Hewlett Packard Hp Photosmart 7760 Printer: A Dream Come True
Written: Apr 04 '04 (Updated Jul 18 '04)
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Pros: Easy to use, MARVELOUS color
Cons: Quite spacious, had to be creative putting it on our desk
The Bottom Line: Vibrant color, easy to use, great results, and smooth and soothing to sleep with
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| Thorbjore's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Hp Photosmart 7760 Printer With Fr... |
I couldn't believe my great luck when I was blessed with this fabulous piece of technology for Christmas. I had recently purchased a Nikon Coolpix 4300 and an eager grandparent, who clearly wants copies of my baby's pictures, picked it up for us. Needless to say: GREAT gift idea!
A Word On Paper:
Ahh. Paper. Infinitely white and empty and ready to be filled with memories. I will say we were given lots of paper for Christmas -- all different kinds of it. It sort of killed the surprise since some family members gave it to us before we got said printer, but it was fun to speculate about whether or not it was misguided attempts to get us to print on our standard printer or if we WERE in fact getting a new one. We were like little kids pulling lots of D batteries out of our stockings and wondering about the toys they might go with.
In the midst of the paper gifts, we were given this "color copy" paper. TONS of it. It's probably great for a color copier, but not for pictures. It's a lot more economical, too. But don't kid yourself into buying substandard, cheap paper. If you compromise your paper, you compromise your prints, and then you will hate this printer -- and maybe even ME if the rest of my review persuades you into a direction you were already leaning. Maybe you will come after me and stalk me and drive me off of a desolate road in the darkest of night!
So!
We did try this paper and found the results smeary and grainy and overall lackluster. ANY printer could have printed that series.
If you use shoddy paper, you will get shoddy results. End of story.
The printer comes with a free sample of paper (five sheets plus three greeting card sheets with envelopes) so if you want, then try the HP paper and try the more economical, lesser-quality paper and assess the differences if you're really that curious.
Updated July 18: I've recently been given Kodak paper. In the throes of printing numerous copies of same-prints (for the grandparents)I ran out of my beloved HP paper and loaded the new Kodak paper. I noticed what I never noticed before: the HP prints have a slight brown cast to them. Actually, when held side by side with the Kodak prints, it is a VERY brown cast! I can't believe I never noticed it. I have pictures of Carson sitting in grass ("tick-uh" for "tickle" as he calls it) and the grass is such a vibrant emerald green in the kodak prints. Furthermore, for Mother's Day I gave my step mother prints of the baby in a wire "frame" -- you know the glassless kind that you stick the prints in as if it were a floral arrangement? That was in May and now, two months later, the photos are faded (and very visibly so!). This was with HP paper. The sun does not beam strongly through their livingroom window, either, so I am not impressed with HP's endurance. YES. Paper DOES matter.
Is it Easy to Use?
Can I say it's easier than a Times Square hooker? Probably not. But it would be true! And you do get more Bang for your Buck with this printer (couldn't resist the double entendre).
There are two paper trays. One is for standard sheets of paper 8x10, the other for 4x6's (which are more costly but spare you the painstaking task of cutting them yourself). The paper loads easily and runs through and emerges equally with ease; never have I had uneven borders or smears or other horrible travesties that printers challenge us with.
At the top is a disk drive (with several "drives" to accommodate several sized disks and chords) and a mini monitor, should you wish to use the printer sans a computer. I don't recommend going this route; there is little you can do in terms of correcting or enhancing your photos directly from the printer (according to the menu options) and this wee monitor is hard to see any details at all (this coming from a farsighted lady). However, it's nice to know it can be done.
It was quite the lifesaver for us once. Our disk was "unreadable", meaning our photos could not be saved but the printer would read them and print them (I couldn't do it through our computer because it wouldn't allow me to upload them). So my photos were somewhat compromised and I couldn't alter them in ways I wished, like cropping them or correcting the red eyes ... but at least those memories aren't gone forever. Oh, yeah. My one qualm with printing this way was that the printer refused to acknowledge my plea that my photos be printed on 4x6 paper in the top tray and kept loading the big sheets so now I have one photo printed each on two pieces of large paper (where I could have had 6 photos on those two sheets, right?)
The Software:
This printer is equipped with its own software (duh -- that's how the computer communicates with the printer). I mean, the software can be used to tinker with your photos, zooming in on people's boobs, ear lobes, or butts. You can use it to alter the color, contrast, or make the photos brighter or darker.
I prefer to use my own software, but for best results I do all of my cropping with Hewlett's software. I find that my "perfect use of space" in one program results in decapitated bodies and people randomly being cut out if they are too close to the far right side of the picture -- randomly cut out a la "I am in a rage and cut my ex boyfriend out of every picture with me" -- once it comes time to print and the damage is irreversible and so are the hurt feelings (if the person who was cut out is in the know).
