Reliable all-arounder, great text printer.
Written: Mar 27 '01
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Pros: Reliable, sturdy printer, awesome text quality, job cancel button. Quiet!
Cons: Expensive cartridges, flimsy input tray.
The Bottom Line: So far, the printer has been a very solid performer, never once failed on me. It prints very nice, it works when i need it.
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| hansmuff's Full Review: Hewlett Packard DeskJet 932c InkJet Printer |
I bought this printer after my Epson 660C failed due to clogged print heads for which a repair for $100 would've been necessary.
HP's cartridges are very different than Epsons; they have the print head in the cartridge so if it clogs, no big deal, you just need to buy a new cartridge. This however raises the cost for each cartridge a bit; kind of a repair cost over time, i'd say. Only that I will have my HP going within minutes if the head ever clogs.
What made me buy this printer ? the following pro's:
- print speed of 6ppm b/w, which is decent
- the quiet operation. When it drops the paper you hear it, but it won't ever wake up the kids (which is the important thing)
- very nice color output on plain paper. Great for those mapquest printouts. Photos look very good on the HP photo paper, albeit i have seen a few shadows between the printing lines; barely noticeable though
- print quality on standard paper in b/w is simply amazing; i did not think ink could look that great. No expensive special paper needed for printing letters
- a Cancel button! The engineers gave it a cancel button, thank you! Other printers barely have any buttons, and aborting print jobs then means clicking around through the printer queue and then waiting for the print buffer to empty; the HP will cancel right away, that's a very nice feature
- USB and parallel connection. While they can't both be used without switching the printer and one source off, it's nice to have options.
- is ready 3-4 seconds after turning it on. Gosh, my Epson used to huff and puff for 20 seconds sometimes before i could print.
Well those were the main points. Over time, one learns the drawbacks, however, so here's what I don't like about the printer:
- flimsy paper tray. Doesn't seem to withstand beatings by 2 year olds for too long. Keep it away from kids.
- cartridges are expensive. However, as i said, the head is built-in, that'll make it more expensive. More on that later.
- HP does not include a printer cable. While this has become common practice, it aggrevates me. Those cables can run $15 if you're not careful.
- HP only includes a starter cartridge of black ink which only has 1/2 or 1/3 fill of ink. Comeon HP don't be so cheap!
A little rant on ink prices is what I'd like to add. There is no reason except greed why those cartridges are so expensive. Printers are being sold with a loss because the cartridges will make up for it. That's not fair to people who print a lot; after a while the profit on ink sky-rockets and it's just too obvious.
I wish some manufacturer would start reversing this, and being fair to consumers, but it does not look that way.
For people who really print lots of things, a cheap laser printer ($200-$250) will be much more economical.
I don't print much, so for me personally this is the perfect solution (ink could still be cheaper but.. oh well).
Tip:
Buy HP laserjet paper, the ink jets print very nicely on it and it's frequently on sale in office stores.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
Operating System: Linux
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Epinions.com ID:
hansmuff
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Location: PA, USA
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 3 members
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