Their PCs Sucked, But The Printers Ain’t Too Shabby – The Hewlett Packard DeskJet 845c!
Written: Jun 17 '02 (Updated Jun 17 '02)
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Pros: Inexpensive, easy set-up and use, prints color and black and white easily, not too big.
Cons: Prints somewhat slowly, USB cable not included.
The Bottom Line: This is an excellent, inexpensive printer. Anyone not looking to spend an arm and a leg on a printer should look into the HP DeskJet 845c.
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| madtheory's Full Review: Hewlett Packard DeskJet 845c InkJet Printer |
Hewlett Packard may have had a little bit of trouble putting together good, stable personal computers, but they certainly got their printers right. One of the top names in computer printing for as long as most folks can remember, HP family of printing peripherals has established a reputation for consistently producing high-quality, crystal clear, black and color prints. This rings true for their most expensive, state-of-the-art printers such as their multi-function line, all the way down to their lower-end home and small business units, such as the HP DeskJet 845c.
Installation of the 845c could not be easier. It comes with an installation CD with a walkthrough, a detailed instruction book, and a HUGE simplified poster detailing the installation for all operating systems, including Windows XP. Really, with all these tools, if you can’t figure out how to install this bad boy, you really shouldn’t be using a computer to begin with. Once you’ve put the CD into the drive, the install wizard comes up and walks you through connecting and plugging in the cables, inserting the ink cartridges, and even adding the paper. For even the most illiterate computer user, installation time is ten minutes, tops. Once the physical setup is concluded, the disc installs the necessary drivers, and you’re set to print. You’ll want to print a few test pages just to make certain that the ink cartridges are aligned properly.
It’s not really the fastest printer in the universe, but then again I’m comparing it to the blazingly fast HP LaserJet 5 SI MX Laser Printer we use in the office. However, since I don’t need to spit out mind-numbingly garrulous, Dilbert-type memos and other print-intensive documents at home, the slower speed is fine with me. Regular Word or other text editor documents print at a rate of about 8 pages per minute, though the HP 845c does slow down 2 or 3 pages per minute when printing high-quality or large graphics. Just expect a little bit of a slowdown when printing that 10-sheet “Happy Birthday, Johnny!” banner or those high-res pictures of Pamela Lee. Don’t lie, you know you do.
Measuring in with a small stature of 17.56 x 7.2 x 13.8 inches and weighing a paltry12 lbs., you’ll have little difficulty finding space for this on even the smallest and flimsiest computer desks. The unit is a drab gray color with a dark gray paper tray feeding into it from the front. You can jam-pack roughly 50 sheets of 8.5x11 paper in to the paper tray, but can also be adjusted to feed envelopes as well. Plus, 845c is fairly reliable as well. The few times I’ve had to do some demanding print jobs (20-plus pages... stupid manuals), the unit performed admirably. Even with a slightly less than preferable printer memory of 2MB, the inexplicable error codes and maddening paper jams that you might see with some of the cheaper units are nonexistent. Everything hums along smoothly and quietly.
The only real beef I have with this printer is the fact that for some strange reason, Hewlett Packard chose not to include a USB cable with this peripheral. Once I actually had it unpacked and ready to install, I had to double back to the electronics store to buy one. A major pet peeve of mine is when companies choose to sell gadgets without all the required cables and components. Sure, I guess I could have taken the time to read the box where it told me that the cable wasn’t included, but if I wanted to read, I’d have gone to the library. Fortunately, USB cables are only around $10 bucks and the store wasn’t too far away so it wasn’t really a big deal.
So all in all, the Hewlett Packard DeskJet 845c was a heck of a deal at a $60 (plus $10 for the USB cable) price point. It’s inexpensive and small, runs smoothly, reliably, and quietly, and it’s easy to install. In addition, with a maximum resolution of 600 dpi (black) by 1200 dpi (color) it can easily and clearly handle a wide array of printing needs. I highly recommend this for any home or small business.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 60
Operating System: Windows
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madtheory
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