The effort to accessorize the modern office with the latest, or even near-latest, technology can be an expensive and daunting one. Technology seems to move at a lightening pace, and waits for no man—or Desktop Support Team for that matter—to keep pace with the innovations that appear almost monthly. We are just weaning the last of our user base off of 10BaseT onto 100BaseT, and Gigabit Ethernet is already upon us. And a single function printer is now becoming almost passé; users now want to be able to print in color and black, as well as scan, copy, fax and (possibly) email from the same device attached to the network.

Xerox has come out with a number of very large machines to accomplish this, but with a price tag to match the girth of its WorkCentre line of printer/scanner/copiers. Missing is the ability to fax, and in many cases, the color output so many users now demand. Also missing is a affordable price-point which would make these machines commonplace in our work environment.

Hewlett Packard with its OfficeJet line of All-n-One units has long established itself as the leader in multifunctional printing devices, but none up to now could be placed on a network and still harness the full functionality of the product. The HP OfficeJet 7410— and its lower priced sibling, the OfficeJet 7310— solved this conundrum coming in at a size and price that are easy to digest. I recently purchased an OfficeJet 7410 for our in-house legal department; the All-n-One replaced two older printers; one was a LaserJet 5 and the other a DeskJet 895cxi.

The Product

The HP OfficeJet 7410 is a multifunction printing device (compatible with PC as well as Macintosh) that allows you to print, scan, copy, and fax all from one unit. The OfficeJet 7410 has the added capability of printing photos directly from the unit and will accept input from all manner of removable and or portable memory device including SD Media, MultiMediaCard (MMC), CompactFlash (I, II), Memory Sticks, SmartMedia, xD-Picture Card, and USB port.

Make no mistake this is a big unit, and even more so with the 250 sheet paper tray installed underneath, but it is surprisingly light and portable. Indeed, I was able to lift the unit with paper tray installed with little effort. Anyone familiar with the earlier HP All-n-One’s will be right at home with the front panel controls, and I especially like the new 2.5” color display. Those not familiar with OfficeJet functionality should have little trouble becoming acquainted with the unit.

Networking is built into the OfficeJet 7410; the machine has both built-in 802.11b/g wireless and wired Ethernet 10/100 port. Once set up, users will be able to avail themselves of the unit’s full functionality.

The OfficeJet 7410 also features an automatic document feeder, copy collating, two-sided print, fax, copy and scan; copy, scan, and print up to legal size; and 400-sheet total paper capacity with the 250 sheet paper tray (included in the box) installed. The OfficeJet 7410 offers print and copy speeds up to 30 ppm black (econo), and up to 20 ppm color, with up to 4,800-optimized dpi color and laser-quality text. Finally, the OfficeJet 7410 can fax in black and color and scan with resolutions of up to 2,400 x 4,800-dpi optical resolution scanning.

Un-Packing

As I stated above, the OfficeJet 7410 is a large unit, and as such is ships in many different parts and had to be put together before use. It took me less then ten minutes to completely assemble the printer, including the extra paper tray, duplexer unit, automatic document feeder, face plate, and removal of all of the tape. After assembly and initial power on, I installed the two print cartridges, one black and the other tri-color; these are of course courtesy cartridges with limited ink.

In the box:

• HP Officejet 7410 All-in-One Unit
• HP 96 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge (21 ml);
• HP 97 Tri-color Inkjet Print Cartridge (14 ml);
• HP Auto Two-sided Printing Accessory (Duplexer Unit);
• HP 250-Sheet Plain Paper Tray pt6211;
• HP Image Zone Photo and Imaging Software on CD-ROM;
• User’s Guide;
• Network Guide;
• Setup Booklet;
• Power supply & Power cord;
• Phone cord;
• Ethernet cable

Network Setup

Before connecting the OfficeJet 7410 to a computer, or network, the decision must be made to utilize one or the other, but not both. I installed this OfficeJet 7410 on a network utilizing the standard 10/100 Ethernet provided in the back of the unit. I connected the unit to a standard 10/100 Ethernet port tied to my site network. As noted above, the OfficeJet 7410 can also communicate via an 802.11b/g wireless connection; the default is on, but it can be turned off via front panel controls; I turned the wireless functionality off, because we do not have any wireless clients.

Unlike other network-bound printers, the OfficeJet 7410 does not have to be setup on a printer server in order for client computers to print to it, or utilize it capabilities (more on this later). It does however have to be assigned an IP address, along with a Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway. Once I assigned these parameters to the Ethernet card via the front panel controls, I was able to ping (find it on the network) the printer and move to the next step, the software installation. During the software installation process (discussed in more detail below), the printer is sought and found on the network and a one-to-many relationship set up between the OfficeJet 7410and attached workstations.

Software Installation

Be prepared, this installation will take a while to accomplish (up to 35 minutes on older machines) and could take up to 733MB of hard drive real estate. And while it involves very little end user interface, the installation plows through several steps before it accomplishes its goal of tying the client workstation(s) directly to the OfficeJet 7410. Note: do not attempt to install this software over a network connection, it will take an inordinate amount of time to complete, and may not install all of the features. I can only address the network install process, though experience tells me that the installation process would be the same if the OfficeJet 7410 were mated directly with a workstation via USB cable. All of my workstations have Windows XP Professional SP2 installed.

