Prior to purchasing my own Hewlett Packard DeskJet 840C I ran a DeskJet 693C with an older computer and was thoroughly impressed with it. When it came to choosing a new printer to take to University with me I once again opted for a Hewlett Packard product and am not sorry I did. When making the choice I weighed the HP840C against two other options at similar prices: The Epson Stylus 670 and Canon’s BJC-1000.

In image quality and resolution the DeskJet 840C stands up well against the competition. The Stylus 670 may boast a superior resolution of 1440x720 but in truth the image quality is little better, if anything slightly inferior. I say this without bias – I have seen demonstration work and test pages from the Stylus 670 and can honestly say the HP840C usually matched and occasionally bettered its’ rival. Canon do not quote a maximum resolution for their BJC-1000, suggesting its’ performance is not as good as either of the others.

In terms of maximum print speed the HP840C's 8ppm keeps it well clear of the Stylus 670 and BJC-1000, neither of which exceed 5ppm. Neither can boast colour printing speeds in excess of 4ppm either.

The Hewlett-Packard drivers are excellent; this was one of the major strengths of the 693C that lead to me choosing a second HP printer. The control panel allows easy maintenance of the printer including cartridge head cleaning, testing and re-alignment as well as a utility for checking the printer connection or printing a sample page. The re-alignment facility is excellent for ensuring high print quality without wasting ink. Three print qualities can be used: Draft, standard and high. Draft quality is extremely economical on ink and extremely quick too. Standard is fine for all text but if you're looking to produce particularly high quality images high is best. It is a little heavier on ink and takes longer, but the improvement is noticeable. Changing the varius modes is performed through the software and takes nothing more than the click of a button.

Installing the HP840C was very straightforward. For either the USB or Parallel versions it is little more complicated than installing the software, plugging in the printer and starting to use it. Installing the cartridges is very easy when following the step-by-step guide provided. In terms of reliability I have not had a spot of trouble from it.

Cost of ink is tricky to evaluate, as different printers use ink at different rates and cartridges of different sizes and costs. They are also generally very cagey about how long a single cartridge will last, and estimates tend very much to the optimistic side. I have run my HP840C quite heavily since September 2000 and have used nearly an entire pack of 500 sheets of paper without having to change the original pair of cartridges. At £22.99 for a black cartridge (C6615A) and £37.99 for a colour cartridge (C6616A), however, you would expect them to last. A black cartridge for the BJC-1000 (BC02 BK) costs £19.99 and colour ones are £22.99, but lifespan is 100 pages at best according to the manufacturers. Epson, on their frankly useless web page, appear to provide no data on their cartridge capacities, which are priced at a suspiciously competitive £18.99 (Black, S020187) and £19.99 (Colour, S020191). Although the individual cartridges of the HP840C appear dearer they last far longer, saving you money in the long-term.