Kodak Office Hero 6.1 color inkjet

The Kodak Office Hero 6.1 color inkjet multifunction printer (copy/fax/print/scan) delivers on its marketing boast on approximately all counts. The noteworthy exception is speed, which is more like that of a home unit than of one intended for a small or home office. Still, for $200 (as of 12/06/2011), you’re receiving a full load of features, as well as stellar photo quality.

It's a shame that Kodak dropped its classic gold group across the front of the printer for a red one. That gold group was a nice nod to Kodak's tradition, and it made their printers look friendlier and less cheap. The red just highlights some poor styling choices, such as dull-silver buttons, and detracts from the otherwise solid erection and flawless performance.

The front panel of the Office Hero 6.1 sports a 2.4-inch color LCD and an array of logically placed controls, as well as a keypad for faxing. The ink cartridges are easy to get to, and the machine has Secure Digital, Multimedia Card, Memory Stick, and USB/Pictbridge ports for easy photo printing or offloading scans.

They may connect the unit via USB, Ethernet, or Wi-Fi. The bottom-mounted paper tray holds 200 sheets, and the output tray, approximately 50 sheets; the automatic document feeder for the letter/A4-size scanner holds 35 sheets. Duplexing is fully supported, with both two-sided printing and two-sided-to-two-sided copying and scanning.

We had been careless if we didn't mention the Office Hero 6.1's Home Center software. The package is the easiest to use and the easiest on the eye of any place forth by the major vendors. It's also extremely integrated: Everything is done from within the application. 

The fun 3D-photo feature prints and photo as a 3D photo; Kodak even provides a pair of 3D glasses for enjoying them. The OCR (optical character recognition) feature is so well integrated that you know it's there only because it has a save-to-RTF (rich-text format) selection for document files. The OCR is not fit for recreating complex documents with graphics, but it's great at grabbing text. The only thing missing is the documentation, which is available only online.

Ink costs are another plus for the Office Hero 6.1. The standard-sized $10 black cartridge lasts for 425 pages, for a per page cost of only 2.4 cents. The joint cartridge costs $20 and lasts for 420 pages, or 4.75 cents per page. Combined, a four-color page costs only 7.1 cents. In addition, a 770-page, $17 XL black cartridge reduces black costs slightly to 2.2 cents per page. Not a huge savings, but it nearly doubles the time between cartridge changes if you print a lot.

A barn-burner the Office Hero 6.1 is not, but in every other way it is a worthy inkjet MFP. It's extremely cheap to operate, it offers an easy out-of-box experience, and the photo printing is the best you'll find in this or most other price ranges. If you need faster performance, spend a hundred bucks more on the Epson Workforce 840 or the HP Office jet Pro 8600 Plus.

HP DeskJet 3050A e-All-in-One printer

The latest high quality printer was HP DeskJet 3050A e-All-in-One printer. Its advantages and disadvantages are listed below.

The Good:

The HP DeskJet 3050A features a refreshing design and its wireless Web connectivity lets you print in the cloud with HP ePrint technology.

The bad:

The printer lacks an Ethernet port for wired networking and its double ink cartridge bay is a money sink if you print a high volume of photos and color documents.

The bottom line:

The HP DeskJet 3050A All-in-One printer is an attractive design with the latest cloud printing technology in a multifunction device that works for small offices that don't need to print a lot of full-color photos.

Design and Features:

The DeskJet 3050A's natural, flowing curvature appears to draw motivation from the aesthetic principles of mid-20th-century furniture designers. The exterior pieces are brushed with various shades of matted gray and burnt umber, and a 2-inch monochrome LCD pops out of a cut-out on top of the printer for quick access to application controls, the set up menu, and one-touch installation for a wireless connection and HP's ePrint service.

A 60-sheet input tray also folds flush into the unit and features an adjustable marker that can align with a variety of media sizes down to No. 10-sized envelopes. Of course, several markings also exist for standard size sheets of 4-inch by 6-inch and 8-inch by 10-inch photo paper, but the single tricolor cartridge inside limits the quality of photos this printer will produce.

