Thursday, March 23, 2006

HP All-in-One Colored Printers Review

Four years ago, for some silly reason, I was thinking of a colored printer that was able to do more than just print hard copies from a computer, pictures or brochures alike. This was to be used rigidly by the new company that I just joined, and definitely, for start up companies, costing at the lowest possible price was very necessary. At this point in time, colored printers were starting to pick up the pace in invading the market, replacing the usual black ink jet printers that were usually packaged with new computer set purchases.

Relying on the reviews and feedbacks that leading printer manufacturers and users were sharing, the number of actual users for this kind of a printer was not that convincing at first. A probable reason was the actual crisis and inflation that the economy was facing, hence, more people and companies were tightening their belts, opting to spend their money wisely on much needed necessities for their everyday routines.

After some computing and analysis, I took the liberty of preparing the necessary steps to convince my superior of the fruits that this contraption can give to a start up company, at the same time, provide leeway before the company can actually purchasing such equipments, as scanners, photocopying devices and the usual facsimile machine that any business would usually need to operate effectively. The company had just purchased a HP PSC 500 printer, and the first demonstration made has really impressed me to this day. The first demo was the photocopying feature, which left me totally speechless. The copied material was almost the same as the original, from the words to the pictures. The quality was hard to discriminate since the quality was very much impressive. And this was only the normal quality, so anyone could just imagine the output if the selection was placed at a more higher quality level.

To this day, this contraption is still up and running and I have rarely experienced any problems or limitations. The quality is still the same as the first day I used it. The only fallback that I can see for now is the price of the ink cartridges it uses. The price of the cartridge may not be easily affordable, but considering that it takes some months before it is replaced, depending on the usage of the printer of course, I would say that the printer is a very good buy, or a steal even since this is not only a printer, but can be used as a photocopier, facsimile machine and even a scanner. The software included by HP with it, makes it much easier to use. Its interface is compatible with almost all known software that we use, like Adobe, Corel, etc.

At the moment, that model is no longer available in the market. New models like HP PSC 2410 and PSC 1315 are offered for sale at lower prices, most probably due to the fact that other leading printer manufacturer have followed suit in offering the same device to the consumer. Truly, this device is a must have, especially for people on a stiff budget. There is nothing more you can ask for in maximizing a printer’s use than just producing the usual outputs for your work.

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