HP PhotoSmart 2610 All-in-One Printer

Rating:
Summary: Great All-In-One! Easy Install! Photos a little grainy.
Review: I am a big digitial photo enthusiast and was looking for a home unit to print pix. I received an Epson photosmart portable printer for Christmas which produced outstanding picture quality but was NOT user friendly at all (no LCD screen to view/edit photos). At the same time my printer died so I decided to go with an all-in-one unit to do some home-based business as well. I purchased the HP 2610, installed it today (single windows-based PC - took about an hour) and it's working great! I was very concerned about the installation because of some of the other reviews but I had no glitches whatsoever. I have been able to fax, copy, print and edit/print photos with no issues! The photo editing software has all the standard features including cropping, red eye reduction and ability to add effects like sepia, etc. The software is alo pretty easy to use as is the entire unit. I have not read ANY of the instruction manual yet (only the set-up pamphlet) and was able to perform all of the functions on this unit. That's impressive because I'm a medical person...not a computer person! The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is that, compared with the little portable Epson printer, the digital picture quality is a little grainy and not the best I've seen. But, will definitely do for an amateur. Also, the printer in general seems a little louder than some others I've heard on display in stores, but still better than my old deskjet that died. I am very happy with my purchase and recommend it highly for an all-in-one unit!!!

Rating:
Summary: Wireless and loving it
Review: I chose the 2610 over the 2710 because the 2710 got so many bad reviews. It seemed like if I plugged the 2610 into our Linksys wireless router, I would be able to use my iBook with air port to print. And it worked!!! I will admit it took a long time for my iBook to "find" the printer over the wireless network --I even called the help line--but while I was on the help line, the computer found the printer. So now I can be anywhere in the house and print from my laptop. Also, the scanner works wirelessly too.

Next we installed the software on the PC. We were worried because it seemed like Mac users had fewer complaints about the software than PC users. Well everything works fine on the PC, too!

And a note about their customer support--I called during the weekend and got a live person immediately, who was American (some people complain about their calls being routed to India), and extremely helpful. A+

So far this printer is great and I can't wait to get rid of our fax, scanner, ink jet printer and laser printer!

Rating:
Summary: Exceeds expectations
Review: I did lots of research and I'm glad I bought this beauty. HP's photo quality is the best in the business and all the features on this product make it so fun and easy. The LCD screen is awesome for photo printing and the all-in-one functions help me run my household. Great job HP....I love it!

Rating:
Summary: HP can we get some decent software?
Review: I have no complaints about the hardware. The most important part, the print quality is quite impressive.

The software, on the other hand, is a different story. I have Windows XP Service Pack 2 and the HP software has been a nightmare. I have twice uninstalled and reinstalled the software because it caused Windows Explorer to take about 45 seconds to open. Reinstalling the software works for a while and then when the HP software updates itself over the internet, things get bad again.

Lest you think this user error, I'm a software engineer and my computer is a late model with 1.2 GB of RAM. I cannot recommend this product because the software is huge and buggy and the self-updates make the problem worse.

This is a huge disappoitment after my troublefree experience with the HP LaserJet 1012 monochrome laser printer and its clean bug-free software.

Rating:
Summary: A Jack of All Trades
Review: I recently upgraded to this printer from a late-model Epson multi-function, and I've been quite pleased with its performance. Key advantages over the Epson:

- Paper feeding is much easier. Printing from the Epson was often delayed by feed problems whereas I've experienced no feed problems with the HP.

- Ink consumption is better. The Epson consumed ink at a prodigious rate whereas the HP seems more frugal with ink while producing similar print quality. I found the perceived cost savings of separate ink cartridges with the Epson to be a myth as the color ink cartridges almost always consumed ink at roughly the same rate, forcing me to replace all of them at the same time.

- Changing ink cartridges is easier with the HP because you only have to purchase 2 vs 4 cartridges. The numbering scheme of the HP cartridges is also easier to use for re-ordering - only 2 numbers per cartridge vs 5 alpha-numeric values per Epson cartridge.

- The color graphics display on the HP makes manipulating documents and performing functions on the printer much easier than the b/w display on the Epson.

- The HP doesn't produce as much noise as the Espon when printing, and the HP's footprint is much smaller than the Epson.

- Print and copy quality is excellent. Scan quality is good.

Finally, I did not experience any of the set-up problems mentioned by others who have purchased this HP printer. Set-up and installation were quick and easy.

If you're in the market for a multi-function printer, this HP model should be at the top of your list.

Rating:
Summary: Everything I wanted in a printer
Review: Just bought the HP 2610 All-in-one and I must say, thus far it exceeds all my expectations. I am by no means a computer expert, but was able to set up this printer on a wireless network on my first try (running Windows XP, connected via a wireless Linksys router). Faxing comes through beautifully, and the print speed at this price point is astonishing. Print quality even at the most rudimentary level is almost laser quality. Haven't tried photoprinting yet, but if it is even close to the quality I get for Eckherd's photo processing I will consider this printer a steal.

By the way, if you own a wireless router, don't waste your money on the HP 2710. The 2610 has built-in networking, and your router will act as the hub for printing from multiple wireless PCs. This feature in addition to photoprinting, faxing, copying, scanning for under $300 is quite remarkable.

Would be nice if there was a document feeder for high volume faxing/copying, but unless this feature is high on your priority list, this printer is just about perfect.


Rating:
Summary: Great all in one
Review: Just purchased a 2610. Installed on a home network. Installation was simple and instructions easy to follow. Print quality, photo quality, and fax are 5 stars. Scan quality just average. Bought this unit because I have limited space and the footprint is smaller than other units.

Very pleased



Rating:
Summary: 2610xi is a good all-in-one unit
Review: Prints fast. Scans fast. Copies fast. Output is pretty decent. Photo scanning with both color and black & white is less than perfect. Hooks up directly to local network. Network software install is a big job especially when you're dealing with several systems having different OS's. I was a bit surprised HP would release the s/w with a major bug that slowed everything down, but HP's posted patch (which currently isn't included in their updates) resolves the problem. One thing I discovered which is nice is that when you hook up the unit to a phone line, you can fax right from any system (e.g. wireless) on the network much the same as if that system is connected to a modem.

Rating:
Summary: Problems with install on XP
Review: The 2610 printer is a USB device. The installation disk asks for an XP SP2 disk, for USB print drivers. Who has an SP2 disk? My SP2 came from the net and I didn't get the the drivers. HP service said my XP upgrade was faulty. Even if it was why doesn't the install disk (all 1+ hour of it) come with drivers. Do I now wait 3-4 weeks to get the SP2 disk from Microsoft?

Rating:
Summary: Amazing all-in-one printer.
Review: What I like about this all-in-one printer is that its very usefull whether it is for the home place or at work which means you don't need to use a scanner and other stuff, it doesn't use a lot of space. It is very easy to setup 10 minutes maybe less and it has a HP No. 27 black ink jet cartridge and 28 tri-colour ink jet cartridge that prints out the best quility picture and has a HP memory disk creator that works when the pc is switched of. The compact size fits A4 size paper but thats all that is needed, the scanner and copier work just as good.