(*Also, if you use such online printing companies like Shutterfly then you should crop your photos with THEIR software, too or the same fate may befall you. They explained to me how this happens and has to do with squares, but it became too involved and while reading their email in response to my complaint I found myself saying "Uhhhh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh ... they said but!"*)
Overall, their software isn't bad and it gets the job done. It has easy-to-figure-out icons and a straightforward style. Easy to use, easy to navigate, and uncomplicated in that there aren't TONS of options and things to ponder.
It's also good in that you can use their software to make changes and save those changes, but not have it be "carved in stone," meaning your original will be stored wherever you uploaded them to initially (like "my documents" or "my photos").
Color, Dah-ling:
I use obviously now use Kodak photo paper and always click on "best" under printing options and then quality. I swear by it. The pictures are printed and they are rich with deep and vibrant hues. Green isn't just green: it's mint and jade and fir and pine and grass and Irish Spring, and pond scum and avocado and emerald. Blue isn't just blue: it's cobalt, royal blue, navy, sapphire, soft baby blue, Wedgwood, cornflower, azure, cerulean ... This printer is the bomb! I'm quite impressed with the color!
But do remember what I said about the paper!
Cost?:
As I've said, this was a gift. I had no intention of ever having any inkling what Ma'am paid for this gadget (tacky!), but for the integrity of this review I felt I should get a handle on that. They run around $200, sometimes for as little as $175.
We have yet to finish our first round of ink cartridges (it takes two, bay-bay! It takes two, bay-bay! Me and you! Dih-dih-dih!) Oh. Yeah. For color prints you will need two ink cartridges (as opposed to traditional printers where you have a black cartridge and a color one, period, Amen). So far we have printed countless photos and are halfway through one cartridge and 75% through the other (the black one will need to be replaced sooner, I guess since we mainly take sinister photos of cloaked people in black standing in nightscape cemeteries with no flash and with the lens cap left on -- or because our baby and family members wear darker clothing and we have a black dog, etc.). Again, we could improve the odds by not hitting on "best" for quality but ... that's up to us.
I can't intelligently go into details about why best is best. I did print a couple on lesser quality settings to conserve ink, but I can't find any tangible reason why I don't like the lower quality. They seem less saturated and the "lines" seem more visible and there is a more digital je ne sais quois about them. I welcome comments from more learned people who may wish to dispute or emphasize this opinion of mine.
The paper is the sliding scale issue. There is HP paper and then there are varying levels of quality. Best Buy offers coupons for it -- we have one for $3 off any package and $7 off of two, and most competitors offer coupons in their packages to use for next time.
Reflecting on conventional methods of photography (I.E. You use a traditional camera loaded with film and photograph your child 24 times to get two decent shots and then take the film you paid $5 for to the developer to process the negatives and then print every one of these blasted pictures, even the blurry throw-aways where the kid's head is turned away -- and you simply can't resist requesting doubles because you are so confident you got a higher quantity of quality shots) I would say that I have probably already saved a thousand bucks. I'm a serious shutterbug and a horrible perfectionist. The kid smiles. I know he can smile bigger if I make more fart noises and fishy faces. Click. Click. Click.
More about economy of the printer: we have used .6 mgz of electricity ... just kidding. I won't itemize it that much!
What Else Can the Printer Do?
It presses pants, but sometimes the hems get caught in the rollers and it cooks waffles if you get them stuffed in there between the rollers for long enough ... there's friction and when it starts to overheat after a while... Oh! I mean ... this printer can be used to print regular documents or anything any other printer can do. Just change the paper and you're set to print your resume or your letter to the CEO of Sarah Lee requesting fresher cheesecake.
Ladies Think Size Matters!:
This printer is larger than our other HP (a deskjet 845c). Our "computer desk" is equipped with two top shelves ideal for a printer. The "feet" of our printer span the entire printer shelf, the ends hanging off slightly. When it prints, it makes our desk shake rather violently and it often looks like it might just jostle itself off. It hasn't yet and I'm sure it won't. Its paper shoot juts out further in the front than a traditional printer as well, by probably two to three inches.
It has worked out alright for us, but other computer owners may have some juggling to do to accommodate the girth of this printer while keeping its hook-up feasible. Just a thought. Regardless, I would have to say it is worth doing some juggling.
Fin:
In short, I haven't had any issues with this printer. It was a little rebellious when I requested it use the 4x6 paper when I printed straight from the printer (bypassing our computer as the middle man), but it's hard to stay angry with it. It's new here and is simply testing its boundaries. I gave it some licks with my cat o' nine tails and it seems to have been more compliant.
Actually, all joking aside, this (and the camera) are my favorite toys right now and prized acquisitions!
Good luck and thanks for reading.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
Thorbjore
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Member: Becki
Location: Pittsfield, MA USA
Reviews written: 89
Trusted by: 74 members
About Me:
Worry looks around. Sorry looks back. Faith looks up.
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