Pairing the 3050A with a companion computer is easiest with a hard-wired USB connection; however a wireless router offers a more elegant solution and allows you take advantage of ePrint, a service that lets you send jobs directly to the printer using a unique e-mail address issued to the printer when you establish a connection. Similar to your Face book or Flicker e-mail address, you can load print jobs into the 3050A by either copying an article directly into the message body or attaching a document to the e-mail.

HP Deskjet 3050A e-All-in-One

The latest high quality printer was HP DeskJet 3050A e-All-in-One printer. Its advantages and disadvantages are listed below.

The Good:

The HP DeskJet 3050A features a refreshing design and its wireless Web connectivity lets you print in the cloud with HP ePrint technology.

The bad: 

The printer lacks an Ethernet port for wired networking and its double ink cartridge bay is a money sink if you print a high volume of photos and color documents.

The bottom line:

The HP DeskJet 3050A All-in-One printer is an attractive design with the latest cloud printing technology in a multifunction device that works for small offices that don't need to print a lot of full-color photos.

Design and Features:

The DeskJet 3050A's natural, flowing curvature appears to draw motivation from the aesthetic principles of mid-20th-century furniture designers. The exterior pieces are brushed with various shades of matted gray and burnt umber, and a 2-inch monochrome LCD pops out of a cut-out on top of the printer for quick access to application controls, the set up menu, and one-touch installation for a wireless connection and HP's ePrint service.

A 60-sheet input tray also folds flush into the unit and features an adjustable marker that can align with a variety of media sizes down to No. 10-sized envelopes. Of course, several markings also exist for standard size sheets of 4-inch by 6-inch and 8-inch by 10-inch photo paper, but the single tricolor cartridge inside limits the quality of photos this printer will produce.

Pairing the 3050A with a companion computer is easiest with a hard-wired USB connection; however a wireless router offers a more elegant solution and allows you take advantage of ePrint, a service that lets you send jobs directly to the printer using a unique e-mail address issued to the printer when you establish a connection. Similar to your Face book or Flicker e-mail address, you can load print jobs into the 3050A by either copying an article directly into the message body or attaching a document to the e-mail.

The Epson Stylus NX430 Small-in-One All-in-One Printer

The good: 

The Epson NX430 stuffs a printer, scanner, and copy machine into a device that also fits in tiny places, and Epson's iPrint software extends your printing reach to compatible Android and iOS devices.

The bad:

The printer lacks an Ethernet port for wired networking, and its "moderate-capacity" cartridge bay may be a money sink if you print a high volume of photos and color documents.

The bottom line: 

The Epson NX430 "Small-in-One" printer is a solid investment for students and office jockeys who print high-quality photos and documents however don't have the space for a large format device.

Released in time for the back-to-school season, Epson squeezes a printer, scanner, and copy machine into a little device it's calling the "small-in-one." The Stylus NX430 occupies roughly the same quantity of desk space as your average Blue-ray player, and it performed twice as fast as the four other competitive models, with high-scoring quality results to boot. We suggest investing in Epson's extra-large-capacity ink refill tanks if you print a large volume of full-color documents and photos, but if price and space hold top priority on your printer shopping list, the $99 Epson Stylus NX430 is worth your dollar.

Design and features:

The Stylus NX430's space-saving design is that the printer's main focus, measuring a little more than 15 inches wide, 20 inches deep, and 11 inches tall. Relative to different printers, its size falls somewhere between a single function inkjet and a color laser printer, but at 9 pounds it's only half the weight of the average color laser printer and ideal for offices that regularly move workstations.

The center control panel sits within a console that rotates up an appropriate viewing angle. Though I'm not usually a fan of virtual-only button layouts, I like that the only buttons that light up on the NX430 are the four-way directional pad and the power on and off controls--the rest of the functions enlighten depending on the particular function you are accessing.

I did notice that the screen on this machine feels distinctly less responsive than the capacitive touch dials on the higher-end Workforce 845 All-in-One. By contrast, NX430's plastic surrounding the screen contains a tendency to flex as you press down on it, lending a mushy feeling to menu navigation. The screen itself never gave me problem in terms of virtual button actuation, however.

