My All Singing, All Dancing, Printing Machine (HP psc 1210)

Member Name: mizzame

Product:	HP psc 1210
Date:	26/08/03 (1683 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Compact, High Qulaity & Reliable

Disadvantages: No Black and White Only Option, No Fax Line

I?m sure those of you familiar with my writing will know I?m not a serious person nor technical minded. Computing is no exclusion. In my opinion a computer is a necessity and certainly not something I get excited about! I have a very basic home computing set up and earlier this year I had a couple of printer disasters, my trusty Canon Bubblejet packed up (Folks it was 8 years old!) and Andy?s Epson decided to no longer accept paper, this all happened in my first week of starting my home business! So what do you do? I don?t rate PC World but when in a hurry without time to shop around or do your homework it?s your best bet, guaranteed!

Knowing the nature of my business I know I do a lot of printing and a healthy amount of photocopying so when I spotted these ?all-in-one? machines in PC World I stopped for a browse.

Prior to visiting PC World I set myself a printer budget of around £75. Since setting up my home computer 8 years ago I knew printers had fallen considerably in price but I was not aware that these ?all-in-one? models were so readily and cheaply available. There are a considerable amount of these around ranging in shape, size and price. The Hewlett Packard Model ?hp psc 1210? is around 17?x10?x7? and resembles a breadbin in size. Hewlett Packard claim this is the smallest ever ?all-in-one? machine. It wasn?t the most attractive model on offer but it was certainly the most compact. If like me you have limited room in your home office or computer area I?m sure this will be of importance to you.

The ?hp psc 1210? is a printer, photocopier and scanner all in one. Yes, this dinky little box does all that! I was very sceptical about how well it would perform, it seemed too good to be true and all for only £99.99. HP were also offering me a £10 trade-in for my old printer so if I could palm them off with one of my dudd ones I?d get this little beauty for £90, worth a gamble I thought!

So there you have it, I am now the owner of
a stylish new ?hp psc 1210?, an all singing all dancing printer copier and scanner. But did it live up to my expectations? I?m not lying if I tell you that it blew my expectations out of the water! Why? I?ll go on?

After a very easy set up process (which took me, a techni-phobe all of 5 minutes to install) I set about testing the machine. Printing is quick, clear and offered in fast draft, standard and photo qualities although a black and white option is not available. Scanning is very straight forward and photocopying offered in black and white or colour.

Ink cartridges are on average around £18 for the black (HP56) and £25 for the colour (HP 57), only Hewlett Packard cartridges can be used as because this is such a new model no competitors or cheaper brands offer the correct cartridges yet. I thought this is where I?d be stung. I expected the all singing, all dancing machine to drink the bloody stuff! Not true! In the past 6 months I?ve used 2 black ink cartridges and am still on my first colour cartridge. I can say that?s less than with any other printer I?ve used so although these inkjet cartridges seem slightly steep in price they seem to last the course. I should add I use the machine daily averaging about 20+ sheets per day.

So there you have it! I can whole heartedly recommend this superb printer, scanner and photocopier. Quality does not seem to be compromised and so far all documents have been of a high quality. I also believe this offers great value for money and although I exceeded my budget no longer shell out for photocopying costs at the printers on the high street!

A few things to bear in mind this is a home office inkjet model not to be confused with the more industrial business printers and photocopiers. I use the photocopier daily but would never dream of doing large runs of over 10 or 15. It doesn?t photocopy at the high speed of the industrial copiers but I wouldn?t say it was slow. The scanner does all I n
eed or want it to do but the software included seems rather basic.

Some of the other ?all-in-one? machines include a built in fax line. This ?hp psc 1210? doesn?t I chose this model on size and decided I can live without fax. The competitors machines with built in fax were of a similar price to this but much, much more bulky.

Hewlett Packard printers are available in most high street computer stores including PC World, Dixons, Currys, Computer World amongst others. I paid £99.99 with £10 rebate.

Another happy customer!


* Mr computer head please note I am NOT at all technically minded, that?s why I like this machine, I?m sorry if you don?t think I given enough technical specifics but quite frankly to use, understand and benefit from this little diamond you really don?t need all that gobble-de-gook! That was my reason for the op!*

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