kasumikami's Full Review: Hewlett Packard DeskJet 940c InkJet Printer
My old canon bjc-600 was acting all weird all of a sudden. Could have been the driver, could be too old, could have gotten it repaired but who cares? I have been very frustrated with the printer since the first year I bought it. I was fairly happy with the printer, until I realized that every time the ink dries out, there's an annoying beep that stops the printing at every page. I hardly used the color ink and it dried up on me and even though I was only printing black and white the same thing occurred. I was even more frustrated when I found that out that even though I paid and arm and a leg for the printer, I had to pay extra for a printhead that would correct the beeping annoyance that was a flaw in Canon's design. So this time around when I read on epinion that Canon's printers still have that ridiculous self cleaning printhead, I was sure I wouldn't buy a Canon ever again. I checked several other brands of printers on Epinions, but I was bias toward HP because the company had a great reputation that screams quality. I was really sold when I read that HP inks are more expensive than other printer's because each ink cartridge comes with a new printhead which means none of that self cleaning crap you get from Canon. I'd rather pay a little more than waste money for ink that would go down the drain.
I had the brand, but which model? I was constrained by price, so I was thinking of buying the HP 625c that sold $32 at Future Shop, but with a resolution of 600x600 (same as the bjc-600) I opted not to because I wanted to print photos from it. The only printers next in line within my price range was the 920c and the 940c. There was a mail in rebate on the 940C, so I figured that it was better to pay an extra 30$ for the newer model.
Pros:
Installation is fairly easy. You do need to buy a IEEE 1284-compliant parallel interface or USB-compliant interface cable to hook it up because HP does not provide one. I read the reviews on HP printers, so it was no surprise to me. The software was easy to install but I have to warn those using Windows XP that there is a different CD to install from. The ink cartridges come in black and a set of trio colors and easily snaps into the printer (once you figure out how to do it).
I tried the test print and was really impressed with the speed of the printer. It was ready to print in no time and it was really quiet. I was surprised as my old bjc-600 made these loud screeching noises. A plus is the option to print both side of the paper. You can buy the tray for automatic duplexing, but I think I am fine just flipping over the paper. Although I wasted quite a lot of paper because I put the paper on the wrong side and it printed over the first side.
Cons:
I installed my printer without a manual. I didn't know that there was no real manual for it. It does have a quick start poster, but I prefer having a real manual. When I printed out a test, the colored picture was all wet and pixelated on normal paper. I tried to print some photos on the sample gloss paper that came with the printer. I used the highest resolution(24000x12000) which took over 10 minutes to print because it was not using the photoRET to print it. I compared the pictures using the 2 methods of printing and 24000x12000 is not perfect but a lot sharper and less pixelated than when using the photoRET option. The black and white printing is a bit of a disappointment. My bjc-600 prints better than that. Maybe the quality of the paper I am using is not up to par, but it is not sharp at all. I can see the ink bleeding out of the characters. Printing in draft mode is better but still not sharp. I believe it is a problem of using too much ink. I've read the reviews from other people and they seem to have laser quality black and white, so I think it is the paper. I am a bit disappointed in that because with my old printer, the paper I used was good enough for my every day use. Moreoever, as I sent a few webpages to print one after the other, the printer seems to take longer and longer interfacing with the pc.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 134 Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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