But why did they get rid of the 930?! (HP Deskjet 940c)

Member Name: GR-Design

Product:	HP Deskjet 940c
Date:	01/12/01 (1114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Made by HP

Disadvantages: Cost of cartridges

Hewlett Packard have a new printer out, yes it’s the all new 940c. Now, don’t get too excited, because it’s much like the 930c, just with a new look and a couple of extra specs. Why HP feel the need to keep bringing out new printers when they are selling one really well anyway I don’t know, but hey, gives me an extra review to write!

On the outside, the printer looks very nice and indeed, more sleek than the 930. The main difference on the outside is the transparent panel on the top cover of the printer. Why they call this a transparent cover I don’t know as you can’t really see through it. Basically it’s tinted plastic with a ‘frozen’ grain effect in it, so you may just be able to see a blur as the print cartridges go past! The paper tray has been messed around with since the 930c, and this one doesn’t seem to want to fold up like the 930 did, or it doesn’t on the printer I have played around with anyway, but who really folds away their paper trays? (Apart from Epson users of course, ok, dig over!) The printer is also extremely quiet, although to me, it doe’s seem a little louder than the 930, which is a bit of a shame.

The printer has the same buttons as the 930 did. The power button (well it always helps, although the printer will turn itself on when you send something to print) a cancel print button (a godsend believe me!) and a paperfeed button which is rarely used, unless of course theres a paper jam. Talking of paper jams, these are now much easier to resolve on the 940. Round the back of the printer is a little locking compartment. Open the compartment and you have access to where the paper feeds through. This gives easy access to paper jams, no more ripping pieces of paper up into tiny pieces to try and relieve a paper jam!

Ok, so onto the specifications of this beast!

The printer comes with a standard 2mb of memory, plenty if you think back to wha
t printers had in them a couple of years ago. You can store 150 sheets of paper in the standard paper holder, which again, is more than a lot of other brands of printers. The black print resolution is 600dpi at all times and the colours is a whopping 2400x1200dpi, excellent for all colour work, and will also produce excellent photo’s, especially if used with the HP photo paper. Print speed in normal mode will shuffle out 6.7 pages a minute, and up to 5.3 pages a minute in colour. Obviously this all depends on how much ink has got to be splattered all over the page though, but for a normal page of text, these specifications would be very accurate I should think. So far I haven’t been sad enough to get my stopwatch out and time the thing!

The software that comes with the printer is the normal software you get nowadays as standard with all HP printers. It has their well known printer toolbox included where you can do all the cleaning printer cartridges and alignments from, and also look to see an estimate of how much ink you have got left in your cartridges, and indeed, how long you have got left to save up for some new cartridges! It’s a breeze to install, you basically stick the CD into your drive (computer drive that is!) and click a few buttons and your done. The software also includes drivers for the all new singing and dancing Windows XP! And if your still stuck on Windows 3.1, don’t worry because the CD also contains drivers for this. Also, look out for the Harry Potter version of the printer, no it doesn’t have Harry Potter all over the printer, but it does include a Harry Potter CD which will keep the kids amused for hours with them being able to print colouring in sheets and cards etc.

Basically if your on the lookout for a new printer and it’s going to be a standalone printer, this is definitely one to consider. For homework, reports and a small office, it’s an excellent purchase. However, with ca
rtridges costing you about £43 for a large colour and £20 for a black, you better keep that moment of excitement when you get your printer running down to a minimum and try not to print off to much rubbish that your never going to use!

Summary: