HP's home printer is a winner
Written: Aug 07 '01
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Pros: Only 50 bucks, fast printouts, easy installation, good quality
Cons: 90 Day warranty, no cable
The Bottom Line: This printer is ideal for home users, perfect for kids and their projects. Quality is good, it prints fast and its very cheap.
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| adamadi's Full Review: Hewlett Packard DeskJet 630c InkJet Printer |
I was rather skeptical when I saw one of HP’s latest printers. This printer sells for under $50 in some places, its one of the cheapest HP’s on the market. And surprisingly, it performs extremely well. The HP Deskjet 630c is a very basic home user printer. Its intended to supply typical home users with basic text and color prints.
In the box
Included in this package is the Printer itself, a power cable, a manual, step by step instruction sheet, driver cd and a color cartridge. The manual is sufficient, but as with many hp printers, it could be a bit bigger. The color cartridge is not a full cartridge. It’s the DN version of the cartridge. The G version of the cartridge, that is 51649G, is the smaller version. The A is the full version. Basically, the G holds less ink (11ml) than the A (25.8ml), as the A’s are the ones you typically buy in a store.
You do NOT get a printer cable with this printer, you need to buy one separately.
Installation
Installation is rather simple. This printer supports both USB and Parallel connections. USB is easier, just plug it in, put in the CD, click next a few times and voila, its installed. With parallel, you just need to run the install file on the cd or use the add printer function in windows.
The step by step sheet should easily guide even the most novice computer user.
Performance
This is the part that really impressed me. HP has done a magnificent job of retaining good quality while getting the price down. Although you can see where HP cut corners to lower the price, that is the paper tray is very loose, so too is the top cover, but the quality and speed is rather good.
First, let me explain the paper feed. For those who don’t know, the majority of HP printers have a curved printer path. The paper lies in a tray on the bottom and paper is pulled and turned over to be deposited on the top tray. Therefore, the paper tends to be slightly folded when printed. Also, hard board, like call cards, do get a bit curved. I must note that I haven't had a paper jam yet.
But don’t let this curved thing bother you, this printer prints rather speedy, so the paper doesn't stay long to be permanently curved. With the color cartridge, black pages can print at around 2 pages per minute. With the black cartridge, you can get 3 or more pages a minute depending on the amount of text (N.B. This printer has the option of three cartridges, a black, a color and a photo. There are only 2 cartridge slots though, the photo cartridge goes into the black cartridge slot)
I would suggest buying a black cartridge if you want good black printing results. When you use the color cartridge to print black, the text appears greenish. This is because the color cartridge has to use its three colors, blue, red and yellow to make the black which the black cartridge has only pure black in it. Also, since it needs to mix all 3 colors, its more economical to use the black cartridge.
Color prints very fast to. I printed a picture, a normal 5 x 9” print on a piece of paper and it printed in less than a minute. This is really fast when you think of inkjets. A full color page may take around 1 and a half minutes, but this really is fast. The photo cartridge prints quite slower, about 3 minutes for a full color page, but the quality is much better.
Quality
Comparing this printer to a higher end model, you WILL notice a significant difference in quality. But the price difference is also great. Using the black cartridge, quality is very good. Compared to some higher end inkjet printers, there is only a slight difference in black printouts, not significant at all. Compared to a laser, this is no match. But the black printouts are still very clear and solid, its great for any home user.
The color printouts with the regular color cartridge is very good for its price. On normal paper, pictures are a bit grainy and dull, but its not that bad. Its very good for kids, like printing out projects, e.t.c. With the photo cartridge, using the photo paper, quality dramatically improves but the price of the photo cartridge and photo paper is nearly the cost of a new printer!
Compared to the now discontinued Canon BJC-1000, Canon’s home user printer, the color and black quality is superb. Basically, the quality is adequate for the average home user, don’t expect business quality results, but remember your not paying a business price!
Things to know
This is a no frills printer. No extra software, just the drivers. You can’t really expect software with a $50 printer, software costs that much!
This printer comes with a 90 day warranty, which may appear to be a bit flimsy. But actually this is typical for a home user printer. Don’t expect more than 1 to 2 years life from this printer.
This printer can take paper sizes of up to Legal size, that is and 8 ½’ width…. No more. That means no A4. Also, remember to buy a cable with your printer, a good brand I can recommend is Belkin.
This printer is ideal for home users, especially ones with kids. If your looking for catalogue quality prints, don’t consider this printer, but for its price, it’s one hell of a deal.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 50
Operating System: Windows
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adamadi
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Reviews written: 56
Trusted by: 25 members
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"The more people smoke herb, the more Babylon fall" Bob Marley
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