Once the software installation is complete, three devices will be placed in the Printers and Faxes: HP Remote Printers (used to share document between workstations), HP OfficeJet 7400 Series (used to print), and HP OfficeJet 7400 Series Fax (used to send and receive faxes). The HP Director will also be placed in the Windows 9.x/Windows XP system tray as well as on the desktop. HP Director offers you the following functionality:

• Scan Picture
• Scan document
• Send A Fax
• Make Copies
• Hp Image Zone
• Document Viewer
• Transfer Images

With the software is installed the workstation (via the network) will be able to print, scan, fax, and copy from the OfficeJet 7410. Once the software is installed on a particular workstation, the OfficeJet 7410 becomes aware of it and places its (the workstation) name on a list accessible via the front panel of the printer. This can be utilized when you want to scan or copy material and send it to your computer. Gone is the need to set up the printer on a print server, assign it a port and install drivers; the OfficeJet 7410 and workstations now speak directly to one another as if there were connected via USB cable.

Printing

Pretty straight forward; the software installation process installed a full set of print drivers on each workstation, which in turn give you complete control over the printing process, including two-sided printing. As mentioned above, printing to the OfficeJet 7410 is accomplished via the HP OfficeJet 7400 Series print device in Printer and Fax.

The OfficeJet 7410includes a 250 sheet paper tray; the printer sits on top of this tray. The tray in turn can be loaded with 250 sheets of letter or legal sized paper.

Scanning

Initialing the scanning process always has to start at the OfficeJet 7410 control panel. Once an item is placed either on the automatic document feeder (maximum 50 sheets), or directly on the scanner glass surface, you can push the Scan To button on the front panel, at which time you choose Computers from the list of choices, and then select the name of your computer. You can further denote which applications you want to scan into. Note: during the install process, a list of applications will be transferred from your workstation to the OfficeJet 7410 for this purpose. After choosing an application—in my case Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional—you push either the black or color scan button to begin the process. At this point a dialog box will appear on your computer screen relaying the progress of the scan. When the scan is complete, the application you choose will initialize and the scan dropped into it. Its that simple!

Copy Process

This process, like printing is pretty straight forward; both color and black & white copies can be made, up to 99 at a time. Because there is a duplexer installed two-sided copies can be made in a number of different configurations, including 1-side original/ 1-side copy; 1-side original/ 2-side copy; 2-side original/ 1-side copy; 2-side original/ 2-side copy. Copies can also be enlarged up to 144%, or reduced down to 25% of original.

Faxing

Faxing fro the OfficeJet 7410can be accomplished one of three ways; at the OfficeJet 7410; remotely via HP Director; or through an application on your workstation utilizing the HP OfficeJet 7400 Series Fax device installed in Printers & Faxes. The last two methods provide the most control over the look and feel of the fax, including the ability to draw addresses fro a shared address book. The OfficeJet 7410 is capable of sending and receiving both color and black & white faxes at a speed of 33.6Kbs, and speed-dial preset are avail via the front panel of the printer.

Working with Photos

I did not purchase this printer for the legal department with the intent of working with photographs, but that functionality is built into the unit. As stated above, the OfficeJet 7410 will accept input from a number of commercially available portable memory storage devices, slots for which are located on the right hand side of the printer. Simply insert the memory card and the photos it contains are displayed on the small 2.5” 256 color display in the middle of the OfficeJet 7410’s control panel.

Using the circular control button that sit to the right of the display, pictures can be scrolled through and then printed on borderless or regular paper. Pictures can also be shared between users as long as the HP Instant Sharing utility is set up.

HP Instant Share

Speaking of sharing, the innovative HP Instant Share utility allows you to send images, from the printer—without a PC—to e-mail addresses, online albums, or another networked OfficeJet 7410. And together with HP remote printing, you can print back to your networked OfficeJet 7410 from the road. I opted not to set up this service on the unit I installed.

Conclusion

The OfficeJet 7410 represents (to me anyway) a quantum leap in the All-n-One functionality arena; finally we (the clamoring, demanding public) have hassle-free scanning and fax sharing across the network at a very reasonable price-point. I have only used the OfficeJet 7410 for three days and already I am so impressed that I am going to purchase the units’ sibling the OfficeJet 7310 for my own home use (review to come).

Built-in 802.11b/g wireless connectivity coupled with wired Ethernet capability make the OfficeJet 7410 a versatile, flexible unit that is ideal for a small workgroup setting; I wouldn’t install the unit on a floor with more then ten users, the user listing might grow too large and confused to manage. If you or your department or small workgroup need a scanner, copier, printer and fax, the HP OfficeJet 7410 should be given serious consideration.

System Requirements (From Hewlett Packard)

PC system requirements: Any Intel Pentium II or Celeron processor (Pentium III or higher recommended); Microsoft Windows 98, 98 SE, Me, 2000 Professional, XP (does not support Windows 3.1, 95, NT 4.0, DOS); 128 MB RAM for 98, 98 SE, Me, 2000 Professional, XP (256 MB or higher recommended for all operating systems); 795 MB available hard disk space for full software installation (355 MB for basic software installation without HP Image Zone software); Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher.

Mac system requirements: G3 processor (G4 or higher recommended); Mac OS X v 10.1.5, 10.2.3 and later, 10.3.x; Mac OS 9.1 and later (does not support Mac OS 9.0 and earlier or OS X v 10.2, 10.2.1, 10.2.2); 128 MB RAM (256 MB or higher recommended); 400 MB available hard disk space for software installation; HP Memories Disc Creator software requires CD-Writer and 700 MB of additional hard disk space; QuickTime 5.0 or later; any Web browser.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 499.00
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh