Print photos suitable for framing with the HP Photosmart 7350
Written: May 07 '03
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Pros: Great photo quality and quiet.
Cons: I don't see any but some may say the print speeds.
The Bottom Line: If you want quality text and great photos suitable for framing, you need to get the HP Photosmart 7350.
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| Kittyokc's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Photosmart 7350 InkJet Printer |
I finally got my new photo printer. My husband had previously bought the Epson Stylus CX3200 to replace our Epson Stylus C80, which was then hooked up to the kids computer. The print heads on the C80 clogged up again and since it's not under warranty anymore, it wasn't worth getting fixed. The kids now have the bulky multifunction CX3200 and I now have my new HP Photosmart 7350! I love the quality of the photos I have printed out with it, I think it is much better than the Epson. In fact one of the 8 x 10's that I printed out of my son is now framed and hanging on our living room wall. I had also printed that particular picture out with the C80 and the difference in quality is night and day, the one printed with the HP Photosmart 7350 was more crisp and vivid in color. I have since printed out some borderless 4 x 6's for my husbands desk at work and he even admits they look better and he's an Epson fan.
What it comes with
In the box you will find the HP Photosmart 7350, power cord, setup guide, instruction book, software (one for Windows and one for Mac), two cartridges (HP #57 which is the tricolor and HP #58 which is the photo cartridge) and a print cartridge protector. You will have to buy the USB cable to hook your printer up to your computer.
Size
Depending on where you keep your printer, the size of the printer does make a difference. We used to keep our Epson C80 and then the CX3200 on the top of the printer stand because of their size. This one sits perfectly inside the second shelf, leaving the top of the printer stand free for other things. The actual dimensions of the HP Photosmart 7350 are: 18.7 x 15.4 x 6 inches, so you can see it is not tall and can easily sit on a lower shelf of a printer stand.
Installation
Installing the HP Photosmart 7350 is very simple with the included fold out setup guide. There are six easy steps (seven according to HP, but they are counting unpacking the printer as step one). Plug in the printer, load paper in the tray, install the print cartridges, install the software, connect the printer to your computer via USB cable and finish installing the software. They tell you repeatedly not to hook the printer up to your computer until you are prompted by the software.
Printing
Now here's where the big test was, my husband has been a long time Epson fan and grudgingly bought the HP Photosmart 7350 because of the rave reviews it gets, plus I said I was sick of the print heads getting clogged all the time with the Epson printers. We print a variety of things at home from school projects, miscellaneous information on things we find on the Internet and even coloring pages for my youngest son, but I also like to print out quality photos that I have taken with our digital camera. I have to tell you that the HP Photosmart 7350 does a great job in printing photos, so much so that they are suitable for framing and for handing out photos to family members.
Print quality with black and color is 1200 x 1200 dpi and it goes all the way up to 4800 x 1200 for color when printing on premium photo paper from a media card or HP digital camera. I love the fact that you can print directly from a media card and it's compatible with so many of them, not just a couple. It's compatible with CompactFlash type I and II, SmartMedia, Secure Digital, Multi-Media Cards and Memory Sticks, so if you have a digital camera, chances are you will be able to print directly from your media card and not have to worry about downloading the pictures to your computer first. If you happen to have a HP Photosmart camera, you can plug your camera directly into the printer to print your pictures also.
Speed
The HP Photosmart 7350 is not exactly a fast printer, especially with photos, but were we looking more at quality than speed, hey sacrifice has to be made somewhere. According to HP it prints up to 10 pages per minute in black (up to 17 if using the optional black cartridge HP #56) and it says it prints up to 11 pages per minute in color, as you can see, it's not the fastest printer out there, but it still suits our needs as a personal printer for the home.
As with any printer, it always takes longer to print photos and my use has shown that to be a fact. It took 5 1/2 minutes to print out an 8 x 10 at the best quality on photo paper and it took 2 1/2 minutes to print out a borderless 4 x 6 photo. It may take a while to print, but it's well worth the wait once you see the quality of the photos.
Other Features
100 Sheet Paper Tray - The IN part of the tray will hold 100 sheets of standard paper, the OUTPUT tray will only hold 50, unless you have a huge print job to do, I don't see anyone having a problem with the amount of paper the tray holds. There is also a smaller built-in tray specifically for 4 x 6 photo paper with a little slider which tells the printer where to pull the paper from.
Media (paper) types - You can use a variety of paper and/or envelopes. Plain paper, Inkjet paper, photo, glossy, transparencies, labels, cards, iron-on transfers, banner paper, and you can also use legal sized paper, executive, envelopes, index cards, 4 x 6.5 inch photo paper with tabs.
Windows and Mac compatible - There are two separate installation CD's depending on which system you have. The minimum system requirements are: CD-ROM 4X or greater drive, SVGA monitor (800 x 600, 16-bit color), USB port, USB cable (not included), 64 - 128 MB RAM, 500 MB free hard disk space (for the software and drivers), Internet Explorer 4.01 (5.5 or later recommended), Windows XP, Me, 98, 2000 Professional: Pentium II (or equivalent), Mac OS 9 or OS X 10.1 or above on G3 processor or greater.
16 MB built-in RAM
Control Panel - The control panel is located on the right side of the printer and you can various things from the control panel instead of using the software. Things on the control panel include the following...
LCD Window - This lets you know the status of your printer.
Copies - This button is used to select the number of copies you want to print.
Photo Size - Use this button to choose the size of photo you want to print.
Power - For turning the printer on or off.
Choose Photos - The is the largest button and it is used to select the photos you want to be printed.
Save - This button is to save photos from a memory card or to print camera-selected photos.
Cancel/No - This button is used to cancel a setting or to stop printing or saving. It is also used to answer no to any questions that come up on the LCD window or to exit from a menu.
Tools - The button is used to perform printer management tasks.
OK/Yes - This button to select photos, answer yes to any LCD questions or to select menu options.
Print - This button will print the selected photos you choose from a memory card. It also has a light around it. When the light is green it means the printer is on, blinking green means the printer is busy, mainly printing and when it's blinking amber it means the printer needs attention like needing more paper, ink, etc.
I don't use the control panel that much and it took a while to be able to figure it out, but you may have an easier time since I am used to printing directly from software.
Standard One Year Limited Warranty
My Thoughts
So far, I am very happy with my HP Photosmart 7350. I have used the printer to print out emails, documents, coloring pages, word searches for the kids and of course, photos. I am very happy with the quality of print from the printer, the color is so vivid and rich, photos look like they were done at the lab. I can only imagine how much better it would be if I had a better digital camera.
The printer is also quiet, I can't hear the printer when it's printing and it sits right next to me on the printer stand and unlike the Espon printers, you can't hear the paper being loaded either. And as far as ink consumption goes, I have printed out two 8 x10's and three 4 x 6's among other things on regular paper and it shows that I have only used about one quarter of the ink in the cartridges, which is definitely better than the Epson.
I also like the fact that you can take your media card, put it in the slot and transfer your pictures to your computer, no more need for a card reader to transfer pictures from the camera.
My husband got the HP Photosmart 7350 at CompUSA for $179, which I think is a very good price for the quality.
If you're looking for a quality printer that prints crisp, clear images and does a great job on photos, I definitely recommend you get the HP Photosmart 7350, you won't regret it!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 179
Operating System: Windows
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Kittyokc
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Member: Kathy
Location: Oklahoma
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