I can't fault a $99 device for not including an auto-document feeder or multiple paper input trays, thus all paper handling is fed through the single tray on the back and exits through the "mouth" below the controls. You'll also notice a memory card reader up front that lets you walk up and print from an expansion card without really touching a computer. You can preview your photos on the ample 2.5-inch LCD touch panel, and even make simple adjustments to crop dimensions, resize, or perform one-button touch-ups.

Epson offers you the option to connect the printer to your computer using direct USB or Wi-Fi. I assume most of you will prefer the latter, since Epson doesn't include a USB cable in the box. Smart setup on the touch panel may be a two-part process: turn on the machine and click Network Setting, then designate your wireless network and enter its password and that's it. The complete setup from start to finish, with a connection established on our lab network, took us less than 2 minutes. 

The installation procedure also includes a step that asks if you want the system to automatically hunt and install firmware updates, and we recommend you click "yes" when prompted; the appeal of Web-connected printers like the NX430 means you don't have to wait for Epson to ship you software updates, so take advantage of it.

Connecting through Wi-Fi also means you can take advantage of Epson's host of free mobile printing apps that allow you print directly from mobile devices. First, the Epson iPrint application for iOS and Android devices enables you to print Web pages, photos, documents, and anything else on a Smartphone directly to the Workforce NX430, though I noticed the printer cropped photos when I flipped orientation from portrait to landscape and vice versa, so I wouldn't suggest using the app to print important images like business presentations this way; it's more appropriate for quick outputs of snapshot photos and to-do lists.

HP Deskjet D1600 Printer series-Overview

Overview:

HP's most reasonable printer comes with a simple one-button design that offers you only the features you need for easy color printing.

Features:

Affordable reliability and one-touch simple of use, all for one low price.

HP's most reasonable printer performs reliably with one-touch ease of use, so you can enjoy effortless printing all at one low price. Get up to 2 times more printed pages using the optional high-capacity cartridges1?

Easy to set up and install for printing within minutes.

This printer is designed to fit in small places with its handy industrial design, and features only one button (power button) for easy printing. With its easy set up and installation process, you can also start printing within minutes.

Save more with resource-conserving printing.

Recognized for consuming less energy, this ENERGY STAR certified printer is intended to help save both resources and money. Its paper-saving printing choice lets you print multiple pages onto each side of the paper, saving paper while you print.

HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf MFP

The good:

 The HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf may be a compact mono laser MFP that boasts a cheap price, a compact design, dead-simple installation, and quick print speeds.

The bad: 

To hit its low cost, the HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf leaves off a few features, including autoduplexing, Wi-Fi, and a full-size paper tray.

The bottom line: 

The HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf is the company's least expensive monochrome multifunction laser printer. For the money, it earns our recommendation for its Smart Install feature and wonderful price.

The HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf is an entry-level monochrome multifunction laser printer that cuts only a couple of corners on its way to supplying print, copy, scan, and fax functionality for only $200. Built-in autoduplexing for double-sided printing and Wi-Fi networking are two features that didn't make the cut, however there are plenty of useful features that did, including a 35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF), and HP's Smart Install application, which makes setup a gentle wind. We also found the LaserJet Pro M1212nf's print speed and quality more than acceptable, even if text isn't quite as deep and rich as the output from the HP LaserJet Pro P1606dn. With its low cost, compact size, and easy setup, the M1212nf is a great choice as a first multifunction laser printer for home offices and small businesses.

Design and features:

The HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf is matte black, lending it a little more of a consumer inkjet look than your typical gray or beige corporate laser printer. It's also compact and light for a laser printer, measuring 12 inches high, 17 inches wide, and 10.5 inches deep and weighing 18 pounds. Two cutouts on the bottom of every side are useful handles, adding to the printer's portability. As is frustratingly common, HP does not include a USB or Ethernet cable within the box.

HP's Smart Install app makes it easy to set up the LaserJet Pro M1212nf. Plug it into a wall, connect it to your PC (via USB), and turn on the printer, and a few mouse clicks later, you're done. Smart Install loads drivers and software stored in the printer's memory. After running our tests on a Windows 7 machine, we tried connecting it to a Mac Book and found Smart Install did not work, which is why HP also throws a CD in the box.

