Photos - Smart!

A million and one printers...
I've had great luck with HP printers. From way back the days of the original "Deskjet 500" to the birth of the "Laserjet II", HP has always been a market leader. So, when my older HP printer ran out of ink, I decided to look at what was new on the market for inkjet printers. Wow, was that the wrong isle to walk down at my local superstore... there must have been 50 printers...

Narrowing it down
First of all, I already own a great scanner - a scanner that does film. There are a great deal of multi-function printers that include scanners and fax functionality. Although I'm sure they'd save a bit of desk space, none of the 'all-in-one' models I saw would scan film negatives. I have no use for a fax either...

My older HP printer used a 2 cartridge system. One for 'photo color' and one for 'regular color'. The two together made for a 6-ink system, and each cartridge was about $40 at my local store. I was attracted to the printer models that used seperate ink tanks for each colour. Canon has a few models like this, as does HP. Generally, they are the higher-end models.

This narrowed by search to: a 'single function' printer with multiple ink tanks.

The short list
The HP 7x60 line were attractive to look at and had the features I wanted. The complete line-up at this time is the 7160, 7260, 7360 and 7460. All contain the same basic print engine, and each has more do-dads. All contain built in memory card readers for all the popular card-types, and allow you to print directly from Pictbridge enabled cameras, or from the memory card. All support PC's and Mac's, and all connect via USB at a minimum.

The 7160 begins with a simple 2.4 inch color LCD which shows you which is going on.

The 7260 adds a 3.5 inch color touch screen, which is both informative and interactive. It also includes built-in wired ethernet for network printing.

The 7360 (which they didn't have) seems to be the same as the 7260 without the ethernet.

The 7460 adds built-in Wi-fi 802.11g networking, as well as the ethernet wired connection.

All models include the same 100 sheet paper tray and a seperate mini-tray for 4x6 paper that you can leave loaded all the time. When you want a photo, it pulls from the bin automatically. And, if you are using HP paper, their paper includes markings that automatically ajust the printer for the best output. How cool is that?

These printers are not small, but not unweildy either... they come in nice white and silver plastics that match current and previous generation iMacs quite nicely.

I looked at the competetive Canon models, but to be honest, they just looked ugly with their off-black and grey color schemes, and the paper handling just didn't seem as clean.

The printing
OK, so what does the print look like? We'll, if you've got an inkjet more than a year old, prepare to be amazed by both the speed and clarity of the print. Web-screen print outs look fantastic, and photos? Well, I am not exaggerating at all when I say they look BETTER than my local Wal-mart photolab prints. The colors are vibrant and clear and I have not seen a better photo come off of any machine. The 6 ink system obviously works well, and at my local Staples the cartridges are $12 each (the black is $20 and is bigger). Still, $50 for a full set of colors isn't cheap - but not having to replace a whole cartridge when just one color runs out only makes sense.

The wireless
The one I bought of course is the 7460, because for $20 more it had the wireless built in. All the other models can be upgraded to Bluetooth for extra money. I'm happy to report that the software included with the printer installed perfectly the first time, and it works no differently that if it was plugged right into the computer. HP has come a long way in the quality of their software. Note that if you are running any kind of software firewall, you need to allow it to 'see' the printer. Most firewalls will ask you the first time if you want to let the printer connect, and then adjust themselves accordingly.

The Screen
Really, the 3.5 inch touch display is like a mini-computer right on the printer. It lets you do everything you would do on a basic photo editor, and has features to do Photo Albums, Panorama Prints, Wallet Photos, Passport Photos, and even prints from Video captures. Wow! You can even access a quick menu to print out notebook paper or graph paper - I've actually used the graph paper once, and it spit out a sheet of ruled graph paper, edge to edge, in about 3 seconds! The page almost went flying across the room!

Nigglies
The only problem I've had is some crappier paper doesn't seem to feed through the tray very well... the rollers just won't pick it up and the printer declares 'out of paper'. This was easily fixed by using a slightly heavier paper than cheap photocopy paper.

Summary
I love this printer, but really, I won't print nearly the volume to justify the extra cost to get the top-of-the-line features. I like things that work, things that work well, and things that make me go 'cool'. The HP 7x60 is the cool printer of the bunch, with speed and features to back it up. If you do a lot of printing at home, you'll be happy with this series. For casual or non-photo printing, there are $29 printers that will get you by.