HP PSC1215 Printer

...TO 4800x1200 dpi (on special HP paper, and an original input of at least 1200 dpi) and 600x800 in black best quality.

The cartages these uses are:
C8727AE HP No. 27 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge (10 ml) approx 220 pgs depending on print quality
C6656AE HP No. 56 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge (19 ml) approx 450 pgs depending on print quality

C8728AE HP No. 28 Tri-colour Inkjet Print (8 ml) approx 190 pgs ...
...Inkjet Print (17 ml) approx 400 pgs depending on print quality

Scanner type is a flat bed, with optical scanning up to 600x2400 dpi, which can be further enhanced to up to 19,200 dpi (why oh why would anyone use this higher setting?). Colour depth is 32 bit, and you can zoom from the original anywhere from 50% to 400% of the original source.

When copying using the scanner, max copy speed is 12 ppm with black ink used ... more

WHAT IS THIS GLORIOUS CONSTRUCTED ANIMAL?
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This is a printer, flat top scanner and mini copier all in one. Its a front loading, printer with a fold out tray for the input media. The out media comes back out over the input tray. Keeping this little beast very compact. The scanning loads on a seriously thin flat bed scanner on the top.

OUT OF THE BOX - SET UP INSTRUCTIONS:
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The beast comes out of a standard box packed with that annoying made polystyrene packing. Once removed we have the main unit, the power plug the USB cable (USB A to USB B connection)….oh where is the USB Cable? That's right, you have to BUY your own USB cable these aren't that expensive but it would have been nice to have had one thrown in. The ink cartages a small set of instructions for quick starting and cartage installation and some neat little stickers that you can stick onto the machine. There are also two included ink cartages which is a nice bonus!

The set up instructions are very clear, simple and you really can't go wrong. It folds out to be roughly the same size as those annoying large newspapers that only come in handy when stuffing wet wellies! Its multi lingual but English is the main language with the others listed below each box step.

INSTALLING AND CONNECTIONS:
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This is so very easy to install and get up and running. There are three main steps, the physical connections, installation of software and device calibration.

The physical connection involves plugging the kettle lead power cable into the unit at the back, the same with the USB cable. Plug in the power cable, and watch the little lights on the top spring into life! The unit isn't actually on, so plug the USB cable into your computer USB port. Hit the power button and the unit starts up properly. Part two now begins…

You're now asked to go through a typical installation for any new hardware; it's very easy and basic. You will need to put the driver cd in your computer as well. If you're not used to this then get someone who is used to installing things. You will probably be prompted to reboot at least once to make the installation final. There will now be some new icons on your desktop and a new entry in the start up menu. These allow access to all the software and other misc. programs to use and maintain the all-in-one.

Now all you have to do is when you first go to print (was a while since I have done this bit…) or when you do a fresh install it detects the new cartages and asks you to calibrate them. All this requires is the printing of a test page, which you then have scan to align everything.

Everything about this setup and install is very simple and quick. There are options to customise the installation like normal but the standard install takes about 400 MB of hard disk space. Getting around the software takes a little bit of time to find some of the short cuts to speed up the scanning no end! I have included some screen shots of useful things I think will help users.

SPECIFICATIONS:
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- Inkjet - One tricolour cartage, one black.
- 12 ppm in rough black ink only.
- 7.8 ppm in normal black ink only.
- 1.4 ppm in best black ink only.
- 10 ppm in rough colour mode.
- 3.6 ppm in normal colour mode.
- 1.1 ppm in best colour mode.

Printing quality in best colour quality goes UP TO 4800x1200 dpi (on special HP paper, and an original input of at least 1200 dpi) and 600x800 in black best quality.

The cartages these uses are:
C8727AE HP No. 27 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge (10 ml) approx 220 pgs depending on print quality
C6656AE HP No. 56 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge (19 ml) approx 450 pgs depending on print quality

C8728AE HP No. 28 Tri-colour Inkjet Print (8 ml) approx 190 pgs depending on print quality
C6657AE HP No. 57 Tri-colour Inkjet Print (17 ml) approx 400 pgs depending on print quality

Scanner type is a flat bed, with optical scanning up to 600x2400 dpi, which can be further enhanced to up to 19,200 dpi (why oh why would anyone use this higher setting?). Colour depth is 32 bit, and you can zoom from the original anywhere from 50% to 400% of the original source.

