My Savior!
Written: Jan 29 '03
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Pros: Very quiet, great print quality, easy to use, both USB and Parallel interface
Cons: Discontinued!
The Bottom Line: HP has discontinued this model. If you can find it, it's an excellent product. Very quiet, both USB and parallel connection, great print quality, does everything!
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| rdhoss's Full Review: Hewlett Packard OfficeJet K80 All-In-One InkJet Pr... |
I've been fighting printers for almost a month. As I described in my other reviews (HP OfficeJet d135 and Epson Stylus CX3200), I recently needed to get a multi-function printer for my home office.
I finally determined, after trying the two printers mentioned above, that my Gateway Select Computer just cannot handle USB printers. Both of the above printers were connected using USB, and both had the same problem. They would print a little bit, and then would disconnect. Only a reboot would resolve the problem, but I could never print more than 5 pages at a time.
So, since I knew that USB was the problem, and since I didn't want to purchase a new computer, I knew that I had to find a printer that had a parallel interface. That's tough to find! Apparently, USB is the standard interface for printers these days.
I searched for a multi-function printer that had a parallel interface, to almost no avail. I finally found an OfficeJet k80 sitting on the shelf of a local computer store. I peeked behind it and found a parallel port. I asked the sales associate, and that was the last one they had; HP has discontinued this model. I dickered with the sales associate and ended up buying the display model for $139 (and they even threw in some new printer cartridges). Not bad, since I started with the $399 d135 printer.
The printer had no box, but they did have the CD and manual for the printer. I got it home, and realized that the CD did not have drivers for Windows XP. A visit to hp.com yielded the correct software for Windows XP. I installed the software, which went very smoothly. I installed the printer cartridges, and connected the printer to my computer using the parallel interface (as a side note, the k80 also has a USB port). The computer recognized the printer immediately, and the software completed its installation without problem. I did notice that I was missing a tray that collects pages after being fed through the document feeder. I found a tray package that included that tray as well as the input tray for the document feeder at hpparts.com for only $3.00. Unfortunately, the shipping is over $12.00. But for an extra $15, I'll have all of the parts I need.
I've since printed a 32 page document, and it worked perfectly. This printer is extremely quiet, and the print quality is great. I was able to queue up several different types of documents. Some were portrait, some landscape, some draft quality and some "best" quality. The printer produced each document perfectly with no problems whatsoever.
I then tested the scanner/copier. This model does not have a flat-bed scanner, but instead has a sheet-fed scanner. The disadvantage of this is that we can't lay a book on it to copy. I did try copying several documents, both in color and black & white. All the copies came out great and it was very difficult to distinguish the original from the copy.
I then scanned in a picture of my wife and I. Using the software, I was able to set the various settings for the scan, and start the scan. You can also do all of that on the printer itself, without using the computer. The picture scanned in very well using the default photo scan settings. I then printed a sheet of wallet photos of this picture using some high-gloss photo paper. The result was pretty good. Again, I didn't do anything to the picture, I just scanned and printed using all of the default settings. The printed pictures were not as good as the original, but they were very good pictures nonetheless. I'm sure with some tinkering, I could get a much better picture to print.
I have not tried the fax capability yet. Based on the work I've done with it so far, I'm sure I will be very happy with its fax.
Overall, I am very happy with this printer! It does everything I could ever need, is well built, is extremely quiet, and most importantly, the parallel connection works perfectly with my computer. I love it!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 139
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
rdhoss
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Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 1 member
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