10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
An excellent but flawed product
Date of Review: Jan 2, 2005
The Bottom Line: The 9110 is an an excellent but imperfect product. Its function exceeds any other all-in-one that I could find.
I replaced a LaserJet 3330 AND an Epson stylus (for color and labels) with this (almost) marvelous product.
It has total all-in-one function -- and that is, indeed, a lot of function. All of which works flawlessly.
I am well pleased with it.
That having been said there are a few negatives that a buyer needs to be aware of.
Software:
1. The hp software is, as always, a nightmare to install, especially when you have had a 3330 installed before. The 3330 software uninstall leaves many 'artifacts' which are not identified in any document behind. These artifacts will not permit successful installation of the 9110! After four hours on the phone with HP tech support and the manual deletion of about 100 of the offending artifacts I got the 9110 installed and it the HARDWARE really works like a charm.
2. HP has done its 'standard' AWFUL job in developing support applications.
a. For the "DIRECTOR", which is the 'standalone' access to the device, they have re-invented the Window GUI and replaced it with a totally incompetent one. It is an almost incomprehensible hodgpodge. Had they stuck with the Windows GUI it would have been a much better product.
b. The "Gallery" which is supposed to organize your images is **surprisingly** substantially worse than the Director! I say surprisingly becaus the Director is so bad. The Gallery is one of the worst pieces of software I have seen in a long time.
c. The Fax software which is invoked when Word or Outlook is to send a fax does NOT communicate with the MS Outlook address book. This is a real pain in the neck.
Hardware:
1. There is NO manual feed! So that if you have an occasional form, label or envelope to print you must open the feed tray to insert it.
2. There is no way to insert a 'dialing' prefix (e.g. 9, for a PBX attached phone line) -- this is annoying but not debilitating. Other fax machines and all-in-ones do incorporate this feature.
In summary:
It is fortunate that, in contrast to the HP support applications, the Drivers are quite competent. So, when printing from MS Word or Excel or scaning from Adobe Photoshop everything works extremely well. Except for a few, seldom used, functions the HP apps are avoidable.
The 9110 is an an excellent but imperfect product. Its function exceeds any other all-in-one that I could find.
I guess that perfection comes only in heaven and I am in no hurry to get there.
