I have used HP inkjet printers for many years and always found them to be of high quality and reliable. This is not the case with this printer. This printer constantly loses connectivity with my computer (it is connected with a USB cable). After approximately 48 hours of being plugged in the printer on/off button ceases to function. The only way to print is to uninstall the printer and then reinstall the printer after power cycling the printer. My first call to technical support was answered by someone in the Philippines who eventually forwarded me to a knowledgeable supervisor and that is how I learned about reinstalling the printer to make it work. My second call two weeks later was answered in India where the tech person was difficult to understand and obviously was not knowledgeable about the product. I spent quite some time waiting while she tried to find simple answers in her resource materials. Her supervisor was also not helpful other than elevating this issue to HP in the United States which was not open at the time. I have not yet received a return call from US Tech and R&D support, but my experience has been poor enough already that I would recommend against purchasing this product. I regret that I purchased it.
Addendum to above review: HP elevated support has issued a gift card to me which I was able to use to purchase a Photosmart Plus B210a printer directly from them. I have been assured that this printer will not have any of the issues that I have experienced. I am hopeful and impressed that they have taken my issue seriously and have resolved it with a superior printer. HP Photosmart D110A Wireless e-All-in-One Printer (CN731A#B1H)
We finally bit the bullet and got a new printer - the old hp deskjet 3220 just would not die, so we donated it to a school. We switched because we wanted better photo printing and speed, and the scanner was USB 1.1 only.
I'm a Mac person, but more and more HP products are truly impressive. The laptop I most recently set up was the simplest ever. This unit was more of that simplicity. Just unpacking it was comparable to the Apple experience. One booklet, and the packaging was two pieces of foam and a tote bag instead of plastic wrapping, cords and ink were in a zippered reusable pouch. Both were of the same material used for reusable grocery bags. Minimal waste. Suggest they move from styro to compressed paper like others.
Setup was done without so much as a USB cable. All was done by loading the software, first into the Mac, then later into the HP. Power up the printer, tell it to find your WiFi router and it appears as a Bonjour (zeroconf) item. No issues with Mac or Win setup. Alignment is done by printing and then scanning an alignment page. No more squinting to discern the most-lined-up raster.
Printing is darn good on plain paper and knockout on photo paper. A 4x6 guide on the tray is convenient. There is an extended paper support that I don't even see using.
Scanning was the big question. I've used Ed Hamrick's VueScan for years, it's a wonderful tool. It warned that I'd need to install HP drivers in order to use VueScan, which would contribute to bloat. Since we sent off the USB cables with the printer and scanner, VueScan didn't see the cable-less WiFi scanner when it booted. I figured we were stuck. Well, we weren't - as there is a web interface to the scanner that can scan jpg or PDF at up to 600 dpi from a browser.
*** Correction - VueScan now sees the printer and scans as always. ***
Printing and scanning over WiFI is wonderful, much improved over similar devices from just a few years ago.
ePrint gives you an email address that lets you print common document formats via email attachments.
The web interface lets you double check remote print jobs.
Amazing for $99 retail, $79 at HP, $55 here. Available XL ink also saves.
It was very easy to get the printer set-up on the wireless network by following the prompts on the LCD screen. It really walks you through the process very well. The applications that can be accessed through the printer itself are pretty cool. These include Disney coloring pages, coupons, etc. Printing from my camera's memory card was intuitive.
The next step was to install the software on my computers. This was also easy, although I did have an issue in which the printer picked up an IP address that the router didn't like. This was solved by searching the HP website to determine how to assign a static IP that was within the DHCP range. Thankfully the instructions were clear and very easy, because I really don't have much networking experience.
After everything was set-up, I printed off a few pictures from my PC. There is not a multi-page paper feeder and the speed may not be enough for some. However, for a household like mine, where we will only have occasional printing needs, I think it's more then sufficient. Even though I haven't yet had an opportunity to use photo quality paper, I think the quality of the print, even on multi-purpose paper, was very good.
I then had an opportunity to use the included picture printing software. My daughter and I had quite a bit of fun setting up different borders, adding text, and choosing different decorations to add to the pictures. This was pretty darn cool. I am not sure if there is a limit and after I reach that limit it will start charging me, or if this will always be free, but for now, at least, it's free.
Finally, I had the need to actually scan something in. This was a very easy process, and once scanned in you are given the chance to edit the scan, flip it around, etc. This was my first time ever scanning something in, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I thought the process was very simple.
BTW, because it wasn't mentioned in any other reviews and I didn't realize it and almost bought wireless NIC cards: A desktop computer, connected by Ethernet to the same wireless router as the printer, is able to print to the wireless printer. The desktop PC's do not have to be wireless.'
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