Great printer for the masses
Written: Feb 14 '03
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Pros: HP Front loading mechanism, IR port, duplex unit available
Cons: Expensive cartridges
The Bottom Line: Front loading HP technology, doesn't handle 4X6 size paper very well, great text printer but something newer will do photos better, duplex module is available.
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| suemccartin's Full Review: Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart p1000xi InkJet Printer |
First of all I have to say that my printer is a Photosmart P1000, I have no idea what the xi signifies or if that is the current listing for my printer. As far as I'm aware the P1000 is no longer made by HP, some of the later models that are basically the same printer are still made but this one is discontinued.
What's in the box:
The printer
driver and software cdrom
manual
black and color cartridge
power cord
What else do I need:
You'll need either a usb cable (socket A to flat B) or a standard parallel printer cable.
some plain paper for head alignment later
Setup:
Is easy, take it out of the box, install the cartridges, plug in the power cord and which ever data cable you've chosen to use to the computer. The parallel cable should be installed with the computer turned off, the usb cable can be installed whether the machine is on or off. USB drivers must be installed before you do one of two things, either turn the power on or plug in the usb cable.
You may wish to check the HP web site for new drivers as there was an issue with the extremely common iomega zip drives under windows xp that had to be corrected with a driver patch. After you have your drivers start up the installer, you will be asked which connection you wish to use (you apparently can't install both, it's a one or the other thing). Turn on the printer when asked to if you are installing the usb drivers.
Operation:
The first thing you will be asked to do is align the heads. The setup program will automatically take you into the head alignment procedure after the driver loads. After the heads are aligned you can print.
The printer has several buttons on the front. If you wish to you can print from a memory card without being hooked up to a computer (though why anyone would want to I don't know, this printer is not particularly portable). The printer offers several size prints in the menu that appears in the lcd screen and it can also do proof sheets of tiny thumbnail images of all shots on the card.
You will note that since this printer has built in memory card readers that you will get a drive icon for the memory card reader on your desktop when the printer is turned on. These slots can read and write to a compact flash or smartmedia card. The card reader/writer on this printer uses usb 1 transfers. If you have a newer camera with large image files it will be so slow you won't be able to stand it. If you're just working with 1 or 2 megapixel images it will probably work ok for you. You can transfer any type of file off a CF or smartmedia card, not just images.
The IR port on the front of the printer will accept infrared data from a desktop pc, or, if you've got a pocket computer (aka PDA) it may also be able to accept infrared "beamed" documents from one of those devices. I have a pocket PC 2002 device and I currently cannot print from that device to this printer even though the HP mobile printing utility for my device correctly identifies and sets up the printer. HP would seem to have a little work to do on this utility for pocket pc devices. I've had at least one person tell me that the desktop inkjet printers like this one speak a different language than the laser printers which are said to work perfectly with the HP mobile printing utility.
Software:
HP provides a photo printing utility that lets you put several prints onto one sheet of paper and allows some fairly useful color correction options. Very useful and easy to operate.
Everyday use:
For its time this was a fantastic printer and still is in a lot of ways although there are much better photo printers available now that do a much higher resolution and produce much better prints. I've upgraded to a canon i850 for photo printing but I will continue to use this printer for text printing. Although I don't have the gadget yet, there is a duplex module available for this printer that enables automatic double sided printing and sells for under seventy dollars. If you want a workhorse text printer for the occasional color print or low quality color print from your digital camera this is an excellent buy. I find I get about 30 color full page photo prints from a cartridge. I've never kept track of how many pages of black text I get from it but with only very moderate printing I replace it about once a year (I use draft mode for almost everything). The driver gives you a lot of control over ink use, drying time, and paper type. This is a great general purpose printer but if you want the best photo prints look at something newer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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Epinions.com ID:
suemccartin
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: Florida, USA
Reviews written: 292
Trusted by: 36 members
About Me:
Been building computers for 10+ years. I work to support my computer habit.
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