Setting up the printer with an Ethernet cable is almost as easy as setting up a direct connection. As with USB installation, you can use either the included CD or Smart Install. We opted for the latter. First, you must print out a configuration report using the printer's control panel by pressing the setup button, using either of the arrow keys to select "Reports" from the Main menu, and then selecting "Config report." 

The printer will spit out two pages of configuration details, one of which is the printer's IP address. Type the address into the browser of a PC on your network, and on the resulting Web page, click the HP Smart Install tab. From there, click the green Download button to install the software. After a quick download, the printer will print out a test page confirming it’s connected to your network.

After you get the HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf set up, you'll find it's a considerate officemate. Energy Star-qualified, it doesn't waste electricity, and it's fairly quiet during operation.

HP Envy 110 e-All-in-One

The HP Envy 110 e-All-in-One inkjet multifunction printer looks like a classy VCR, acts like a Transformer toy, and prints magnificent photos. It’s also fully equipped for cloud printing. Is all that sufficient to make you forget its costly inks? Aesthetically oriented home and small-office users who don’t print much might be willing to make the trade-off.

Virtually everything on the Envy 110 e-All-in-One is designed with appearance in mind. It forgoes basic black for a dark-mocha casing with copper-colored metal accents. Thanks to it’s extremely low profile--just 4 inches high--it can sit discreetly on a deep shelf. When needed, the motorized control panel tilts upward, and therefore the arm that catches the paper swings outward; otherwise, they tuck neatly into the machine’s smooth chassis.

Another classy touch is the heavy scanner lid, which slowly settles into place rather than slamming when you let it go. Everything on the printer feels rock-solid--an increasingly rare attribute when it involves any printer, let alone a consumer model. The solid construction also makes the Envy 110 quieter than most printers.
HP makes setting up the Envy 110 e-All-in-Ones easy. We chose Wi-Fi; USB is also available. The very attractive HTML-based interface lets you access printer settings across the network using your browser. The software bundle includes Photo Creations and HP Scan, which are both capable and attractive applications.

• See HP Photo smart 7510 e-All-in-One review
• See Brother MFC-J825DW review
• See Canon Pixma MG6250 review

The control panel is wide and flat, with contextually lit controls. The 3.45-inch LCD touch screen offers a crisp picture and smart response, though one might argue that HP tries to fit too much information on every screen.

The Envy e-All-in-One prints, copies, and scans, but doesn't fax. USB/PictBridge, SD Card, and Memory Stick slots are included for printing directly from flash memory. With the focus on looks and a sleek profile, the Envy 110's paper handling is, not surprisingly, low-volume. Although automatic duplex printing is standard, the bottom-mounted input tray holds only 80 sheets, and the output arm holds just 25 sheets. The worst compromise is the nontelescoping lid on the letter/A4 scanner bed. The design doesn't put much of a margin between the glass platen and the edge of the cover, so it allows in more light than usual; it created shadows around our magazine scan. Such shadows are easily cropped, but in our tests they seemed to fool the scanner software's automatic-crop function.

HP was in the vanguard of cloud printing. Web-based printing apps have been available for select HP models for over a year, and the company's ePrint remote-printing feature launched in early 2011. The Envy 110 e-All-in-One offers all of that functionality, as well as support for Apple’s Air Print.

In our tests the Envy 110 e-All-in-One printed very nicely. Images we printed on HP Advanced Photo Paper looked rich. Text was dark and sharp at both the default and best settings. We did notice some slight banding in images printed on plain paper; this effect became more pronounced in draft mode, especially with monochrome graphics. Scans and copies were good overall.

The nice-looking output arrives somewhat slowly, however. Our text pages with scattered monochrome graphics printed at only 5.2 pages per minute on the PC and 5 ppm on the Mac--poky compared with the speeds of other inkjet MFPs we’ve tested. Printing a snapshot-size photo at default settings on plain paper took 22 seconds, or about 2.7 ppm; but it slowed to 56 seconds, or a little better than 1 ppm, when we switched to HP Advanced Photo Paper and better settings. On the Mac, a full-page, high-resolution color photo took a slower-than-average 3 minutes and change to print.