Three seconds and shoot (HP Deskjet 940c)

Member Name: topsyturvy

Product:	HP Deskjet 940c
Date:	11/02/03 (677 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great speed, high quality, no problems

Disadvantages: -

After my old printer getting a bit annoying not printing in the best colour and then printing things out green I thought it was definitely time to move on to a new printer. I had recently heard about Hewlett Packard and also new they were fantastic because I have used their printers many times.

My aunty got the hpdeskjet 960c buty I decided to have a look around for better prices, on and offline. The best offer was at Dixon's it only cost me about £90. This is very good considering some of the printers are very expensive.

I would just love to have a laser printer but it is never going to happen so I am happy with my ink-jet printer. The cartridges are usually about £30 for an HP printer but the quality is always good.

My choice of printer finally was the Hewlett Packard 940c which obviously isn't a surprise because of the category I am writing in. The good thing when you buy printers is that they always have a colour sample sheet which is photo paper with a photo printed on it which has been done by each printer. The sample for my choice of printer was very sharp for such a small model with a not bad price and the colour was better, more dpi.

This printer works differently from my previous Epson's it needed a USB port to work, I have a digital camera though so I know where to install everything and it worked. All it needed were some little bits plugged in and then the power light sitched on. Now to test if the printer works there is always a sample picture.

One thing that annoys me about this printer is that there is no screen showing the ink levels when printing and the only notification you get of needing a new ink cartridge is when the message comes up so many uses before the ink is fully used up. With my older printers screens came up showing how much of the picture was printer e.g 50%, 75% and then it shoed by colour how much ink was left with 4 section to fill up and each one individually emptied off
the blue colour to show that the ink was getting lower.

When buying my printer there was a lot of help and even though this specific printer was on offer I still looked around because even though some are on offer it doesn't mean the best but the thing is I only had about £90 and don't have much experience about buying printers. I have had Lexmark's which I got free with the comapny I bought my computer with and the others and when there were problems I was given higher models for free because of my warranty. Epson were a good company but I had a lot of problems.

The other reason I wanted to update my printer is because of the speed, pictures took too long and wasted more ink. I also just got a digital camera and was wanting to print high quality photos on to the expensive photo paper but for them to look relaisitic because with photos on the paper before there were mistakes on the sheets and the quality was never good at all.

The CD you are given with the printer is installed very easily and the instructions are not hard to follow. This printer prints at a fanatastic speed printing out text pages in 3 seconds that quick honestly. The colour photos print out much quicker and at such a great spped the colour is much more bold and sharper. Photos on the paper look better now just like real photos and after coming home from holiday I just printed all of the photos really quickly.

The cartridges for the printer are a separate black and colour. The black cartridge is the same price as the colour well maybe with about £1 difference but they last fore ages. I frequently print out pictures and have been doing for months and yet my pictures are still printing out with no low ink warnings. The cartridges can be bought in any office supplies shops or even some supermarkets. For refills to make things cheeper you can get them on websites.

To install the ink cartridges they come in a box which is easy to identify and wh
en getting your printer you are told what ones are suitable for this specific printer model. The cartridges slide in at their separate areas and if you have any problems read the manual and it should be easier. Now after installing two cartridges I find it really easy and so far haven't had problems.

When printing you can change the options to draft, normal or best and change the paper size also you can change it from colour to greyscale and not only that but you can use the advanced features to make your pictures look better and change the paper type so that the printer knows if it is plain paper or a specific photo type it has a list. Choosing the paper type should ensure that you have the best possible prints.

This printer is fantastic and I won't be changing it for a while and so far after having it for about half a year I can safely say that there have been no problems. Hewleett Packard are one company to trust the best printers out there. If you don't have one and need a printer there are always offers at Curry's or Dixons so go there and you will get help with your choice. A great bargain and I got a great printer.

Summary: