the shop to get it repaired, and within a week, I had a perfectly working printer again with no questions asked. That qualifies as good tech support in my opinion.
Duplexing - This printer includes a special duplexer attachment that slides into the back of the printer. It works as advertised, allowing one to print on both sides of paper without user intervention. HP really handicapped the duplexer though with a mandatory 30-second wait between pages. This means that the printer will print a page, wait 30 seconds, suck the page back into the printer, and then print on the other side. A little annoying when you are in a hurry.
Ink - So far, I have not had to replace any ink cartridges yet. This is good, because HP charges one of the highest prices in the industry for their ink. They make money on the accessories you see, not the printer itself. I predict that I will probably need at least three each of color and black ink cartridges a year, which at 30 dollars each is about 180 dollars per anum. This is quite ridiculous, which is why it pays to conserve ink by using the draft mode whenever possible. For more information about the cost of consumables in inkjets, see http://www.pcworld.com, and search for inkjet consumables.
Overall Impression of the Printer
I am pleased with this printer. It has been a worthy purchase, and I look forward to using it for at least the next two to three years. Definitely worth your consideration if your shopping for an inkjet. And you just might save money over a cheaper inkjet too: Most cheap inkjets (Lexmark is a big offender here) use either more ink, more expensive cartridges, or both compared to the more expensive HP's.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 330
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
da_anarchist
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Member: Michael Tang
Location: CA
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Busy college student who tries to write good reviews, whenever I get the time...
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