When copying using the scanner, max copy speed is 12 ppm with black ink used only. Using colour copying max copy speed is 10 ppm. The copy resolution using colour and images/text is 1200x1200 dpi. Only using black copying the max resolution is 600x1200 dpi. You can also enlarge or reduce the copy size anywhere from 50% to 400%.

Media handling:
paper: A4 210 x 297 mm, A5 148 x 210 mm, B5 176 x 250 mm,
transparencies: A4 210 x 297 mm,
envelopes: DL 110 x 220 mm, C6 114 x 162 mm,
cards: A6 105 x 148 mm,
labels: A4 210 x 297 mm,
photo paper: A4 210 x 297 mm

100 sheet input tray with only 50 sheet output tray. You can print on anything from paper (plain, inkjet, and photo), envelopes, transparencies, labels, cards (index, greeting), and iron-on transfers.

This can be used on either on MAC or PC the min specs for those of you that want to know can be found here:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF06b/5043-5527-7369177-7369177-311141-339831-8322675.html

Unit weight is 4.2 kgs, with box and packing its 4.5kgs. The size of the unit is nice and small compared to many others I have seen with its vital stats coming out at 426 x 259 x 170 mm (w x d x h) so it will nicely fit on any desk, and can be packed away quite neatly too.

IN USE - PRINTING:
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The printer is fairly fast, and does a good job on the normal setting; it will most definitely be acceptable for most general day to day printing. Printing higher quality is also very pleasing although for £62 its very good quality and pleasing for most armature users don't expect meticulous quality. For all rough printings the speed is fine, it shoots through the pages, the quality can be minutely inconsistent but its rough quality so what do you expect? The printing noise is quite loud to be honest, but it's probably vibrations echoing through the primarily hollow structure that amplifies it.

Overall, I expect most people will use this feature the most, and it really does please on any setting, even on normal and with relatively low grade paper the results are perfectly acceptable for general use.

IN USE - SCANNING:
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The scanning quality is very good, 300dpi is fine for almost every thing you're wanting to scan, however it does go up to insanely high qualities, but the image sizes become into the hundreds of MB's and so a killer on processor when doing image manipulation later. Scanning does seem to take a long time and scanning rather thick documents or a page out of a large book can become something of a mission as there is no give in the lid to accommodate height changes. I use the scanner the most of out the features, and I am very pleased with it and the quality is very good, which it needs to be for all the University notes I scan as a back up. The scanning of each page takes around twenty seconds, so you can be there for quite a while scanning long documents. It doesn't get too hot when using to scan all the time, but I'd say it's wise not too scan for long periods of time.

IN USE - COPYING:
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I haven't really used this feature that extensively but there is a nice feature to it. This feature is that it can copy as a stand alone piece of equipment with out the need to be hooked up to a computer. All you need to do is place your document in the top upon the flat bed scanner, and press the "COPY" button to reproduce. I haven't used this feature as much as the print of the scanner simply because I have access to dedicated photocopiers, and thus put my all-in-one through less ware and tare.

ADVANTAGES:
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I paid £62 for this brand new for Christmas 2004, and no doubt it will come down in price as time goes on. The unit is small compact, and will fit into most working environments. It's stylish and well constructed (mines survived various trips up and down the country!) I am really pleased with this unit as it provides so many functions to use and all do their jobs well and are simple to operate. The replacement of cartages is also very easy, and can be accessed via the main folding down cover which doubles as the input media tray.

DISADVANTAGES:
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No USB cable will set the price up a little bit for a good one, but this isn't too bad. Its quite noisy operation can be overlooked in many busy environments but I wouldn't go using it in the middle of the night! The noise factor is helped by tactically placing the unit over a sturdy area of the desk or on something that can soak up the vibration and noise.

CONCLUSION:
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This is wonderful cheap and cheerful machine that will be rough ready and applicable for what ever you ask of it! Having road tested it for sometime I am very pleased with mine and have no trouble with it for the last 7months that I have owned it. I would highly recommend it to anyone, and when I cam back after Christmas to my university halls I saw that a fair few people had also received the same model from Santa too!

The next model up really isn't all that different with only the added function of being able to print pictures from memory cards. As I knew I wasn't going to use this feature much, if at all I stuck to this model and have been pleased ever since  Sure beats paying 6p per sheet of paper at uni!

If there are any more aspect you think i could review on this then please leave me suggestions in the comments! Greatly appreciated! James.  

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