A great little printer. (HP Photosmart C4480 All-in-One)

Member Name: FairyG

Product:	HP Photosmart C4480 All-in-One
Date:	04/03/09 (296 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple to use printer/ scanner/ copier.

Disadvantages: None.

This is a basic review of this printer and my personal experience of using it, rather than a highly technical review.

My last printer was a HP printer/scanner/copier, but I'd had it six years and it was definitely past its best. It's been a decent printer though, so I decided to stick with Hewlett Packard. One thing I like about their printers is they don't tend to splatter ink about so I'm not having to always clean them out with surgical spirit.

It comes with an installation disc and a quick set up guide which is simple and effective to follow. It also comes with standard sized black and colour ink cartridges. There's no USB cable included, but that didn't bother me, as I already had one. It was easy to install and works fine with Vista. When I was reading up about printers on Amazon, some people were complaining about problems installing various printers and found they had to uninstall their last one. This wasn't a problem and I didn't have to uninstall my last printer.

The printer has a glossy white casing, which is functional and businesslike rather than stylish. It has a 3cm by 3cm viewscreen and six function buttons that are simple to use by following the instructions on the screen. It also has slots for SD-XC-MMC cards along with MS/DUO, so I can view and print pictures without having to use my computer. There's a drop down paper guide at the front, with an extension for A4.

I can use the psc to scan just by using it's own control panel, and choose whether to scan to print, or scan to computer. It takes about a minute to scan to computer, and then I can edit the image using the printer's own photosmart program. Alternatively I can open the photosmart program, edit my existing photos, and then print them out.

Because I registered it online with HP, it downloads all the latest updates, which is useful. I can also get free downloads such as Arc Soft Thumbnail Viewer, Arc Soft Print Creations Cards, Calender and Scrapbook. There's also a Photo Movie Maker but that requires a paid upgrade.

When it comes to printing, I've got a choice of General Everyday Printing, Photo Printing with or without white border, Fast Print, Two Sided Printing, and Postcard Printing. I'm no expert but I'm very satisfied with the quality of photo printing, which is visibly brighter and sharper than my old printer. HP Vivera inks are also available for this printer, which turn out lab quality photos. I haven't tried Vivera inks yet, but I intend to.

I use General Everyday Printing for letters etc, but I'm also very happy with the Fast Print as it turns out good precise quality print amazingly fast, especially compared to my old printer. Print speeds are up to 30ppm black, or 23ppm colour.

Up to now I'm delighted with this printer, which is fine for home office use, or just messing around with photos. I haven't had any paper jams. It's quite user friendly for someone like me who can't be bothered with getting my head around something too complicated. I get very impatient with learning new technology and basically just want to plug it in and use it without having to keep referring to instructions.

Another factor I like is that it's nice and compact at only 43.4 cm wide, 29cm deep and 16.2 cm high, which fits nicely on my desk. (I very nearly bought the HP C5280, until I realized it was just too bulky). Overall, it's a great gadget that's given me no problems as yet, and is good value for money.

This is getting five stars on Amazon and I'm not surprised. It's currently selling at £54.31, which has gone up a bit since I bought it a month ago. It's still a fantastic price though, compared to the Argos price of £97.89.

Summary: There are more sophisticated printers out there, but this one suits me fine.